Copycat

by Laura Ann

Thirty-year-old Girlfriend Killer Cressida knows she’s going to die in prison for the murders she committed. But five years into her life sentence, the police come banging on her cell bars, seeking answers: someone is replicating her crimes. Cressida only wants to toy with them – until she finds out the victim is the only woman she truly loved, her ex-girlfriend Alexandra.

224 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2026

About the author

Laura Ann is a Queensland, Australian based author. Outside of writing, she’s turns her eyes square by sitting too close to the tv and immersing herself too much in the imagination of others. She’s also a book hoarder, who can’t seem to make her TBR shrink. As well as a self-taught sewer who frustrates herself by not reading pattern pieces correctly when she’s designing her own costumes for cosplay.

Now that Laura has officially published her first book, she can stop saying “One day I’ll be a published writer.” And start saying, “I did it!”, Her six-year-old self is cheering the accomplishment.

If you’d love to follow Laura via social media, she goes by EntrancedbyWords on TikTok and Instagram.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

And the tradition continues of reviewing my own book..

This is the paperback copy and I already know the formatting needs to be fixed, which will no doubt affect the ebook too. So they should both be fixed before offical published date.

Cressida and her world was one of my favourite to write and explore, she had been a story that had been a W.I.P for so long that now I'm glad she's out in the wild.

I managed to read this book in 40ish minutes, though unlike my readers I was looking for glaring issues and surprisingly only found two issues (if you count formatting 🫣)

Story wise..sorry for the spoiler..Cressida was meant to be the blind leading the blind for the reader, she was supposed to be the character who looks around her and tries to understand wtf is happening with the information she's drip fed.

Though only in recent drafts had I made it solely focus on Cressida, earlier drafts had Cressida's POV and the Constables POV, until I realised that I would've bogged myself down too much with struggling to find accuracy.

Overall Copycat is a quick and easy read, with a smart ass murder at the helm and how she's trying to come to terms with not just her actions but the justification of what's going on.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The prison setting does a lot of the heavy lifting here, creating a gritty atmosphere that grounds the story. For such a brief read, the narrative feels surprisingly slow to build momentum, and the transitions between scenes are choppy in places. I spent a good portion of the time questioning the logic behind several character decisions, as their motivations just aren't fleshed out enough to explain their actions. On top of that, several plot points are introduced and then left completely unresolved by the end. Despite the baffling character arcs, loose threads, and uneven pacing, it is a fine read with a satisfying ending.
If you like confined prison settings, sudden plot twists, and unpredictable characters, then you will enjoy this book.

Want to see spoilers or trigger warnings? Check out: https://www.spoiltheplot.com/books/co...