Review - Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder

Title:  Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder

Author:  Kerryn Mayne

Publisher:  St. Martin’s Press

Genre:   Mystery & Thrillers

Format:  KindleARC

No. of Pages:   352

Date of Publication:   February 21, 2023

My Rating:   4 Stars

DESCRIPTION:

Lenny Marks is excellent at not having a life.

She bikes home from work at exactly 4pm each day, buys the same groceries for the same meals every week, and owns thirty-six copies of The Hobbit (currently arranged by height). The closest thing she has to a friendship is playing Scrabble against an imaginary Monica Gellar while watching Friends reruns.

And Lenny Marks is very, very good at not remembering what happened the day her mother and stepfather disappeared when she was still a child. The day a voice in the back of her mind started whispering, You did this.

Until a letter from the parole board arrives in the mail—and when her desperate attempts to ignore it fail, Lenny starts to unravel. As long-buried memories come to the surface, Lenny’s careful routines fall apart. For the first time, she finds herself forced to connect with the community around her, and unexpected new relationships begin to bloom. Lenny Marks may finally get a life—but what if her past catches up to her first?

Equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming, Kerryn Mayne’s stunning debut is an irresistible novel about truth, secrets, vengeance, and family lost and found, with a heroine who's simply unforgettable.

Link to purchase the book

MY THOUGHTS:

Pretty much alone in life, thirty-seven year old Lenny Marks gets through life day by day. A teacher who gives just enough, never more, and this includes never forming any close connections. In fact, she really doesn’t have friends; she has acquaintances. 

Thanks to her near obsession with Scrabble, with nightly games played against a fictitious Monica Geller, Lenny often thinks in anagrams. 

Mrs. Finlay: rainfly, family, flimsy, snarly, mails, fail, liar

Crestfallen: cleanser, reflects, careens, falters, fester, secret

Manipulates: animal, pulsate, insult, menial, past, lies

Lenny, often annoyed by her own quirks, particularly her social ineptitude, lives in a quaint yet uninspired home. Her weekly meal routine and bleak, colorless future mirror her repressed memories, hidden within her brain due to PTSD. This could be a good opportunity to raise awareness about trigger warnings in the book, as domestic and child abuse are integral parts of the well-crafted narrative. However, as readers immerse themselves in Lenny’s mind, they may find themselves repeating her anagrams aloud, which provides a touch of levity that makes the story more palatable. 

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kerryn Mayne is an author, former wedding photographer, and current police officer. When not at work attempting to solve crime, she is writing about it or preparing an endless stream of snacks for her four children. Kerryn lives in the bayside suburbs of Melbourne with her husband, children and a highly suspect lovebird. She only owns 11 copies of The Hobbit (for now). 

Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder is her debut novel.

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