Meet Mad Mabel.
Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is eighty-one years old. She's lived on her idyllic street, Kenny Lane, for sixty years--longer than anyone else. Aside from being a curmudgeon who minds everyone else's business, few would suspect that Elsie has a past that she has worked exceedingly hard at concealing. Because when it comes to murder, no one ever suspects little girls or old ladies. And Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, once a little girl and now an old lady, has a strange history of people in her life coming to a foul end.
When a new little girl (talkative, curious, nosy) moves into the neighborhood and stops at nothing to befriend Elsie, her carefully-constructed life threatens to come crashing down as the secrets in Elsie's past start coming to light. Who was "Mad Mabel" fifty years ago? Who is Elsie Fitzpatrick today? And if the past has a habit of repeating itself, who has the most to lose?
Told with Sally Hepworth's twists, humor, charm, and heart, MAD MABEL is novel that weaves past and present together--through the power of justice and redemption, and all the way to its stunning conclusion. ~taken from Goodreads
Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is eighty-one years old. She's lived on her idyllic street, Kenny Lane, for sixty years--longer than anyone else. Aside from being a curmudgeon who minds everyone else's business, few would suspect that Elsie has a past that she has worked exceedingly hard at concealing. Because when it comes to murder, no one ever suspects little girls or old ladies. And Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, once a little girl and now an old lady, has a strange history of people in her life coming to a foul end.
When a new little girl (talkative, curious, nosy) moves into the neighborhood and stops at nothing to befriend Elsie, her carefully-constructed life threatens to come crashing down as the secrets in Elsie's past start coming to light. Who was "Mad Mabel" fifty years ago? Who is Elsie Fitzpatrick today? And if the past has a habit of repeating itself, who has the most to lose?
Told with Sally Hepworth's twists, humor, charm, and heart, MAD MABEL is novel that weaves past and present together--through the power of justice and redemption, and all the way to its stunning conclusion. ~taken from Goodreads
Author, Sally Hepworth, is a favorite of mine. I first came across her novels back in 2021 and have looked forward to her new releases ever since. Her novels tend to veer towards suspenseful and mysterious, but this one was different. This was a very slow start and when I finished reading I was very underwhelmed.
It took me quite a long time to actually finish this. I had to push myself to do so, to the point where I was reading this as an ARC but could not finish in time to get my review out before the publication date. I kept waiting for something to happen during the entire duration of this story. Nothing ever did. I am still not sure what genre this belongs under. Cozy mystery? Family drama? Soft suspense?
This alternates timelines, which usually keeps me entertained and seems to give the story some kind of advantage when the reader knows clues that occurred in the past that can/will effect the future. But so much time has passed between the two timelines that it is almost irrelevant to the current situation. It made the "happening now" pretty much null and void in my opinion.
By the time "the big reveal" happened it was so unbelievable I simply rolled my eyes and groaned out loud. I think this entire story lacked character and plot development. It was semi-interesting at the start and boring in the end. This strayed too far from Hepworth's typical types of novels for me.
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me an advanced e-copy to read and give my honest review. It was a 2 star read for me.
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