Review: Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder by Kerryn Mayne

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder 

by Kerryn Mayne

Blurb from Goodreads:

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.

My Review:

This book read as if Sally Hepworth wrote Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.  Seriously -- total love child of the two! It was good, if predictable and the title is a bit misleading.  But I loved the ending and how it got there. Definitely add to your TBR!

Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder comes out next week on July 9, 2024, and you can purchase HERE!  

Pretending there were people in her life seemed to quell the concerns of others. She'd noticed many times that being alone was akin to having a medical condition, especially once she was over thirty. Well-meaning people wanted to offer solutions or anecdotes on a regular basis.

Have you tried internet dating?

My sister thought she'd be alone forever and now she's married with three kids. You just never know when it will happen.

You just haven't met the right person yet.

You're still young, don't worry.

She wasn't worrying, not in the least. She was actually happy being alone. Not to mention, people put too much stock in being happy. Happiness was immeasurable and moveable. That sort of instability was fraught with hazard. Lenny was a functioning, contributing member of the community who abided by the rules with a recent exception-and was not a burden on anyone. That, in her books, was a definite marker of success. And she only answered to herself-well, and Fay, if she was completely honest so if she wanted to sleep on the couch in her clothes with a stolen dog she could do just that.