How to Kill a Crime Writer
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley February 26, 2026
Author Sarah Lotz
Distributor: AmazonUK
ISBN: 978-0008464059
Publisher: Harper Collins
Release Date: 26 February 2026
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The tile of the book How to Kill A Crime Writer begs to be read as how indeed do you kill a crime writer, a writer with a big following and a writer known for her complex and yet manageable plots with a fantastic feme fatale as the PI who never, ever gives in or up.
How to Kill A Crime Writer from Sarah Lotz is a deeply immersive look at how the human psyche can change the game so very easily without ever leaving the darkness of the gaming world, a world Niamh Morrissey inhabits as it is the place she can safely hide from the world: essentially disappear.
But she is about to be dragged ruthlessly from the small world she as created as the death of her beloved, if somewhat irritating mother Ann Morrissey, simply does not make any sense, and even in her misery she can understand that.
Leah Rebecca Overton is the PI star of the books written by her mother, believed by Niamh to be the cerebral creation daughter of her mother, as her real daughter is an abject failure at most things in life.
Wallowing in a pity of her own making she is jolted into the everyday world by the appearance of none other than Leah Rebecca Overton; a vision in her home, a reality that simply can’t be but seems to be, and Leah wants answers.
Through a series of tortuous twists and turn, Niamh and Leah learn to ‘co-habitat’ and trade insults with aplomb. No matter how hard they try to work out why Ann is dead from a fall from ladder, they can’t put all the pieces the puzzle together without venturing outside Niamh’s comfort zone.
Serious blunders, too much alcohol, a trip to a Writers Festival, getting to know the very unusual neighbours and learning to live with a ‘ghost’, see Niamh finally beginning to interact with life once again in almost but not quiet Leah Rebecca Overton style!
Quirky, funny, with a seriously devious and complex plot, Sarah Lotz has created a flawed heroine of the modern generation whom readers of all ages will be able to relate to with ease.
How to Kill A Crime Writer is highly recommended