A Neighbour's Guide To Murder by Louise Candlish (Audiobook)

 

When Gwen discovers that her middle-aged neighbour, Alec, is advertising for a flatmate, she's surprised, and then suspicious when she learns that all the prospective candidates are young women. She decides to take her new neighbour, Pixie, under her wing, little realising what is to follow.

I was completely drawn in by all the twists and turns of A Neighbour's Guide To Murder by Louise Candlish, thanks to the gripping prologue and the superb narration of Greta Scacchi and Kristin Atherton.

Columbia Mansions, an exclusive mansion block in London, is home to an array of interesting and affluent owners. Brilliant characterisation from the author means that the tenants are varied and distinct. The main character is Gwen, a seventy-year-old divorcee. Gwen comes across as a bit judgmental, nosy and gossipy, although she'd be adamant she's the complete opposite. Alarm bells start ringing for Gwen when she discovers that her next-door neighbour is looking for a young woman to flat share. 

The young woman concerned is Pixie, who certainly lives up to her name; she comes across as naive, scatterbrained, impractical and mischievous. When Gwen meets Pixie, she seems to be entranced by her, but as the story develops, we discover that her protectiveness is probably more to do with guilt.

When Gwen learns of the arrangement between Alec and Pixie, she becomes indignant. Pixie seems to just shrug it off, and this makes Gwen even more incensed. Determined to unmask Alec, she involves other tenants of the mansion block. It's at this point that she loses control of events, and we begin to wonder who is being truthful.

There are numerous twists and turns. There were times when I felt that I'd nailed down who the villain of the piece was, only for everything to be turned on its head. Each new disclosure in this devilishly wicked story left me gasping. Even when the story seems to reach its conclusion, revealing exactly what happened in the gripping opening, the author still manages to throw in a few more shocking twists.

Author Details

Louise lives in a South London neighbourhood not unlike the one in my books, with her husband, daughter and a fox-red Labrador called Bertie. Books, TV and long walks are her passions - and drinking wine in the sun with family and friends.

She recently celebrated her 20th anniversary as an author with the news of two prestigious awards for her 90s-set thriller THE ONLY SUSPECT: the Capital Crime Fingerprint Award for Thriller of the Year and the Ned Kelly Award for Best International Crime Fiction.

OUR HOUSE is the novel many know her for, as it's now a major four-part ITV drama starring Martin Compston and Tuppence Middleton (watch the full series free on ITVX). This is the novel that turned her career around, winning the 2019 British Book Awards Book of the Year - Crime & Thriller and shortlisted for the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award, the Capital Crime Amazon Publishing Best Crime Novel of the Year Award​, and the Audible Sounds of Crime Award. It was also longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award and the Specsavers National Book Awards. A Waterstones Thriller of the Month, it recently received a Nielsen Bestseller Silver Award for 250,000 copies sold.