A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson

Hello everyone.  I hope you're having a wonderful day.

Sometimes people and things aren't what you think.  The other day I was telling hubby about a trend that is driving me bonkers.  So many cooking videos claim to be the absolute best of something, like the best banana bread, the best meatballs, the best apple pie.  First of all, it strikes me as so arrogant to think you have the absolute best.  Second, it ticks me off that it is kind of insulting to my recipes and those I have inherited.  I mean, you put your cooking up against either one of my grandma's and we are going to have a huge problem.  The best?  You have no idea what good is, let alone the best.  Then these "cooks" give these methods that are a "must", often incorrect. Some take their hands from raw chicken and put them in another ingredient, like salt.  If you are a new cook, don't do that. Salmonella will have you puking for a week. Speaking of spreading illness.  There is this whole new thing where people say not to wash your whole chicken, that the force of the water spreads Salmonella all over the kitchen.  Tip one, turn down your water.  Blasting the heck out of a poor bird is not necessary. Next, have you ever seen what happens when chickens are killed?  They are often thrown in a vat with water, bodily fluids and feces.  Yes, I know you don't want to talk about poop in a book review and I completely agree I've gone off the deep end.  I have the new Peter Swanson book, so I know you'll stay.  My point is, if you don't GENTLY wash your chicken, your dinner is roasted chicken with a side of poop. Then there is the argument about salted verses unsalted butter.  How salted butter has more water.  It does, but if half a teaspoon of water throws off your cooking or baking, you've got way bigger issues. Okay, I know...the book, April, the book.  I'll get off my soap box.  I'll just say if there is one thing I've learned as I've been getting older, is that despite what I think I know, I actually know nothing. As far as your YouTube banana bread being the best, you are deluding yourself.  Something better is always out there.  Mostly my Grandma's!!!

I recently read A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson.  I have read and reviewed several books by this author and have enjoyed them.  This story is about a young woman, Martha, who has married Alan.  Although Martha felt she didn't really know her husband when they wed, despite being a little controlling, she felt he was a good man who cared for her deeply.  After approximately a year of marriage, she discovers what looks like blood on one of his shirts.  Alan is a salesman and frequently out of town.  Now Martha's mind is racing about the man she should know better and what happens when he goes to his conferences.  Could he be a murderer or is she the owner of a vivid imagination?  Martha enlists the help of an old college friend to help her investigate the possibility that she could actually be married to a serial killer.

This book frightened me.  Peter Swanson has always been a sure thing, an auto-buy.  This time I really had trouble getting into the story.  I don't know why.  The book was interesting from the first page.  One thing is that for the most part, the story is told by a different person's perspective in each chapter.  The chapters are not labeled, leaving the reader to figure out who is narrating.  Originally, I found it annoying, it broke my reading cadence, broke the spell.  After a while I realized it was being done on purpose and is part of the story.  Don't be like me, appreciate the construction of the story right from the beginning.  While the characters change with each chapter, they are all fully developed, interesting and often surprising.  The plot moves along at a pleasant pace, often hitting the reader with shocking Hitchcockian twists.  Once, about half-way in, I gasped so loudly my husband came running to see what was wrong.  Not that I noticed him, I could not look away from the book.  Now that is a good twist, and it was only one of many.  I learned my lesson, to trust Peter Swanson.  The novel I thought might be my nemesis, turned out to be a super fun, first class thriller.  

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced copy.  Of course, my views are my own.  (I'll try and channel someone else next time, if you want.)