Speak of the Devil

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The story opens with the discovery of the decapitated head of Jamie by a group of seven women with ties to the victim on New Year’s Eve 1999. We learn about Jamie’s connection to each of the women and the history that they share throughout the book. We do also see the police detective’s perspective as we work our way through the story. It was quite a few characters to juggle but each of them had such unique personalities that I had no trouble keeping things straight. It was obvious that all of the women had the motive but I wasn’t sure who the murderer was until it was revealed in the story. Wilding is from Newcastle upon Tyne, works as a tutor, and has an MA in creative writing from The University of Manchester, where her tutors included Jeanette Winterson, who recommended her writing to Evans at PFD. This detective is sharp and clever and works closely with the women as she watches for any slip they may make to point to the truth. She is horrified by the things which are coming to light regarding the deceased man but the search for the killer is slow. The women are a heady mixture with various sexual proclivities which err on the side of fun, and all are horrified when Spellman’s real personality is exposed. “Unusual slant”

I thought that this was really good! I enjoyed getting to know each of the seven women at the core of this book and it was quite clear that each of them had the motive to kill Jamie. Jamie was not a good man. In fact, he was pretty terrible, and the things that he did to each of these women left me feeling a lot of sympathy for them. I loved that the book kept me guessing until the very end. NOT ONLY did I not understand WHO is WHO, or WHERE this story was taking place, but I also didn’t have an understanding of HOW each woman knew the victim or WHY each had a reason to kill him. A devilishly immersive read – Rose Wilding is a wonderful new talent’ Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.A propulsive and complexly layered story...Fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware won’t want to miss this one." – Nora Murphy, author of The Favor When the women had arrived fifteen minutes earlier, the head was covered by a pillowcase. They’d all taken their usual seats, all frowned at the makeshift altar in the center of the room, all wrinkled their nose at the smell of rot and pennies. There was no small talk, but Josie had asked what was under the pillowcase. When no one answered, Sarah stood and pulled the pillowcase off with a flourish, rolling her eyes, only for them to widen when she revealed what was underneath. Some of the women had screamed. Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review. A powerful feminist thriller . . . twisted in the best way’ Clémence Michallon, author of The Quiet Tenant The women are in a top-floor suite in a cheap hotel on the outskirts of the city, one of the best rooms once but now just a place to store broken things. Boxes of long-lost property disintegrate under the window and a mattress slumps against a wall.

The book plays about with time, and necessitates a regrouping now and again to sort out where the reader is in the timeline of the story. This does seem a popular thing to do at the moment, and I do not like it, but it takes only seconds to arrange your mind and you are on your way again and following the story. Olive nods at Sarah’s flask. “Suppose you did it while you were drunk. You mightn’t even remember.” This book started out with a bang, with 7 women gathering around the severed head of a man they all knew. After that, though, I felt there were too many characters and too little detail to get to really get to know them. The rest of the store gives you glimpses into each of the women and their reasons for hating Jamie while the reader, along with the detective, tries to figure out what happened. Seven women. A man’s head. Who swung the axe that killed Jamie Spellman? Rose Wilding’s debut novel is about the anger of women who are not heard and what happens when they take justice into their own hands. What about Olive? A still grieving widow who has been running from her past, she had long thought she knew exactly what occurred all those years ago, but what if she’s been wrong all along?

Further info

They took their usual seats around a makeshift alter in the center of the room, where under a pillowcase was the severed head of a man they all knew. Join New Writing North and The Bound to celebrate the launch of one of the most anticipated crime debuts of 2023 scorned women. One evil, manipulative man who happens to be missing his head. Which one of these women could have done it? And why?!