First published 2025
Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick sits on her porch at eighty-one, watching Kenny Lane like she has for sixty years. The neighbors see a meddling old woman who knows everyone's business. They don't see the murderer. Elsie has spent decades burying her past as "Mad Mabel," the little girl with a talent for making people die. Her quiet life cracks when a chatty new girl moves in next door. The child won't leave Elsie alone, asking questions and digging into stories that should stay buried. As the girl pushes closer to the truth, Elsie's carefully built world starts falling apart. The deaths that followed her from childhood threaten to surface again. Elsie must decide whether to run from her history or face what she's always been. Sally Hepworth weaves past and present together as two generations collide on a street where secrets kill.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Porch
Period: Sixty Years, Eighty-One
336 pages · Paperback · Macmillian
Content warnings: murder, violence