Rosalind Stopps: A Beginner’s Guide to Murder
This book was – surprisingly – both charming and touching, along with being a suspenseful caper novel. Three older women – Grace, Daphne and Meg – are sitting in a London coffee shop together when a young, frightened girl lurches in. She heads for the restroom, and not long after a suspicious man comes in, claiming she’s his daughter. They tell him they’ve seen nothing and watch him leave, then they immediately scoot out the back, taking the young woman with them.
As the title indicates, these women are beginners in the art of murder, but their target is immediately obvious. What isn’t obvious are the personalities and characteristics of the women, and the author goes back in time to flesh out each character’s backstory, so the reader can see what shaped each one. While the three hadn’t really known each other well before the coffee shop incident, they are united in their desire to save the young girl, Nina. The real heartbreaker of the book is Nina’s story.