08-03-2026, 09:51 AM
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
Mad Mabel was the youngest person ever sentenced to prison for murder in Australia. Now, 81, Mabel is living out here life on a quiet street in a Sydney suburb where people don't know her past but they soon will. The novel is told from her viewpoint and flashes back and forth between her young life leading up to the murder and her present day life with her neighbors. Mabel is gruff and sarcastic and is really sick of the neighbor 7 year old coming to bother her. Things begin to unravel for her when she finds her neighbor dead in his kitchen.
Now the author plays tricks. They never really look that hard at the dead neighbor. It's more about the murder she goes to jail for. The present day murder is only a vehicle for all Mabel's neighbors to learn her secrets, too.
There is also a big gotcha in the book that I kind of figured out halfway through the book. Is one of the characters in the story or part of a delusion. As mysteries go, it wasn't much of one.
Mad Mabel was the youngest person ever sentenced to prison for murder in Australia. Now, 81, Mabel is living out here life on a quiet street in a Sydney suburb where people don't know her past but they soon will. The novel is told from her viewpoint and flashes back and forth between her young life leading up to the murder and her present day life with her neighbors. Mabel is gruff and sarcastic and is really sick of the neighbor 7 year old coming to bother her. Things begin to unravel for her when she finds her neighbor dead in his kitchen.
Now the author plays tricks. They never really look that hard at the dead neighbor. It's more about the murder she goes to jail for. The present day murder is only a vehicle for all Mabel's neighbors to learn her secrets, too.
There is also a big gotcha in the book that I kind of figured out halfway through the book. Is one of the characters in the story or part of a delusion. As mysteries go, it wasn't much of one.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm