Mad Mabel
Fiction
St. Martin's Press
April 21, 2026
Audiobook
352
Publisher via NetGalley
There are two kinds of people no one ever expects to be murderers: little girls and old ladies. Meet Mad Mabel. Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is eighty-one years old. She's lived on her idyllic street, Kenny Lane, for sixty years--longer than anyone else. Aside from being a curmudgeon who minds everyone else's business, few would suspect that Elsie has a past that she has worked exceedingly hard at concealing. Because when it comes to murder, no one ever suspects little girls or old ladies. And Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, once a little girl and now an old lady, has a strange history of people in her life coming to a foul end. When a new little girl (talkative, curious, nosy) moves into the neighborhood and stops at nothing to befriend Elsie, her carefully-constructed life threatens to come crashing down as the secrets in Elsie's past start coming to light. Who was "Mad Mabel" fifty years ago? Who is Elsie Fitzpatrick today? And if the past has a habit of repeating itself, who has the most to lose? Told with Sally Hepworth's twists, humor, charm, and heart, MAD MABEL is novel that weaves past and present together--through the power of justice and redemption, and all the way to its stunning conclusion.
My review:
My favorite of Hepworth’s books thus far (and I’ve read them all)!
I love a book with an older protagonist, and Elsie (Mabel) was perfect. One minute I was chortling with laughter and a few pages later I wanted to cry for her. The sense of found family after a childless and difficult upbringing was such a delight. All of the side characters were well constructed and filled out, especially darling Persephone. I really liked how the story was constructed, alternating between Mabel’s childhood and her present life. I never saw the ending coming (especially one part), and I may have gasped when I read it!
Such a well rounded read and one that I couldn’t put down! I listened to the audio and the narrators did a great job voicing Elsie/Mabel.