My Murder - by Katie Williams (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Lou is a happily married mother of an adorable toddler. She's also the clone of the original Louise who, along with four other victims of a local serial killer, has been brought back to life by a government project to return the women to their grieving families. But as the new Lou re-adapts to her old life, questions remain about what exactly preceded her death, and how much to trust those around her. ... Darkly comic and lightly speculative, My Murder offers an exploration of ideas about personal identity, domestic life, and reinvention, within a thrilling, surprising, and entertaining mystery"--

Book Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR AND GLAMOUR!

"One of those rare emotionally intelligent books that are also fun reads... Going to keep readers turning pages late into the night." -The New York Times

"Ingenious...fresh and unpredictable." -The Washington Post

"Gleefully overturn[s] the age-old 'woman-in-trouble' plot...eerie and inventive." -NPR's Fresh Air

What if the murder you had to solve was your own?

Lou is a happily married mother of an adorable toddler. She's also the victim of a local serial killer. Recently brought back to life and returned to her grieving family by a government project, she is grateful for this second chance. But as the new Lou re-adapts to her old routines, and as she bonds with other female victims, she realizes that disturbing questions remain about what exactly preceded her death and how much she can really trust those around her.

Now it's not enough to care for her child, love her husband, and work the job she's always enjoyed--she must also figure out the circumstances of her death. Darkly comic, tautly paced, and full of surprises, My Murder is a devour-in-one-sitting, clever twist on the classic thriller.

Review Quotes

Praise for My Murder

"Somewhere between George Saunders's biting social satire and Anne Tyler's tender concern for character and consequence. . .My Murder is one of those rare emotionally intelligent books that are also fun reads, and it even manages to perform two or three plot turns that are so masterly that they would make Ira Levin blush. You can read the ending as happy -- or as existential horror, as I do -- but in any case it's a book that's going to keep readers turning pages late into the night."-- Dan Chaon, The New York Times Book Review

"Williams deftly swirls science fiction and domestic suspense plotlines into this fresh and unpredictable tale. . . Imbued with a sharp feminist consciousness, My Murder cheekily invokes and subverts the conventional serial-killer-stalking-terrified-women plot. . .Bringing together the futuristic visions of speculative fiction with the familiar tropes of domestic suspense and noir, My Murder shakes up the same-old, same-old conventions of every genre it touches and has a ton of fun doing so." --Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post

"Gleefully overturn(s) the age-old 'woman-in-trouble" plot. . .eerie and inventive."--NPR, Fresh Air

"An immersive literary thrill ride."--Oprah Daily

"A delightful and thought-provoking exploration of the true crime industrial complex that's not to be missed."--Glamour, "Best Books of 2023"

"Daring. . . a fantastic thriller."--Town & Country

"Smart, scary and full of twists." --Real Simple

"A singular voice and a winning narrative that will stay with you for days." --BookPage

"A clever speculative story of cloning and crime...Though the tone is darkly comic, Williams poses provocative questions about cloning and resurrection, and she pulls off an intelligent murder mystery to boot. This creep-fest is acerbic and disturbing in equal measure."--Publishers Weekly

"With this suspenseful, smart sophomore effort--a briskly paced story with charming characters at its core--Williams again imagines a near-futuristic, science-altered reality that offers an intriguing perspective on the push-pull of family and freedom...[A]n intelligent, insightful murder mystery that illuminates her imagined world and our own." --Kirkus Reviews, STARRED review

"Startling and original, My Murder is a gripping speculative twist on the crime novel."--Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Girl on the Train

"Captivating and provocative, My Murder is at once a tense mystery and a bracing take on the realities of early motherhood. As Jessamine Chan does in The School for Good Mothers, Katie Williams looks at where society's fixation on women's bodies and minds might take us in the near future, to chilling effect. It's a sinister, daring thriller, with an absolute corker of an ending that I never saw coming." --Flynn Berry, New York Times bestselling author of Northern Spy

"Katie Williams' My Murder is a sly, captivating twister of a novel. Darkly funny, deeply scary and utterly original, it will keep you guessing until its final, haunting pages."--Megan Abbott, New York Times-bestselling author of The Turnout

"I couldn't have inhaled My Murder more ravenously. Beautifully written, eerie, and darkly comic, with an irresistible premise flawlessly executed... My Murder is a revelation." --Katie Gutierrez, author of More Than You'll Ever Know

"Confident, hypnotic and original... Katie Williams brilliantly executes a smart, speculative twist on domestic suspense, and it makes for a completely absorbing ride." --Ashley Audrain, New York Times-bestselling author of The Push

"When did I last read a thriller this cool, this confident? This clever? A novel so hard-charging yet light on its feet? But best and most of all, this book is F-U-N. Once you've turned the final page, after you've read that amazingly poignant final line, you can marvel at the invention and brio of My Murder; in the heady moment, though, you'll be enjoying yourself far too much." --A. J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window

About the Author

Katie Williams is the author of the novel Tell the Machine Goodnight, which was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, and young adult novels, The Space Between Trees and Absent. Her short fiction has appeared in The Atlantic, American Short Fiction, Prairie Schooner and elsewhere. Williams earned her MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin. She is an assistant professor at Emerson College in Boston.