
Mad Mabel A Novel
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.
Published: April 21, 2026
Pages: 352
ISBN: 9781250284549
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1 rating
Matt D.
Elsie lives in a quiet street outside of Sydney. The neighbors are nosy and she doesn't quite get along with them all. One day, her nemisis in the house next door doesn't answer the door. When his body is found, it triggers a series of events that will force the past to come back to haunt Mabel. Murder, lies, and secrets swirl all around her. Mad Mabel has resurfaced and no one is ready for the consequences.
I've read several of Sally Hepworth's books and every one has been excellent. She has a way of making the characters come to life and almost jump from the page. Elsie is no exception and as we slowly learn her back story, it's clear that life has not always been easy for her. It is quite a ride to the end and the twists that smacked me across the face were unexpected. I couldn't put this book down!