An Ethical Guide To Murder: The darkly twisted debut thriller of the year

How to Kill Your Family meets The Power in this entertaining and thought-provoking read, that asks: if you had the power between life and death, what would you do? Thea has a secret. She can tell how long someone has left to live just by touching them. Not only that, but she can transfer life from one person to another – something she finds out the hard way when her best friend Ruth suffers a fatal head injury on a night out. Desperate to save her, Thea touches the arm of the man responsible when he comes to check if Ruth is all right. As Ruth comes to, the man quietly slumps to the ground, dead.

Thea realises that she has a godlike power: but despite deciding to use her ability for good, she can’t help but sometimes use it for her own benefit. Boss annoying her at work? She can take some life from them and give it as a tip to her masseuse for a great job. Creating an ‘Ethical Guide to Murder’ helps Thea to focus her new-found skills. But as she embarks on her mission to punish the wicked and give the deserving more time, she finds that it isn’t as simple as she first thought.

How can she really know who deserves to die, and can she figure out her own rules before Ruth’s borrowed time runs out?

‘Relatable, poignant, and filled with unexpected twists’ Jenny Hollander, author of Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead

‘Jenny Morris has taken the "with great power comes great responsibility" concept and applied it to someone who struggles to be responsible for her own laundry. A marvellous debut!’ Alice Bell, author of Grave Expectations

‘An Ethical Guide to Murder is the best type of book – one that’s as entertaining as it is thought-provoking. With Thea, Jenny Morris has created one of the most interesting characters that I’ve read in a long time’ Kellye Garrett, award winning author of Missing White Woman

‘Fresh and fun, I loved this original take on the crime genre. Combining ethics with a good old revenge story, I raced through this unexpectedly poignant novel. A fabulous debut!’ Sam Holland, author of The Echo Man

© 2025 Simon & Schuster Audio UK (Lydbog): 9781398534445

Release date

Lydbog: 16. januar 2025