The Birthday Girl by Sarah Ward

Welcome to Eldey, an island with deadly secrets.

Mona: a carefree artist, staying at the Cloister to work on her illustrations.

Beth: the harried mother of a toddler, on the remote Welsh island for a weekend with her family.

Charlotte: a reluctant stepmother who wanted a romantic getaway with her husband.

One of them is a serial killer who poisoned four of her friends at her eleventh birthday party.

They all fit the profile. Who will risk everything to kill again?

An absolutely gripping Welsh crime novel, perfect for fans of Sarah Pearce and Lucy Foley.

About the author

Sarah Ward is the author of four DC Childs novels, In Bitter Chill, A Deadly Thaw, A Patient Fury and The Shrouded Path set in the Derbyshire Peak District where she lives. She also writes gothic thrillers under the name Rhiannon Ward. The Quickening is out now.

Sarah was a 2015 Amazon Rising Star, A Patient Fury was The Observer's Thriller of the Month in 2017 and The Shrouded Path an Amazon kindle top ten bestseller.

Follow Sarah on Twitter @sarahrward1

Find her on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/SarahWardCrime

Review

‘The Birthday Girl’ is a brilliant ‘locked room’ mystery that keeps the readers guessing! It reminds me of a few other books which have come out recently like the ‘The Guest List’ by Lucy Foley and ‘The Retreat’ by Sarah Pearse and of course the OG ‘And Then There Were None’ by Agatha Christie. But Sarah manages to stand tall among them with her book and I loved reading about Mallory and I am certainly going to be making a note of when the follow-up is coming out! This is the first time I have read anything by this author and I was impressed, so I will definitely be looking into reading her other crime series set in Derbyshire.

Retired police detective Mallory Dawson is the new night manager at a luxury hotel on Eldey Island, just off the Pembrokeshire coast at Tenby. When one of the guests is found dead Mallory suspects that they have been poisoned and that the infamous Birthday Girl is on the island. The Birthday Girl poisoned four of her friends at her 11th birthday party. There are three suspects also staying at the hotel and Mallory needs to deduce who the killer is before they strike again!

I really enjoyed this book and devoured it in one afternoon! It is a very compelling story and I was gripped straight away. The ‘locked room’ aspect is more of a locked island but it worked very well. The setting of Eldey Island was very atmospheric and the inclusion of the historical aspect of the nuns added an extra element to the story.

Even though you know the killer is one of three people I keep going back and forth between them as I couldn't guess who it was going to be! Mallory was a brilliant character - strong, determined and quick thinking in a crisis. This book is the start of a new series that features Mallory and I'm excited to read what happens next in her life.

Let me know if you pick this one up!