A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon
Published by The Borough Press, 2022

Sometimes life doesn’t turn out the way you hope, but Linda always tries to make the best of things. She lives a normal existence, even though her mother’s a real pain and her husband is a bit of a disappointment, but she finds enjoyment in crosswords and her work in a charity shop.

She has few goals in life other than to find a “best friend”. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done, especially when …. (plot spoiler).

Linda’s life of cooking and cleaning (and yet more cleaning) seemed so suffocating and, as I got further into the book, I felt more and more sorry for her. Some people are marked out as victims and, as the story unfolded, there was a growing sense of awful inevitability and a fear of what would happen to her.

How to describe the plot?

There’s a murder locally, and then another, but this is no straightforward crime story. Try to imagine a compelling, particularly complex and multi layered episode of Wycliffe, written by Alan Bennett and adapted for TV by Victoria Wood. That’s as close as you’ll get.

Recommended.