I don’t remember the last time I enjoyed a debut mystery so much. The Primrose Murder Society is Stacy Hackney’s first adult book. She leaves room for a sequel, but I don’t know if a second book would be written as well with the emotional details of a mother-daughter relationship. And, it’s funny as it demonstrates that ten-year-olds and seniors are alike in that they have no filters and are impulsive. Will that work in a future book?
After Lila Shaw’s husband, Ryan, was indicted for fraud and fled the country, she’s left with Bea, her ten-year-old daughter who longs for her father and doesn’t understand his absence. “At 35, Lila was homeless, in a failed marriage, with an empty bank account and a child who’d gotten kicked out of fourth grade.” The society ladies she thought were friends won’t have anything to do with her. She’s lucky her mother’s boyfriend has an apartment where she can stay. His dead mother’s apartment in the Primrose needs cleaning out. Lila is horrified when she and Bea move in temporarily. Stanley’s mother was a hoarder.
There’s worse news for a suddenly single mother, though. Twenty years earlier, the Primrose was the scene of a murder. A sixteen-year-old was killed in her grandfather”s apartment in this luxury complex for those over fifty-five. Now that he died, he left a trust with a two million dollar reward for anyone who finds the killer of his granddaughter, Sophia. The bad news for Lila? Her daughter, Bea, is a “Murder, She Wrote” fanatic who thinks they can solve the cold case murder.Once she meets Bea’s new sidekicks, Lila realizes she’s stuck with a “Stubborn ten-year-old obsessed with murder and a bossy eighty-year-old obsessed with herself.” It gets worse. When a senior is murdered in the building, Lila finds herself at the top of the suspect list.
There are wonderful, well-developed characters in The Primrose Murder Society. The mystery itself is laid out logically with unexpected twists. There’s humor, but also rough spots as Lila and Bea try to adjust to their new situation and relationship without Ryan. Both express their anger, fear and frustration. Well done, Stacy Hackney. I’m eager to discover where you’re going next.
Stacy Hackney’s website is https://stacyhackney.com/
The Primrose Murder Society by Stacy Hackney. William Morrow, 2026. 339p.
FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent a galley of the book, with no promise of a positive review.
Glad you liked it so much. Sounds fun. Inter-generational stories like this can be good if they’re well done. I know it’s not the same, but it makes me think a little of Richard Osman’s We Solve Murders, with the father in law, the daughter in law, and the older author.
I did, Jeff. You’re right. It’s not the same, but that doesn’t mean one can’t remind you of another. I liked that there were three generations that begrudgingly worked together.
Sounds like I would like it. Thank you for the review.
You’re welcome, Carol.
High praise! I almost always like adult books with kids in them, if they aren’t too mouthy and precocious. Bea sounds fun.
Bea could be mouthy, but she didn’t usually mean to be. Sometimes, she was being honest. And, she was really hurt that her father disappeared. She had a hard time adjusting.