Published June 4th, 2026 by HQ
Dark Comdey, Suspense, Mystery, Crime Fiction, Psychological Thriller
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
The brand-new gripping dark comedy thriller from the world of the Sweetpea series – Now a major TV series on Sky Atlantic, starring Ella Purnell!
Murder can be a family business …
Even wallflowers have to bloom.
Sixteen-year-old Ivy is your average teenager. She’s annoyed by the scratchy labels on her school uniform, old men who wolf-whistle, and her mother the serial killer.
But is murder in her roots?
Ivy was raised far away from the shadows of Rhiannon Lewis, the Sweetpea killer, but when the local predator – better known as Ivy’s football coach – is found dead, could it be that she has discovered a taste for blood?
As suspicion grows deeper, Ivy’s only way out is to get some motherly advice. But when the internet’s unlikeliest vigilantes determine that Ivy must be punished for her mother’s crimes, she must decide whether to control the rage burning inside her.
Or to unleash her thorns…
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MY REVIEW:
Move over Sweetpea; there’s a new flower in bloom and she’s ready to take centre stage.
It’s no secret that Sweetpea is my favourite series of all time and I was bereft when it was over. But C. J. Skuse did hint that she *might* write a book from the perspective of Ivy, Rhiannon’s daughter. I’m thrilled to say not only has she done it, but it’s bloody brilliant. I finished this book a few days ago and I haven’t been able to pick up anything else as I’m still reeling. That ending!! How could you end the book there?! My jaw is still on the floor and I need the rest of the story right now!
Darkly funny, sassy, compelling and emotional, this book had me in a chokehold from the first page to the last. As the story is from a new character’s perspective, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But thankfully this book has everything I’ve come to love about the Sweetpea series and more: the humour is black as ink, there is bloody murder, complex characters and heaps of emotion. Expertly written, intricately interwoven and perfectly plotted, it showcases why C.J. is one of my favourite authors. It’s also a masterclass in ambiguity, making you torn between rooting for wickedness and knowing murder is wrong.
When we meet Ivy things aren’t going well. Not only is she an angst-ridden sixteen-year-old, but her adoptive mum is dying and she’s under suspicion after the pervy football coach at her school was found murdered. Everyone seems to think murder runs in the blood and she’s just like her biological mother – serial killer Rhiannon Lewis. But Ivy maintains her innocence. So, with nowhere else to turn, she reaches out to Rhiannon for advice and goes down the rabbit hole of her mother’s crimes. Meanwhile, there is a creepy man who follows her everywhere, she’s arguing with her girlfriend, and she’s facing being left with no-one once her adoptive mother dies. It’s an emotional rollercoaster and C.J. took me along for every bump of the ride.
I loved Ivy. She is such a great character who was easy to like and root for despite and I was with her on every step of her escapades. She might have spiky edges, but at heart Ivy is a vulnerable teenager who is trying to find her place in the world. She acts out but all she wants is a family and a place to belong. She’s also trying to escape the shadow that her birth mother has cast over her life, no mean feat when everyone knows who she is, what she did, and she’s about to give a live TV interview from jail about her crimes. I also loved being back with Rhiannon and seeing some new sides to her in addition to the ones we know and love. No one writes a complex anti-hero like C. J.
Read it now!
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
C.J. Skuse is the bestselling author of the Sweetpea series (2017–2024), along with six other novels spanning both young adult and adult crime fiction. She holds First-Class degrees in Creative Writing and Writing for Young People and earned a PhD by Publication from the University of Gloucestershire in 2025. Her work has received multiple accolades, including the Dumfries and Burgh Book Award and the Jean Monnet University Student Literary Prize in France. She has also been shortlisted for the Lancashire Book of the Year, the BookTrust Best Book Award, and longlisted for the Branford Boase. Skuse was credited by The Guardian with pioneering the ‘YA antiheroine’ trend following the publication of her debut novel Pretty Bad Things. Her adult debut Sweetpea was a flagship title in the rise of ‘Sassy Noir’ – a crime fiction subgenre defined by confident, darkly complex female protagonists, often serial killers, and infused with biting social satire.
Sweetpea was optioned for television by See-Saw Films in 2017 and premiered on Sky Atlantic on October 10, 2024 starring Ella Purnell. A second series is currently in production.
Skuse now writes full-time and lives in South West England.
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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxxxx
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