Murder by Natural Causes

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I’ll admit, I finished this book one week ago and Cilla’s self-assigned mission still leaves me wondering. Given the way she’s portrayed, does her decision make sense? Is it a sound one? I’m in two minds about it. Yes, after everything she’s gone through, autonomy and a normal life might sound appealing. On the other hand, her characterization makes it little more than a pipe dream, I think. Deep inside, I guess she’s aware of that, too, and yet. This is the author’s debut novel and I was intrigued by the synopsis. The eye catching cover drew my eye too. Cilla used to live a normal, merely boring life. The days and weeks passed on and all resembled the same routine. After two years doing jobs for Vlad, Cilla starts making preparations to leave: she doesn’t want this to be her whole life, and Vlad’s mercurial moods mean there’s always a chance of falling foul of this powerful, violent man. But, as Smithy, the talented forger whom she sometimes babysits for Vlad says, it’s highly unlikely that he’ll ever let either of them go… Thanks to Pigeonhole and the publisher for allowing me to read a copy. This was read over ten days, with a ‘stave’ released daily, as part of the Pigeonhole book club.

Cilla’s story is told in a dual timeline: one follows young Alexandria’s metamorphosis into the accomplished assassin, Cilla, and how she ends up with Vlad; the other details her present-day activities and her attempt at freedom. Cilla is certainly an interesting protagonist, proving eventually to not be quite as cold-blooded as she first seems, and making it hard not to cheer her on towards her goal. It is hard to believe this is debut novel as the story is so well crafted and the prose is of a high quality and written with an assurance one would expect of a more experienced author. On the side, she is able to take on jobs of her own but as things develop we see the lines becoming blurred. What do you thinks makes a psychopath? are they born or can they be trained? read this book and you may find some answers.This is the story of a young girl who is taken from her family by the Soviet authorities and trained to be a killer . What marks Cilla, as she becomes, is her ambivalence to her family and her unquestioning loyalty to the regime. Is she a natural psychopath or can she be trained.

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It’s difficult to include bridge in a novel. Describe the technicalities of the game and there is every chance that non-bridge players will fall asleep after three sentences. Better perhaps to concentrate on the emotions; the heady highs and crushing lows that come from winning and losing at cards. Given that this is true, it seemed natural to use TGR’s, The Great Rose, one of the few bridge clubs where a high stakes money game is still played, as a setting for the action in my debut novel: Murder by Natural Causes. Take one gangster owner of the premises, add his pet assassin: Cilla, throw in a few murders along the way, ones where the victims are never identified as such because the executions are disguised as deaths by natural causes, and you have yourself a plot. We are so thrilled to be publishing this deliciously dark début, featuring a strong, beguiling anti-hero, the inimitable Cilla, in an original and expert thriller,” Sarah and Kate Beal said. “Helen Erichsen is a rising star and one to watch.” This book had me rooting for the villain – Cilla is a curious character who manages to steal your heart. Her story is sad and heartbreaking. I loved all the information about her childhood and the experiences she faced. Currently, she kills people for the owner of TGR's bridge club in London, Vladimir Haugr, in return for a flat, a retainer and expenses: five jobs a year for the man also knows as Haugr the Ogre or, to those who get on the wrong side of him, Vlad the Impaler. And under conditions she very strictly controls, she does a bit of selective freelance work. Her attitude is pragmatic to the extreme, rather chilling, in fact.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the ending, I had hoped for more of a conclusion, but I think it has been left open to allow for a sequel. If there is a sequel I’ll be keeping an eye out for it. Muswell Press has landed Murder by Natural Causes, a thriller about a female assassin by début novelist Helen Erichsen. Bob Mortimer wins 2023 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction with The Satsuma Complex In a nutshell. Five thoroughly merited stars. If you want the version with a picture in it, you have to go here: Loved Killing Eve (the book and the TV series) and of course, Villanelle will come to mind when reading this. Cilla is also Russian and trained from a young age with 'special skills', killing people for money.

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I didn’t start playing bridge until I was in my thirties which makes it difficult to progress beyond a certain point. I make up for this deficit with good system and great partners. I’ve had some success playing with my husband Espen Erichsen. We won the European Mixed Teams in 2005 and were 4th in the same event in 2013. More recently we won the Norwegian Mixed Teams in 2020. I also play with Fiona Brown. We’ve qualified to play in the Lady Milne together a number of times. She is a brilliant bridge player and a good friend. Take a Look at Our Summary of November Highlights, Whether You're Looking for the Latest Releases or Gift Inspiration Her speciality is the dry job, a method of murder that leaves no outward traces and mimics death by natural causes. When working for her pay masters she finds herself in London working for a new boss. Is she happy in her work? She seems to be ; but as time passes her position seems to be changing and she seems be more and more unhappy in her work. And is she seeking a way out. This is the question she and the reader are asking themselves. A fast paced thriller that asks more questions than giving answers. As the storyline unfolds, we learn of Cilla's childhood and education - born in a very communist Soviet Union, she was whisked away at a young age and trained at the specialist academy 43 where she excelled. Cilla is a young woman who appears harmless when in actual fact she’s a contract killer for a local gangster. In her youth, Cilla was chosen and trained to work in Soviet Russia, carrying out killings. She manages to escape and ends up working for Vlad. Cilla puts a lot of effort in to make her killings look like natural causes. Feeling trapped by her life, she tries to escape from the dangerous world she’s operating in.

I'm really hoping that it's because there is going to be a sequel, but even if not, this is definitely an author that I'll be reading again! Brilliant read! The historical strand follows her shattered and disturbing childhood. Living in a rural family that is struggling and largely uncaring, we discover that Luna the dog is the only one she holds affection for, she is selected to go to a special school, Academy 43. Here their special talents are nurtured, but also, they are gradually desensitised to suffering and killing, to become highly trained killers. Naturally with the story centring on murder there are some gory descriptions and a little casual torture but it’s not visceral and ‘in your face’ as dry jobs are supposed to look like natural causes. If your spouse suddenly takes an interest in archery or buying lots of cherries, you might want to start paying attention though. The characters in the book were very well done. I liked Cilla overall and the author does a good job of making you warm to her, despite the awful things she’s done. I also really liked Smithy’s character, even if his name made me think of Gavin & Stacey. 😂 In it, we delve into the life of Cilla, a contract killer, and her strive for… absolution? Reparation? Normalcy? A bit of everything, I’d say.Murder by Natural Causes is published by Muswell Press and comes out on May 25th 2023. It is available via Waterstones and all good bookshops. Cilla reminded me of Villanelle from Killing Eve. There are some dark, gruesome parts in the book but there’s also some humour too. I absolutely loved this! It was quite different to anything I've read recently and I just couldn't put it down. The synopsis caught my eye from the get-go, and the actual novel didn’t disappoint. I’m so pleased by Murder by Natural Causes 😀 This was a decently enjoyable read, as you got to see both the beginning and the end of Cilla’s career as a contract killer- what made her the way she is, and both why and how she decided to move on from killing people. This isn’t my normal sort of read, but I did find some fascination in the way the story makes you increasingly sympathetic to Cilla. I listened to the audiobook of this, and it was narrated skillfully by Natalie Pela.

Cilla is a 22-year-old contract killer, specialising in the dry job: a murder interpreted as death by natural causes. Neither strong, nor beautiful, she isn’t your typical female protagonist. In fact, she is so unremarkable as to render her almost invisible, an advantage in her line of work. Villanelle was stunning, a standout beauty and mistress of disguise (and fashion). Cilla is non-descript, neither strong nor memorable. But she is well-trained with a wealth of chemical and potions at her disposal and the ability to make her murders appear as accidents or as the result of natural causes. And she's getting tired, at 22, of being at Vlad's command and having no future outside of murder. The plot follows two strands of Cilla’s life, one is her current (early 1990’s) life in England, the other her childhood past in Russia. The narrative regularly moves between the two, but this is seamless to the progression and straightforward to follow. A nicely constructed narrative.

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A very engaging audiobook, didn't lose concentration once, enjoyed the narrator's voice as Cilla and even sped it up to 2x speed to keep the flow! Not too gory for its genre, but with plenty of detail on training, plants and toxins, Communist ideology and hit-planning. We follow Cilla in her present day life, working, part time, for Vlad - drug lord, club owner, impaler! - definitely not a man to be messed with. Murder by Natural Causes is not high literature. It’s more of a ripping yarn. If it does well I might embark on a prequel. I’d like to like to write about bridge in the 1950’s and 60’s when the game was still glamourous and people dressed for the occasion. I’ll make sure to include a few more murders, just for the non-bridge players you understand. In this novel, the POVs of Cilla’s upbringing, future and her lifeline leading to the point of wanting to get a fresh clean slate. Murder By Natural Causes is the first novel by British bridge champion and author, Helen Erichsen. The audio version is narrated by Natalie Pela. Plain, ordinary, unremarkable: Cilla Wilson finds these attributes useful in her career as a contract killer. She’s twenty-two, but she’s been killing since she was fourteen. She’s very good at it, an expert at making a death look like it is from natural causes.