Miss Murder
They call me 'Miss Murder,' but I'm a fraud. Unable to visualize stories myself, I’ve been publishing anonymous manuscripts sent to my door to pay for my mother’s care. But the charade ends today. A woman claims my new book depicts her son's real-life murder. I realized too late that I haven't been publishing fiction; I've been publishing confessions. And the killer is closer than I thought.
- Luna - Writer
- Stephen - Luna’s boyfriend
- Madeline - Luna’s mother
- Vincent - Madeline’s caregiver
- Mr. Charles Dickens - Luna’s ghostwriter
- Janice - Luna’s editor
- Val - Cody's mother
- Alyssa Lake - Talk show host
- Luna wants to be a writer, but she has aphantasia, which makes it very difficult.
- Luna makes a social media post about how she wants to write a book to help her Mom who has locked-in syndrome and has mounting medical bills.
- Someone with the username Mr. Charles Dickens messages her, saying they can help.
- He says he’ll send her a book on the first of every month; she is to publish it as her own and be the face. He doesn’t want any of the money - he just wants her to be happy.
- Luna publishes the books under the pen name ‘Miss Murder.’
- Val knocks on Luna’s door saying her latest book describes her son’s murder in detail and accusing her of profiting off of real murders.
- Val does a livestream talking about her son Cody and how Miss Murder profited off his death.
- Luna messages Mr. Charles Dickens about Val but he just says to stick to their plan.
- Luna goes to her usual cafe and sees Stephen there with Janice looking very cozy.
- Luna throws Stephen out of her house.
- Luna goes to Janice’s house to give her the latest manuscript.
- When Janice doesn’t open the door Luna walks in and follows the smell of ink into the basement.
- In the basement is Janice’s office where Luna finds newspaper articles about the cases that inspired the manuscripts and a typewriter in a case with blood on it.
- Luna realizes that Janice is Mr. Charles Dickens and that she is the one who committed the murders from all of her books.
- Luna returns home where Vincent notices her Range Rover is dented but she doesn’t remember hitting anything.
- Mr. Charles Dickens messages Luna; he admits he did commit the murders and he did it for Luna because she needed stories.
- Janice asks Luna to meet her at a diner but Janice never shows.
- Luna returns home to find a very short manuscript on her desk that describes hunting down Stephen.
- A detective shows up at Luna’s door about a hit-and-run they think she was involved in.
- He gives her a ticket for hitting a parked vehicle and leaves.
- Luna asks about the internet rumors and he tells her that while it’s not tasteful it’s not illegal to write fiction based on real life events and she's not in any legal trouble for that.
- Luna goes to Vincent’s room looking for him and finds Janice’s and Stephen’s phones there.
- Luna sneaks back over to Janice’s house and finds a note addressed to her; it says that Victor threatened Janice into writing the books, she was forced to attend the crime scenes and document his murders or he would kill her parents.
- Luna goes to see Val and tells her that if she retracts her statements so that Luna doesn’t lose the income she uses to care for her mother then she will tell Val who killed Cody so Val can get the justice she craves.
- Val agrees and follows through, doing a livestream admitting she made a mistake and apologizing to Luna for the false accusations.
- Luna hits Vincent with a baseball bat and drags his body into her office and calls Val.
- Vincent admits to the murders to Val and Luna.
- Val starts to strangle Vincent, and then Luna hits her with the bat.
- Vincent says he killed Stephen because Luna wanted him gone; all he’s ever wanted is for Luna to be happy.
- Luna tells Vincent he took away her ability to write her own story by feeding her his, and if he wants to prove he would do anything for her, he must kill Val - and then she will write the story.
- Vincent takes the bat and kills Val while Luna watches and writes.
- Epilogue: Luna publishes the book about Val’s murder called ‘Keep Your Lies’ and everyone loves it more than any of her previous books.
- Luna appears on Alyssa’s show. Off-air, Alyssa makes a remark about the new book, saying, “It’s different than the others, like you actually wrote it yourself,” making Luna think Alyssa may be the inspiration for her next book.
I am still reeling from this book! Zia Rayyan delivered something truly unique with the premise of Miss Murder. I loved the main character, Luna; her deep-seated desire to help her mother made her so sympathetic and kept me emotionally invested in her journey from page one.
The pacing is a medium burn that lets the tension build naturally, and Zia’s writing style is incredibly engaging - she has a way of pulling you into Luna’s head that makes the pages fly by. But the real gem was the final twist! I did not see it coming at all, and it completely redefined the entire story for me. It left me ready to jump into the sequel immediately.
- Janice - Dead - Killed by Victor
- Stephen - Dead - Killed by Victor
- Victor - Alive - Inspiring Luna to write her own books
- Luna - Alive - Loving to write her own books
- Val - Dead - Killed by Victor
- Alyssa - Alive - At risk of becoming Luna's next victim
- Murder
Publisher: Independently Published
ASIN: B0F3W7QKR1
Publication Date: April 5, 2025
Note: Details are for the original edition. Other formats, editions, and audiobook versions may be available.