Book Title: AN ETHICAL GUIDE TO MURDER
Character Name: Thea Greaves
How would you describe your family or your childhood?
Not ideal. Dead parents. Deep seated need for revenge—Opps, I mean justice. Raised by a granddad who thinks ‘How are you?’ is a personal question.
What was your greatest talent?
Most people would say it’s my ability to tell when people are going to die just by touching them and redistribute that life from one person to another. But I’d say it’s my extensive chorological knowledge of Busted and S Club 7.
Significant other?
Sam, my partner in life, death and murder. He doesn’t want to put a label on it though. It’s cool, I’m very chill about it.
Biggest challenge in relationships?
I can’t think of anything. As I said I’m just a very chill person. Why, did someone say I wasn’t? Give me their name.
Where do you live?
In Clapham with my real significant other, best friend of seventeen years, Ruth. She gives me subsidized rent and I steal her food. To be fair, I did save her life. Sure, I killed someone else in the process, but it was an accident, to begin with…
Do you have any enemies?
Where to start? Currently I’m torn between the person who killed my parents in a hit and run and my boss who I’m convinced makes up petty administrative tasks just to torture me.
How do you feel about the place where you are now? Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place?
Ruth’s flat is home. I love the out of place porcelain cat that sits on our coffee table. I bought it at a flea market. Ruth thinks it’s creepy and possibly haunted, but I think it has character.
Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
Neither, I’d kill for a Goldendoodle though. That woman I saw kick one better watch herself. I love babies too. Nothing better than sniffing the skull of a newborn.
What do you do for a living?
Human Resources at a bank. This rarely invites further questions. I’m just using it as a steppingstone to help me get back into law (failed the bar, long story).
Greatest disappointment?
See above. Also, the dead parents were a real bummer.
Greatest source of joy?
Lobster mac and cheese.
What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
Curl up on the sofa with Ruth, Thai food and True Crime USA. It has to be the American version because their crimes are so much more interesting than ours – must be all the British repression stunting criminals’ imaginations.
What is your greatest personal failing, in your view?
Well, sometimes I can be a bit impulsive. But I think calling that a personal failing is a bit harsh. It was really hard on me having my parents die so young and now I’m dealing with an impossible situation so sure sometimes I make a mistake or two. Don’t we all?
What keeps you awake at night?
Trying to figure out who deserves to live and who deserves to die. Sometimes I wish I could just not use my power, but inaction is also a decision. God, having power over life and death is such an ethical minefield and yeah, not conducive to sleep.
What is the most pressing problem you have at the moment?
The guy I killed to save Ruth only had six months to live, which means if I don’t pick someone else to die, it’ll be her in six months’ time. So, I need to figure who to steal life from next, and fast.
Is there something that you need or want that you don’t have? For yourself or for someone important to you?
The name of the person who killed my parents. Also, unlimited lobster mac and cheese.
Why don’t you have it? What is in the way?
Life’s not fair. Probably capitalism or something.
Thea has a secret. She can tell how long someone has left to live just by touching them. Not only that, but she can transfer life from one person to another—something she finds out the hard way when her best friend, Ruth, suffers a fatal head injury on a night out. Desperate to save her, Thea accidentally kills the man responsible and lets his life flow directly into Ruth.
Thea comes to understand that she has a godlike power, but how to use it quickly becomes a question of self-control. Is it really so wrong to take a little life from a bad person—say, a very annoying boss—and gift it to someone who's truly good? Realizing she needs to harness her newfound skills, Thea creates an Ethical Guide to Murder. But as she embarks on her mission to punish the wicked and give the deserving more time, she finds good and bad aren't as simple as she first thought.
How can she really know who deserves to live and die, and can she figure out her own rules before Ruth’s borrowed time runs out?
Mystery | Science Fiction | Thriller [MIRA, On Sale: May 20, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book , ISBN: 9780778387350 / ]
Jenny Morris lives in Crowborough, the home of Winnie the Pooh and an outrageous number of charity shops. She loves a moral dilemma, and writes high-concept crime novels that explore deep philosophical questions like 'How much would I have to pay you to eat a human toe?' She has a PhD in Cognitive Psychology and works as a behavioral scientist. When not reading or writing, she enjoys galloping around the Ashdown Forest on a horse, foraging for mushrooms and getting way too intense about board games at the pub.
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