Mad Mabel

Mad Mabel ~ Sally Hepworth

Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is 81 and lives on a quiet street in Melbourne. She has lived there for decades, and is the type of person to speak her mind, often when she should probably keep her mouth shut. When she finds the body of her dead neighbor, a neighbor she never liked, her history as the youngest person ever convicted of murder comes to the forefront, and a media circus ensues.

From here we go back to her childhood, to the deaths that surrounded her – her sister, her mother, and others. How she was teased by her classmates for being tall and having red hair. To the time spent with her beloved aunt and her aunt’s companion. Then back to today. Eventually, a couple of YouTubers decide they want to tell the story, which gives us structure and fills in some gaps.

I liked this book fine, but I didn’t love it. I liked Mabel, and I disliked those who hurt her along the way. There was one surprise at the end that was obvious from pretty early on, and another that I did not see coming. Recommended.