This Girl's a Killer: A Novel

by Emma C. Wells

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

We support women's rights, and (when it comes to Cordelia Black) women's wrongs.

For readers of Finlay Donovan is Killing It and The Bandit Queens comes a bright and biting thriller following Cordelia Black, a best friend, a businesswoman, and, in her spare time, a killer of bad men.

Ask Cordelia Black why she did it. The answer will always be: He had it coming.

Cordelia Black loves exactly three things: Her chosen family, her hairdresser (worth every penny plus tip), and killing bad men.

By day she's an ambitious pharma rep with a flawless reputation and designer wardrobe. By night, she culls South Louisiana of unscrupulous men—monsters who think they've evaded justice, until they meet her. Sure, the evening news may have started throwing around phrases like "serial killer," but Cordelia knows that's absurd. She's not a killer, she is simply karma. And being karma requires complete and utter control.

But when Cordelia discovers a flaw in her perfectly designed system for eliminating monsters, pressure heightens. And it only intensifies when her best friend starts dating a man Cordelia isn't sure is a good person. Someone who might just unravel everything she has worked for.

Soon enough Cordelia has to come face to face with the choices she's made. The good, the bad, and the murderous. Both her family, and her freedom, depend on it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781464218620
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	10/29/2024
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	41
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

EMMA C. WELLS loves anti-heroes, dark humor, witty banter, and ride-or-die friendships. Twisty relationships are her kryptonite (or catnip—depending on how you look at it). THIS GIRL’S A KILLER is her debut novel. Emma lives in Louisiana where the novel is based. 

Editorial Reviews

07/15/2024

Wells debuts with a fast, funny look at the travails of Cordelia Black, a Baton Rouge, La., pharmaceutical rep who moonlights as a serial killer. Cordelia’s life is carefully constructed: she makes sales by day and dispenses with men who’ve gotten away with violent crimes by night. In her off hours, she hangs out with her college best friend, Diane, and Diane’s 13-year-old daughter, Samantha. But when the company Cordelia works for is threatened with a class-action lawsuit related to a medication’s dangerous side effects, her life begins to unravel. While she frets about potential layoffs triggered by the suit, the local news starts using the term “serial killer” when reporting on the missing men she’s murdered. To make matters worse, she senses that Diane’s smarmy new boyfriend may be cheating on her. Cracking under the pressure, the typically methodical Cordelia commits a murder without much forethought, setting in motion a chain of events that threatens to put her behind bars forever. Wells mines plenty of laughs and thrills from Cordelia’s attempts to claw her way to safety, with the darkness of the premise nicely balanced by the novel’s fizzy first-person narration. Anyone who’s ever wondered what kind of trouble a female Dexter Morgan would get up to is in luck. Agent: Ann Rose, Tobias Literary. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

SheReads Most Anticipated Thrillers of Fall 2024

Goodreads Readers' Most Anticipated Mystery Thrillers Fall 2024

"Completely riveting. When I wasn't reading about Cordelia Black, I was thinking about her. Utterly obsessed and ready to support all of Cordelia's wrongs!" — Jesse Q. Sutanto, national bestselling author of Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

"Blood-splattered, witty, and sharp, This Girl’s a Killer is the BFF serial killer thriller you need in your life." —Dea Poirier, bestselling author of Next Girl to Die and The Marriage Counselor

"In her fierce and feminist debut, Emma C. Wells combines taut thriller plotting with sharp, sassy humor and introduces an indelible antiheroine I’d follow anywhere. Cordelia Black is the ultimate girl’s girl, and as far as I’m concerned, she’s done nothing wrong ever in her life. All hail the new queen of the ‘Good for Her’ genre!" — Layne Fargo, author of They Never Learn

"Emma C. Wells has a hit on her hands with this debut! This Girl’s a Killer is a darkly delicious ride. Expertly dancing on the thin line between villain and anti-hero, Cordelia Black (what a perfect name!) is a woman with a killer style. She’s on a mission that will have you questioning your ethics as you root for her ruthless brand of justice. With a sweet, found family, heart-pounding moments of suspense, and an ending you’ll never see coming, This Girl’s a Killer will stick with you for a long, long time." — Xio Axelrod, USA Today bestselling author of Girls with Bad Reputations

"Wells mines plenty of laughs and thrills from Cordelia’s attempts to claw her way to safety, with the darkness of the premise nicely balanced by the novel’s fizzy first-person narration. Anyone who’s ever wondered what kind of trouble a female Dexter Morgan would get up to is in luck." — Publishers Weekly

"Pitch black comedy!" — Kirkus Reviews

"First-time novelist Wells ratchets up the tension to a fever pitch…for a gripping, thrilling read." — Booklist

From the Publisher

Listeners join Cordelia Black as her carefully constructed life starts to fall apart and her secret hobby of killing predatory men is at risk of being revealed. Narrator Stefanie Kay is the perfect voice for Cordelia, whose thoughts she brings alive. She successfully reveals both Cordelia's superior attitude and her strong desire to protect her loved ones, as well as the different personalities she chooses to adopt as part of her "hobby." Kay's strong characterizations are believable for both males and females, especially during the frequent scenes of dialogue. Her perfect timing keeps the plot moving, allowing listeners to savor story's the black humor. K.J.P. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2024 - AudioFile

2024-07-19
A Baton Rouge pharmaceutical sales rep has a side hustle that’s somewhat less therapeutic.

Life can be stressful for Cordelia Black. She’s still haunted by the way her relationship to clingy Joanie Brown turned out all those years ago. She’s not happy that the FDA has pulled Bosephan, the medication that’s been her biggest seller, off the market. And she instantly takes against her best friend Diane’s new boyfriend, Simon, a nurse who works at Mercy Hospital, where Diane is in the accounting department. On the bright side, Cordelia has a happy place she goes to whenever life is too much to bear: She stalks and kills sex abusers and sells their remains to Clarence Elgin of Spirited Gifts, an immoral but entirely legal broker for body parts. Luckily, she possesses a finely honed moral sense—“I had a code. I only killed monsters,” she confides—along with a strong will and a gift for organization that keeps her complicated life on track. When she realizes that the Feds may be curious about the samples of Bosephan that have gone missing from her possession because she’s been using them to dope her most recent victims, she comes up with a plan. But when she thinks Christopher, the local cop Diane has set her up with, may be getting a little too close for comfort, she must come up with another plan. Then, when something suddenly does go wrong, leading to a cascade of scrapes, misfortunes, and crises, Cordelia must plot anew if she’s going to survive this pitch-black comedy for the promised sequel.

Rated R for clinically detailed accounts of murder, dismemberment, and body disposal, but sadly, no sex. Maybe next time.

Kirkus Reviews