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*FEATURED IN SUNDAY TIMES, NEW YORK TIMES, APPLE’S BEST BOOKS, AMAZON’S BEST BOOKS OF JUNE,
CRIMEREADS RECOMMENDS AND LITHUB’S TOP BOOKS*

‘SARAH WATERS AND DONNA TARTT SQUAD, BUCKLE UP: Killingly is hitting the Plain Bad Heroines place in my heart again’ Autostraddle

‘Impressive’ Sunday Times

‘Gothic atmosphere, great period detail and a genuine shock at the end’ Guardian

1897, New England. Agnes and Bertha are best friends. Clever, eccentric misfits at an elite college for young women, they study earnestly, write poems for each other and explore the woods around campus at night. One morning, Bertha vanishes.

Called down from Boston, renowned missing person expert Detective Higham arrives to find the tranquil college in chaos. A treasured pearl dagger has disappeared from a student’s bedroom. The most popular debutante on campus is losing her mind. There are rumours of a ghostly woman at the train station.

As he questions the students and teachers, Higham unearths a strange story of doomed love, ambition and tragedy which could shatter the college’s glittering reputation forever . . .
A gothic, turn-of-the-century campus thriller about female desire, rage and ambition, perfect for fans of TRIFLERS NEED NOT APPLY, THE BINDING and FINGERSMITH . . .
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EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT KILLINGLY:

‘A haunting story . . . will stay with me long after reading’ ELIZABETH LEE, author of Cunning Women

‘Completely engrossing. Unforgettable!’ MARTHA CONWAY, author of The Physician’s Daughter

‘Beutner is masterful at depicting the intrigue and innuendo of a women’s college. Perfect pacing . . . grows increasingly shocking as the pages turn’ The Akron Beacon Journal

Publisher Review

A haunting story of the disappearance of a young woman and the devastating aftermath for those who love her, Killingly is a moving portrayal of loss, sisterhood and the quiet heroism of women. This book and its characters will stay with me long after reading. -- Elizabeth Lee, author of Cunning Women Katharine Beutner has spun a lost scrap of history into a campus mystery novel set in the late 1800s, when an elite women's college is consumed by the search for a missing student. Gossip and clues to her whereabouts-or her death-fester with accusation and suspicion. In their longing to find the beloved young woman, her best friend Agnes and her older sister Florence must each grapple with their own dangerous secrets. A story of women who defy strict rules, Killingly is a gripping novel of intrigue and surprising twists. -- Kate Manning Secrets upon secrets unfold in this completely engrossing story about the disappearance of a Mount Holyoke girl in the late 1800s. I was half-charmed, half-horrified by every peculiar character and every unexpected twist. Unforgettable! -- Martha Conway, author of The Physician's Daughter KILLINGLY moves deliberately, achingly, through one young woman's disappearance in 1897. Out of the real-life facts of the case, Katharine Beutner makes extraordinary fiction, pushing against the limits of her characters' situations and propelling us to the heights of their ambitions. Beutner's novel is able to discover an answer to Bertha Mellish's mystery. Now, more than ever, we need to know the truth this story reveals. -- Julia Phillips, author of National Book Award Finalist Disappearing Earth This is a superb novel, suffused with dread, riddled with covert motivations and desires, reckoning with painful secrets, artfully rendering the myriad facets of this mysterious case while bearing witness to the sacrifices many women have made to live-and die-authentically. -- -Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Dog of the North and The Portable Veblen