Killing Mum
3/5
()
About this ebook
Receiving ten grand as down payment on a hit isn't that much of a surprise to Carlos Morales. After all, arranging contract killings is his business. But he never expected that someone might want his mother dead!
What's equally troubling is the fact that the anonymous package arrived addressed to 'Charlie'. Only two people call him by that name: his wife and his mother. Has his wife just hired him to whack her mother-in-law? Or is his mother just looking for some help to put an end to her misery? Or maybe there's another answer entirely.
One thing's for sure: Carlos is about to find out.
Praise for KILLING MUM
"Dark, warped and funny, and with a surprising number of twists and turns for such a short book... Loved it." Big Beat From Badsville
"Nobody working today has Guthrie’s way with black humor and sweat-drenched suspense" Bookspot Central
"… another fantastic whirlwind of violence and intrigue from Allan Guthrie, who is fast becoming a master in his genre. It hits you a powerful punch in the very first paragraph and just gets darker from there on in." Euro Crime
"All I could do as a reader was hold on tight and get to the end... Not a word is wasted. The characters are real, where they live -- and how -- makes sense. They tell us about themselves not in what they say but in what they do, how they act, the way they move from one decision to another. … In that short space and time a complete world has been set up and a monumental chain of events has been completed. An amazing achievement." Sea Minor
"Guthrie packs his prose with real suspense, his usual droll take on human venality and enough surprises to keep you turning the pages quickly. A really nice piece of crime writing." Ed Gorman
"another fine contribution to hard-core noir by one if its finest contemporary practitioners" International Noir
Praise for SLAMMER
"SLAMMER is the most relentlessly page-turning novel this reviewer has come across in a long, long time … delving deep inside a mind that is quickly unravelling into psychotic madness." The Scotsman
"This is Guthrie's masterpiece to date, grim and brutal in tone, cunning in design and flawless in the telling." Bookgasm
"...an absolute masterpiece, really should be at the top of everyone's "must-read" list" Eurocrime
"...a gripping psychological crime novel. When we speak of those on the forefront of dark fiction ...Guthrie’s name is near the top of the list, and SLAMMER proves why." Bookspot Central
"a dark jigsaw-puzzle of a book... expect moments of 'oh, I see!' mingled with sharp sadness. Nick Glass is an unforgettable protagonist and Guthrie has placed him in a darkly tragic, poignant, and ultimately satisfying psychological thriller." The Drowning Machine
"Guthrie's prose is a series of short, sharp shocks, reeking of the visceral brutality of the toughest contemporary noir… those who enjoy the darker side of the genre are in for some serious thrills." The Guardian
"one of the best thrillers of the year" The Editor's Notebook
About the author:
Allan Guthrie is an award-winning Scottish crime writer. His debut novel, TWO-WAY SPLIT, was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger and went on to win the Theakstons Crime Novel Of The Year. He is the author of four other novels: KISS HER GOODBYE (nominated for an Edgar), HARD MAN, SAVAGE NIGHT and SLAMMER, and three novellas: KILL CLOCK, KILLING MUM and BYE BYE BABY. When he's not writing, he's a literary agent with Jenny Brown Associates.
Read more from Allan Guthrie
Hard Man: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Fifth of Bruen: Early Crime Fiction of Ken Bruen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKiss Her Goodbye Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bye Bye Baby Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kill Clock Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Killing Mum
20 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Different premise for a suspense tale but never developed the characters.
Left me cold. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Guthrie is a fine writer, and this novella gets nastier with every twist. It shows what can happen when there is lack of trust in a marriage as it pulls you deeper and deeper into the husband's nightmare. You won't forget this one for a while.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A bite sized entry from the author/agent Allan Guthrie that reads like a gritty noir dream, following a hitman's attempt to discover who put the contract out on his mother.Fast and furious and a pleasure to read!
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Seriously effed up. Overall, well written but much to dark for my tastes. Formatting was a hot mess too.
Book preview
Killing Mum - Allan Guthrie
Killing Mum
by
Allan Guthrie
First published by Five Leaves Publications, 2009
This edition published by Criminal-E, 2010
Copyright 2009, 2010 Allan Guthrie
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission of the author.
All the characters in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Cover photograph by Shahram Sharif
Cover design by JT Lindroos
Visit the author's website at:
http://www.allanguthrie.co.uk
Visit Criminal-E, Allan Guthrie's ebook crime fiction blog, at:
http://criminal-e.blogspot.com
Visit the print publisher's website at:
Five Leaves Publications
Version 4-3-5
ONE
The padded envelope contained a note and a bundle of cash. The note read:
Charlie—
Advance for Valerie Anderson. You know her address.
Second half of payment on completion of job.
It wasn't signed.
Carlos Morales counted the cash. He counted it again. Ten thousand pounds. He stuffed the money back in the envelope and placed it on the counter.
He was alone in the tanning studio today, which was just as well. He snaked out from behind the counter, grabbed the nearest rack and pulled it over. It crashed to the floor, crushing tubs of tanning lotion and beauty products that burst and spewed and leaked all over the previously squeaky clean floor.
"Mierda," he said, out of habit.
He stepped over the debris, walked to the door, locked it, switched the sign to 'closed'.
He slid his mobile out of his pocket and called home.
Maggie answered. What's wrong?
she said.
Just wanted to see how you were.
At ten past nine? What's wrong, Charlie?
There it was, the name on the note. He couldn't bring himself to think it might be her. There had to be some other explanation. Other people called him Charlie. Well, one other person.
He breathed in. Hadn't had a cigarette in ten months, but when he dreamed, he always had one in his hand. He wished he was dreaming right now. How's my little girl?
She's fine, misses her daddy.
Tell her to hang on. I'm closing up. I'll be there in twenty minutes.
***
Carlos climbed in his car, got the engine purring, thumbed through his CDs and couldn't find anything he wanted to listen to.
He sat there, the envelope on the passenger seat for company.
He looked away, out the window. People walking past looked blurred, as if he'd been crying. He rubbed his eyes. They were dry.
To his left, a grassy patch with a handful of trees. He focused on a squirrel, watched it sprint across ten feet of open ground and up the trunk of a tree. It stopped a few feet up, clung there, turned its head and stared at him.
Valerie Anderson, he heard it say. Nothing but a lonely old woman who's a little too fond of the bottle.
Carlos thought hard as he stared back at the squirrel. Someone knew his business. That was bad enough. But someone knew his private life, too, and that made Carlos extremely uncomfortable.
***
When he pulled up in his driveway, Maggie was at the door, waiting for him, Sofia in her arms.
He turned off the engine, pinched the envelope between thumb and fingers, climbed out of the car.
Maggie sauntered over to him, her flip-flops clacking against the soles of her feet, kissed his cheek. What's so bad you had to come home?
she said, quietly, her eyes too bright and more purple than blue.
He leaned in, saw that Sofia was asleep. He ran his thumb lightly over her scalp, stroked the fair downy hair she'd inherited from her mother. In the garden,
he said, leading the way round the side of the house, towards the back.
Grass needs cut,
Maggie said.
So cut it,
he said.
I'm just saying,
she said.
Well, don't.
What the fuck's wrong?
Don't swear at me.
Jesus, Charlie.
Her chin dimpled.
He sat down on the bench at the back of the house. Go put this in the safe.
He held out the money. The finances and the paperwork and all that, Maggie's job. He struggled with numbers. No, that wasn't true. He could do it all right, he just chose not to. It bored him, whereas Maggie seemed to get