Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

Sometimes bad things happen to good people, so good people have to do bad things. Alice Feeney, returns with another thrilling mystery filled with drama and her trademark surprises.

Twenty years after a baby is stolen from a stroller, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth.

Edith may have been tricked into a nursing home, but at eighty-years-young, she’s planning her escape. Patience works there, cleaning messes and bonding with Edith, a kindred spirit. But Patience is lying to Edith about almost everything.

Edith’s own daughter, Clio, won’t speak to her. And someone new is about to knock on Clio’s door…and their intentions aren’t good.

With every reason to distrust each other, the women must solve a mystery with three suspects, two murders, and one victim. If they do, they might just find out what happened to the baby who disappeared, the mother who lost her, and the connections that bind them.

In the style of Daisy Darker and Rock Paper Scissors, Good Bad Girl is a thriller in which nobody can be trusted and the twists come fast and furious.

Kobo Edition, 306 pages

Published August 29, 2023

by Flatiron Books

4/5 stars

This is my first time reading an Alice Feeney book. With how much I’ve seen her on social media I figured it was time to dive in. Good Bad Girl is her latest, which was released just a few weeks ago.

Starting off with a bang.  A baby is stolen in broad daylight out of her stroller, with nar a witness, fast forward 20 years and the case remains unsolved.  Told from multiple POVs, it was hard at first to keep them straight but honestly this is such an eclectic group that it didn't take long to know the lay of the land, so to speak.

There is Edith, an 80 year old escapee from a nursing home. There is Patience,  who happens to work at said nursing home. Throwing Clio who is Edith's daughter and the one responsible for her mother's care. And finally there is another viewpoint, of a mother who’s 18-year-old daughter ran away from home a year ago.  Oh and before I forget, there is the murder that took place ats... you guessed it, the nursing home.  There are 3 prime suspects that confound the detective (yea we get bits of her POV also).

So how do these characters connect?  This story is done in an almost whimsical fashion. The chapters are short, with some humor added, but it's also sad because someones baby did disappear..  When things finally come to ahead I was not just surprised, but also kicking myself for not totaling figuring things out before the big reveal.

Suffice to say this is an author I will be reading more of.

My copy was obtained through CloudLibrary.