Day: June 2, 2022

Book Review: The Lady Butcher by Sian B. Claven

The Lady Butcher
Series: The Butcher #4
Author: Sian B. Claven

Published: January 15, 2021
87 Pages

Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: May 25-29, 2022
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars

Book Description:

In it, for one more kill.Just when you thought the killing was over, a new butcher arrives in town.

A young boy in an abandoned warehouse. A young man with Down Syndrome behind the arcade. A teenage boy in the woods. A homosexual girl in a motel. All these murders are familiar…but are they?

While Derick is trying to navigate his new love life with Kimberly, the copycat Butcher killer drives him to drink, especially when the killings seem tied to the sweet family that lives next door to him, and the killings just don’t stop. He feels hopeless as The Butcher eludes him and the relationship with the only family he has becomes strained.

Thank God he has Kimberly beside him to see him through this mess.

Jessica’s Review:

I have enjoyed The Butcher series and absolutely loved the final novella in the series: The Lady Butcher. It seemed like Sylvana was going to be the final Butcher novella, but Claven brought the butcher back for one last kill!  And she brought this final novella on with a kick and wrote a fast-moving novella with a lot going on in just under 90 pages.  This time we have a new butcher who is seemingly targeting different sort of individuals.  Who will be this butcher’s next target?

We have two POVs: The Butcher and Detective Derick Wyatt.  We see first-hand the new butcher’s depravity while keeping to the previous butcher’s MO. Then we see Detective Wyatt struggle to find this new killer while also seeing his home life with the neighbors.  We see the story come full circle and I was rooting for Wyatt to end the butcher once and for all.  It was an intense finale that brought several emotions.  And the ending was perfect for me! I was very satisfied with this whole series.

The only negative for me was on my part and not Claven’s: The Lady Butcher is short, and I wish I had been able to read it in one or two sittings.  Working full time with things to do afterwards and not being a superfast reader doesn’t give me a lot of free time to read at night.

There is a special edition hardback that has the complete Butcher series and The Lady Butcher has an alternative ending! I’ve added The Butchery to my Amazon Wish list! 

Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

The entire Butcher series in Hardback with the alternative ending to The Lady Butcher:
Amazon US
Amazon UK