The plot follows two strands of Cilla’s life, one is her current (early 1990’s) life in England, the other her childhood past in Russia. The narrative regularly moves between the two, but this is seamless to the progression and straightforward to follow. A nicely constructed narrative. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the ending, I had hoped for more of a conclusion, but I think it has been left open to allow for a sequel. If there is a sequel I’ll be keeping an eye out for it. A very engaging audiobook, didn't lose concentration once, enjoyed the narrator's voice as Cilla and even sped it up to 2x speed to keep the flow! Not too gory for its genre, but with plenty of detail on training, plants and toxins, Communist ideology and hit-planning. Muswell Press has landed Murder by Natural Causes, a thriller about a female assassin by début novelist Helen Erichsen. I'm going to leave it there as I don't think prospective readers will benefit from spoilers. However, I highly recommend this not only to those who might see it as a murder/thriller read, but to those who might find a what-the-Soviet-Union-used-to-be-like book an attractive proposition also.

This was a decently enjoyable read, as you got to see both the beginning and the end of Cilla’s career as a contract killer- what made her the way she is, and both why and how she decided to move on from killing people. This isn’t my normal sort of read, but I did find some fascination in the way the story makes you increasingly sympathetic to Cilla. I listened to the audiobook of this, and it was narrated skillfully by Natalie Pela.

LoveReading Says

I loved that Cilla, although completely invisible, she was the bravest, cleverest and strongest character I've read about in a while.

We follow Cilla in her present day life, working, part time, for Vlad - drug lord, club owner, impaler! - definitely not a man to be messed with. Villanelle was stunning, a standout beauty and mistress of disguise (and fashion). Cilla is non-descript, neither strong nor memorable. But she is well-trained with a wealth of chemical and potions at her disposal and the ability to make her murders appear as accidents or as the result of natural causes. And she's getting tired, at 22, of being at Vlad's command and having no future outside of murder. I didn’t start playing bridge until I was in my thirties which makes it difficult to progress beyond a certain point. I make up for this deficit with good system and great partners. I’ve had some success playing with my husband Espen Erichsen. We won the European Mixed Teams in 2005 and were 4th in the same event in 2013. More recently we won the Norwegian Mixed Teams in 2020. I also play with Fiona Brown. We’ve qualified to play in the Lady Milne together a number of times. She is a brilliant bridge player and a good friend. Cilla is a young woman who appears harmless when in actual fact she’s a contract killer for a local gangster. In her youth, Cilla was chosen and trained to work in Soviet Russia, carrying out killings. She manages to escape and ends up working for Vlad. Cilla puts a lot of effort in to make her killings look like natural causes. Feeling trapped by her life, she tries to escape from the dangerous world she’s operating in. A central theme is that of escape from an existence that is predetermined and one where once she has served her purpose, she becomes superfluous to requirements. The reality is assassins don’t get the chance to retire, they are erased by their successors. Here the stark reality faces Cilla as there are parallels in her life. She escapes the Russians only by working under the protection of Vlad. If she is to escape from Vlad who is going to protect her then?

Helen Erichsen Press Reviews

Loved Killing Eve (the book and the TV series) and of course, Villanelle will come to mind when reading this. Cilla is also Russian and trained from a young age with 'special skills', killing people for money. This book had me rooting for the villain – Cilla is a curious character who manages to steal your heart. Her story is sad and heartbreaking. I loved all the information about her childhood and the experiences she faced.

Publishers Sarah and Kate Beal acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Laura Macdougall at United Agents. Murder by Natural Causes is not high literature. It’s more of a ripping yarn. If it does well I might embark on a prequel. I’d like to like to write about bridge in the 1950’s and 60’s when the game was still glamourous and people dressed for the occasion. I’ll make sure to include a few more murders, just for the non-bridge players you understand.

I adored Cilla, our main character. She's completely unremarkable in her outwardly daily life....but that's exactly what is needed in her line of work - a dry job assassin. They are trained in all manner of covert killing, but are assessed for their special quality to be harnessed in service to the state. Cilla enjoys botany and its importance in toxicology, making a myriad of poisons from plants in the Academy’s greenhouse. Her favourite subject, though, is English. She is thoroughly immersed in every aspect of English culture, which will eventually serve her well when she eliminates targets overseas. But never neglected is the children’s indoctrination into Soviet state dogma. I'm really hoping that it's because there is going to be a sequel, but even if not, this is definitely an author that I'll be reading again! Brilliant read!