Widows

Lynda La Plante Press Reviews

This tale of female empowerment, evolution, and enrichment...provides more than enough thrills and plot twists to satisfy any crime novel enthusiast - Library Journal

Packed with high-tension, fast-paced action, an unforgettable cast of characters, plenty of twists and turns, and La Plante's dark and satirical brand of northern humour, this is crime fiction and excitingly visual storytelling at its best...just when you think you have the denouement sussed, La Plante delivers a brilliant coup-de-grace in the shape of a gobsmacking twist in the tail. With nostalgia for older readers, and a voyage of discovery for the younger generation, Widows is an exciting summer crime read with a feisty feminist flavour! - Lancashire Evening Post

With the benefit of hindsight, La Plante was ahead of her time. The idea of a group of women, housewives, living very ordinary lives becoming a heist team was wholly original. Widows has strong social themes about grief (Dolly ironing her dead husband's shirts) and how life goes on after the death of loved ones. Basically showing how women are every bit as determined, fierce and clever as men... Maybe this novel attracted a lot of non-crime readers to the form long before the psychodrama became popular. La Plante wasn't the first crime writing woman to champion the cause of real women in the genre but she gave it a shot in the arm - Nudge Books