Murder by Natural Causes

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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.

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. As the storyline unfolds, we learn of Cilla's childhood and education - born in a very communist Soviet Union, she was whisked away at a young age and trained at the specialist academy 43 where she excelled. 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? I’ll admit, I finished this book one week ago and Cilla’s self-assigned mission still leaves me wondering. Given the way she’s portrayed, does her decision make sense? Is it a sound one? I’m in two minds about it. Yes, after everything she’s gone through, autonomy and a normal life might sound appealing. On the other hand, her characterization makes it little more than a pipe dream, I think. Deep inside, I guess she’s aware of that, too, and yet. Muswell Press has landed Murder by Natural Causes, a thriller about a female assassin by début novelist Helen Erichsen.The synopsis caught my eye from the get-go, and the actual novel didn’t disappoint. I’m so pleased by Murder by Natural Causes 😀 She also knows that her main client, Vladimir Haugr, would rather kill her than let her go. Will Cilla be able to reinvent herself? And if so, at what cost?” 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! After two years doing jobs for Vlad, Cilla starts making preparations to leave: she doesn’t want this to be her whole life, and Vlad’s mercurial moods mean there’s always a chance of falling foul of this powerful, violent man. But, as Smithy, the talented forger whom she sometimes babysits for Vlad says, it’s highly unlikely that he’ll ever let either of them go… What do you thinks makes a psychopath? are they born or can they be trained? read this book and you may find some answers.This is the story of a young girl who is taken from her family by the Soviet authorities and trained to be a killer . What marks Cilla, as she becomes, is her ambivalence to her family and her unquestioning loyalty to the regime. Is she a natural psychopath or can she be trained.

Murder By Natural Causes is the first novel by British bridge champion and author, Helen Erichsen. The audio version is narrated by Natalie Pela. Plain, ordinary, unremarkable: Cilla Wilson finds these attributes useful in her career as a contract killer. She’s twenty-two, but she’s been killing since she was fourteen. She’s very good at it, an expert at making a death look like it is from natural causes.I loved that Cilla, although completely invisible, she was the bravest, cleverest and strongest character I've read about in a while.

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. I absolutely loved this! It was quite different to anything I've read recently and I just couldn't put it down. On the side, she is able to take on jobs of her own but as things develop we see the lines becoming blurred. This is the author’s debut novel and I was intrigued by the synopsis. The eye catching cover drew my eye too.Currently, she kills people for the owner of TGR's bridge club in London, Vladimir Haugr, in return for a flat, a retainer and expenses: five jobs a year for the man also knows as Haugr the Ogre or, to those who get on the wrong side of him, Vlad the Impaler. And under conditions she very strictly controls, she does a bit of selective freelance work. Her attitude is pragmatic to the extreme, rather chilling, in fact. Publishers Sarah and Kate Beal acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Laura Macdougall at United Agents.