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The Butcher and the Wren

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Brought to you by Penguin.

THE CHILLING SERIAL KILLER THRILLER FROM THE CO-HOST OF CHART-TOPPING PODCAST MORBID

WREN WAS NEVER AFRAID OF THE DARK.
UNTIL SHE LEARNT THAT SOME MONSTERS ARE REAL. . .

In deep Louisiana, a serial killer with a taste for medical experimentation is completing his most ambitious project yet. The media call him 'The Butcher' - and, so far, he's proved impossible to catch.

With her encyclopedic knowledge of humanity's darkest minds, and years of experience examining their victims, forensic pathologist Dr Wren Muller is the best there is. The longer the Butcher's killing spree continues, the more determined she is to bring him to justice. And yet, he continues to elude her.

As body after body pile up on Wren's examination table, her obsession grows. Pressure to put an end to the slaughter mounts. And her enemy becomes more brazen.

How far is Wren willing to go to draw the Butcher into the light. . .?

An addictive read with straight-from-the-morgue details only an autopsy technician could provide, The Butcher and the Wren promises to ensnare all who enter.

'Can a medical examiner outsmart a serial killer? The Butcher and the Wren will keep you waiting for an answer until the last bloody page. Prepare to be disturbed. A deliciously dark debut.' - REA FREY, bestselling author for Not Her Daughter and Secrets of Our House

© Alaina Urquhart 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Critics Review

Alaina Urquhart's debut novel is incredibly accomplished. Set deep in Louisiana, you can almost feel the heat and humidity. A grisly serial killer, a tenacious medical examiner, and a few amazing twists make this a searing, unputdownable book
Samantha Downing, Sunday Times Bestselling Author
Can a medical examiner outsmart a serial killer? The Butcher and the Wren will keep you waiting for an answer until the last bloody page. Prepare to be disturbed. A deliciously dark debut
REA FREY, bestselling author for Not Her Daughter and Secrets of Our House
Impressively detailed in its analysis . . . Captivating, with lacings of the occult. There may be moments when the reader might want to shut their eyes, but the joust between the killer and the pathologist makes that impossible
Daily Mail
A chilling page-turner with a massive twist in the middle that's sure to give you goosebumps
Woman's Weekly
The Butcher and the Wren is perfect for fans of Dexter. Pitting a brutal serial killer against a determined medical examiner, the story is a pulsepounding race against time. And the details the author weaves in due to her unique background as an autopsy tech heighten the realism and the suspense. Fans of Morbid will love the host's debut novel
KAIRA ROUDA
Urquhart paints a tense and dangerous world for us right from the start and delivers it all with a skilled and evocative hand
AARON MAHNKE, creator of the Lore podcast and author of The World of Lore series
Dark and twisted, The Butcher And The Wren is a gripping game of cat and mouse in the Louisiana bayou that will leave you wanting for more! Alaina Urquhart is a fresh new voice in crime fiction and I can't wait to read what she writes next
LAURE VAN RENSBURG, author of Nobody But Us
Not for the faint-hearted
Heat
A read-in-one-sitting kind of book
CBS Mornings
Looking for the perfect way to kick off your spooky season? Well, you can end your search now as the co-host of the wildly popular true-crime podcast Morbid, who is also an autopsy technician, is offering up a twisted tale of a serial killer terrorizing the Louisiana bayou. Told from the dueling perspectives of a notorious murderer and the medical examiner who is desperate to catch him, this cat-and-mouse thriller will give your goosebumps chills
E! News
Author Alaina Urquhart
Narrator Joe Knezevich, Sophie Amoss
Duration 6 hours and 23 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781405955126
Format Audiobook
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Genre Crime and mystery: hard-boiled crime, noir fiction, Psychological thriller, Thriller / suspense fiction
Availability AU, GB, IE

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