“ONCE UPON A TIME LIKE YOU’VE NEVER READ IT BEFORE . . .

DI Lyla Rondell is on the case of a lifetime. Tasked with investigating a series of perplexing deaths, the only lead she has is that each appears to be based on a different classic fairy tale. Far from the stuff of bedtime stories, the press is having a field day with what they have named the Grimm Ripper Murders.

But as the bodies stack up, Lyla’s whole world is about to flip on its head. Because the killer’s bloody trail stretches deep into her own origin story, and when she discovers the truth, nothing will ever be the same again.

Faced with the fact that everything she knows is fiction, Lyla will have to take a little creative license of her own if she’s going to turn the final page on the killings . . . “

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of Little Red Death by A.K. Benedict. Little Red Death was published by Simon & Schuster on 13th February 2025 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats with the paperback to follow. I chose to read a free eARC of Little Red Death but that has in no way influenced my review. My grateful thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to join the blog tour and for sending me a digital copy of the book.

Fairy tales. They’re fascinating, aren’t they? Moralistic. Creepy. The Brothers Grimm tales tend to be quite sinister, often grotesque. So when an author sets their story with fairy tales as the basis, you can certainly count me in! DI Lyla Rondell suffered a tragedy as a teenager when her best friend, Allison, disappeared in the middle of the night. The only thing left behind was a half-red, half-green apple with a bite taken out of the red side, matching Allison’s dental records. The press dubbed Allison ‘Snow White’, and she was never seen or heard from again. Now, twenty-five years later, Lyla is a DI in the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary. When the body of a young woman is discovered in the New Forest, Lyla is startled to discover a fairy tale theme to the murder. Close to the grotesque tableau is a note from the killer taunting Lyla, calling her Little Red Rondell. And that’s when the red cloak and basket left nearby come to light. With far reaching echoes of the past stepping heavily into the present, can Lyla put her own personal trauma to one side and stop the murderous Grimm Ripper before the body count rises…?

Books about books and writing ALWAYS appeal to me. A.K. Benedict though, has come up with something very different and completely unique. I very much enjoyed the fairy tale aspect. By which I mean the real fairy tales and how they were originally written by the Brothers Grimm. The dark, disturbing nature of the stories rather than the saccharine sweetness of the Disney versions we’re more familiar with today. But there is so much more to this book than the fairy tales. First of all, there’s Lyla. She’s ballsy, she doesn’t really give a flying you-know-what about what you think of her. She’s determined, steeped in grief after the loss of her best friend and one true love, Allison. She’s dogged, smarter than she thinks and highly capable. Yet emotional, broken and raw. But there’s something she doesn’t know. There’s something about her that she’s really not aware of and it’s going to blow her mind, and yours!

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. Little Red Death is a clever, highly intricate and wonderfully plotted, dark tale. Part police procedural, part horror, part…..well, to go into detail may take this review into spoiler territory, so I won’t say anymore. Just know that this book is more than you initially expect it to be. There are so many layers, countless, unexpected reveals. You think you know what’s going on. You probably don’t. Benedict has given us a fresh and somewhat inspired take on detective fiction. Given it a twist and pulled its damned head off! The setting is eerie and the stuff of nightmares. A living breathing entity in its own right. Chilling and haunting. The supporting characters (of which there are quite a few) all felt very much at home in the fairy tale/creepy forest setting, helping the story move along, all with purpose and all well-written. The plot will swallow you whole. It’s like nothing I have read before. Atmospheric, unexpected, beautifully dark, highly intriguing and imaginative. More please! Recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of Little Red Death. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

Little Red Death by A.K. Benedict was published in the UK by Simon & Schuster on 13th February 2025 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats with the paperback to follow (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

A K Benedict read English at Cambridge and Creative Writing at the University of Sussex. She writes in a room filled with mannequins, clowns and teapots.

Before becoming a full-time writer in 2012, A K Benedict was an indie-rock singer/songwriter, playing with her band The Black Tulips and solo as Pimpernelle. She was also a composer for film and TV, with music played on BBC 1, Channel Four, Sky, XFM, Radio 1, Radio 3 and in award-winning films. She still composes occasionally and now sings with The Slice Girls, a group of female thriller writers singing songs of sex, death and criminal activities.

She is currently writing scripts, short stories, a standalone psychological thriller and the sequel to The Beauty of Murder. She lives in St Leonards-on-Sea with her dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford.