I read Claws Out! over a sunny weekend and literally didn’t want to put it down! The new book from Bella Mackie combines all the elements I loved from her previous novels: it made me laugh-out-loud with both its satirical observations and slightly deluded characters and had a clever plot with a healthy dose of murder in the mix.
Opening sentence: The restaurant was busy as always.
The black widow?
The plot of Claws Out! hooked me immediately. We’re told that Diana Leyland is a widow not once, not twice but thrice over and is now casting her net for her next husband. When she meets David Farrand (an author and psychiatrist, in his 70s, loves the sound of his own voice) the scene is set.
Diana and David each have an adult child, Zeb (Diana’s privileged and charming son) and Catriona (David’s entitled and charming daughter). Cat isn’t too pleased when she finds out who her father’s new love interest is…
If Sean was telling the truth, and Cat had no reason to doubt him, then all three of Diana’s husbands had died in freak circumstances.
The story follows both Cat as she sets out to discover what really happened to Diana’s previous husbands and if her father is in danger, and Diana as she works to establish her new life, with her new husband. The loathing between them soon grows and Diana’s son, Zeb finds himself stuck between them.
You could argue that none of the four lead characters are very nice at all, and yet you find yourself invested and want to know how the story all pans out for them. That’s the charm of this read.
A witty murder mystery
While at first it seems like the plot centres around a step-mother/daughter cat fight, it transpires there’s a lot more to it than that.
Claws Out! is a murder mystery that subverts your expectations on more than one occasion and keeps you intrigued. An Agatha Christie book is mentioned at one point and Claws Out! almost feels like a homage to that era and genre.
I also loved the satiric commentary on the particular foibles of the rich, as well as the class-wars between the rich themselves.
Eccentricity in the very posh is something to be admired. If Jacob had been poor, he’d have been dismissed as a weirdo and avoided on the high street.
To ramp up the entertainment factor, every so often Bella Mackie breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the reader and we’re also taken back in time in intervals through the book, to delve further into just what did happen to Diana’s former husbands. This blend just worked so well to draw me in.
Claws Out! was the definition of right book, right time for me. It’s such a fun, witty story with a tantalising plot that was effortless to read. It truly got its claws into me.
- Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC;
- Get your copy of Claws Out! here;
- Published by The Borough Press 27th August 2026;
- 350 pages;
- My rating:
Books on the 7:47 