Review: Actually I'm a Murderer - Terry Deary

Review: Actually I'm a Murderer - Terry Deary - June 2025

Picture this: you're scrolling through BookHero with a birthday voucher burning a hole in your pocket and you spot a new Terry Deary title. If you grew up in the 90s and early 2000s devouring Horrible Histories, there was absolutely no way I was leaving that page without clicking "add to cart." Terry Deary shaped a huge chunk of my tween/teenage reading life  Horrible Science, Foul Football, Murderous Maths , I inhaled the lot of them, so when I saw he'd written an adult mystery novel, I was intrigued to say the least.

The story opens in 2023 with Tony, an older man quietly preparing to meet his end. Back in 1973, he struck a deal with a professional assassin , fifty years of life in exchange for something, and now that half-century is finally up. He's made his peace with it. But as the clock ticks down, a figure from that same murky past emerges with a potential loophole. The premise alone is gloriously pulpy - think Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express meets Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, with a dash of time-bending British quirkiness thrown in for good measure. The story unfolds across multiple POVs and leans heavily into an unreliable narrator format that immediately gave me flashbacks to The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole  that same wry, slightly self-important voice narrating its way through situations it only half understands. I loved the nostalgic atmosphere of the 1973 sections, which Terry Deary renders with unflinching authenticity, including the racism and sexism of the era. It's uncomfortable at times, but it feels true to the period rather than gratuitous.

Terry Deary's writing style here is exactly what you'd expect from someone who spent decades making history accessible and entertaining for kids  it's punchy, readable, and moves at a clip. The diary-style format gives it a cheeky, almost theatrical quality that made me smile. That said, this is firmly a cosy UK mystery. Don't come in expecting gritty crime fiction , come in expecting the literary equivalent of a cream tea with a suspicious body in the corner.

 This was a total nostalgia read for me and I think that's where a lot of its charm lies knowing where Terry Deary came from makes the adult fiction feel like a delightful, slightly mischievous evolution of his voice. It won't blow you away, but it will absolutely keep you turning pages with a grin on your face.

Actually I'm a Murderer by Terry Deary is out now. Grab it if you fancy a cosy, clever British mystery with a darkly comic twist.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/4ev4ADe