It Takes Monsters by Mandy McHugh: Female Rage, Social Pressures and So Much Blood

This week, I talk with the Queen of Pop Culture References Mandy McHugh about her new domestic thriller It Takes Monsters. We dive into the social pressures women face at work and at home, the temptation for women to try to look like each other, and how King Lear inspired her second book! It Takes Monsters Synopsis Victoria Tate has had enough of her controlling, incompetent husband Warren. But planning the perfect murder is more difficult than it looks. When the social event of the year, an over-the-top costume ball, is rescheduled for the date she has selected for her crime, Victoria has to scramble to make sure she will still be able to follow through. But even hours of listening to crime podcasts cannot prepare her for the next wrench that is thrown into her plans: Warren turns up dead by someone else’s hand. Now Victoria finds herself at the center of a murder investigation in which she is actually innocent. The real killer taunts her, making it clear that they knew what she was planning all along. With the police closing in and her neighbors turning on her, Victoria is going to lose everything she had hoped to gain from Warren’s death, unless she can figure out who wanted her husband dead and why. It turns out that Warren was better at keeping secrets than she ever could have guessed. But which secret is the one that led to his death? And even if she can find the answers, does Victoria have what it takes to confront a real murderer? All the Bookwild Links: Check Out the Bookwild Substack Subscribe to Bookwild on YouTube Get Bookwild Merch Follow @imbookwild on Instagram Check Out Author Social Media Packages Follow Co-hosts On Instagram: Gare Billings @gareindeedreads Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland Halley Sutton @halleysutton25 Brian Watson @readingwithbrian MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba Erin Ashley @bellametaphor