Available now from Simon & Schuster Children’s Books; French translation coming 2nd November, 2023 from Bragelonne/FiBS.

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Friend by day. Traitor by night. The second book in the dark, twisting YA trilogy about a teen assassin’s attempt to live a normal life.

Teen assassin Isabel Ryans now works for Comma, and she’s good at it: the Moth is the guild’s most notorious killer, infamous throughout the city of Espera. But Isabel still craves normality, and she won’t find it inside the guild. She moves in with a civilian flatmate, Laura, and begins living a double life, one where she gets to pretend she’s free.

But when Isabel’s day job tangles her up with an anti-guild abolitionist movement, it becomes harder to keep her two lives separate. Forced to choose between her loyalty to her friends and her loyalty to Comma, she finds herself with enemies on all sides, putting herself and Laura at risk.

Can Isabel ever truly be safe in a city ruled by killers?

From Finn Longman, an exhilarating voice in YA fiction, comes an addictive trilogy for fans of global phenomena The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Killing Eve and The Hunger Games.

Buy The Hummingbird Killer from the UK (published 11th May 2023):

Chains:

*These are affiliate links, which means ordering via these links will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Independent bookshops I know and like (to be updated shortly):

** While stocks last. Signed copies may be available elsewhere depending on how recently I visited! There are usually copies in stock in Gay’s The Word (sometimes signed), but for some reason it’s not listed on their website.

Australia and NZ (published 16th August 2023):

(Please note, as someone unfamiliar with the AU/NZ bookselling market, this is just what I’ve found via Google etc. Feel free to recommend stores I should add to this list!)

France (FiBS edition, coming 2nd November 2023)

Where is the “best” place to buy it?

If you’re in the UK, the best option for me is for you to buy via my Bookshop.org affiliate link, as that has the best commission for me on top of the sale. Internationally, Wordery and Blackwells probably have the lowest shipping costs. But in general, I’m just happy that you’ve bought it, wherever you got it from! :)

Content warnings:

This book contains:

• on-page depictions of murder, death, and associated violence, including against children
• references to past child abuse and neglect
• hospital scenes
• sex references
• liberal use of swear words

There is no on-page sex or sexual violence.

I’m happy to provide more details or warnings to those who need them, so please ask if you have any questions or concerns.

Representation

Isabel is asexual and aromantic, which is discussed on-page, although labels are not used due to the alternate universe setting. Her flatmate, Laura, is bisexual and aromantic, and her colleague Leo is trans, asexual, and aromantic. These identities are similarly discussed without the use of specific labels. There are several other queer characters, including two who use they/them pronouns. There is no romance.

Isabel has food disabilities and other chronic symptoms as a result of the events of book one; she is also traumatised by past experiences.