"A terrific read from a terrific storyteller" - review of THEY SAY A GIRL DIED HERE

THEY SAY A GIRL DIED HERE by Sarah Pinborough (Orion, 2026)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

It’s happening again... Anna Maybourne feels trapped in Harper’s Creek, a nowhere town of dusty farmland plagued by drought, known for the murders of two young women who died exactly three years apart. The presumed murderer, killed as he tried to escape the police, was known as the Farmhand. But Anna, new in town and caring for her grandmother with dementia, wonders if the closed case is actually unsolved.

As the three-year anniversary of the last Farmhand murders nears, Anna’s younger sister worries it could happen again and she and her friend might be next. Anna’s grandmother’s experiences odd paranoid episodes, and she claims to know things about the girls who died.

Anna begins to think her grandmother may be the key to discovering the truth about the murders. Something strange is happening in their old house, Grandma knows more than she should, and instead of being over, the mystery seems like it’s starting again.

Expect the unexpected is a handy mantra for anyone reading a Sarah Pinborough tale. The British bestseller often plays in the no-man’s lands between genre boundaries, rising to global notoriety thanks to a smash hit Netflix adaptation of her head-spinning thriller Behind Her Eyes. 

Now, in They Say A Girl Died Here, Pinborough turns her considerable talents to smalltown American rural noir. A place of flickering curtains, fading lives, and tightly held secrets, despite the ‘everybody knows everybody’ community mythology. 

Anna Maybourne has moved to drought-stricken Harper’s Creek with her mother, younger sister, and grandmother. Three generations living in an old farmhouse in their grandmother’s old hometown, hoping it may help with her dementia. 

While sweeping what happened to Anna at university under the rug. Just like many in the town are trying to move on from the murders of two local teenagers, Lila and Bonnie, exactly three years apart. 

That case was closed, the police say they shot the killer, but whispers linger, and fears grow as the three-year anniversary looms. Anna becomes obsessed with finding out what really happened, especially when she uncovers links very close to home. 

What is her Grandma trying to tell her, in among her rambling thoughts and writings? 

Pinborough crafts a tremendous, feminist rural noir that begins like a slow-burn exploration of people and place, with fierce, wounded characters at its heart, before ramping up to a suitably Pinborough-esque finale. A terrific read from a terrific storyteller.

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned writer, editor, podcast host, awards judge, and event chair. He's the founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards, co-founder of Rotorua Noir, author of Macavity and HRF Keating Award-shortlisted non-fiction work SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, editor of the DARK DEEDS DOWN UNDER anthology series, and writes about books for magazines and newspapers in several countries.