How to Get Away with Murder by Rebecca Philipson: A police procedural that refuses to play by the rules

How to Get Away with Murder by Rebecca Philipson, out February 24, 2026, starts with a wink and a dare—“If you picked up this book because you truly want to get away with murder…”—and initially feels like it might settle into familiar police-procedural territory. It doesn’t. What begins as a fairly standard investigation quickly mutates into something sharper, stranger, and genuinely hard to put down.

Detective Inspector Samantha Hansen returns to Scotland Yard after a six-month medical leave, determined to prove she hasn’t lost her edge. Her reentry point is grim: the murder of fourteen-year-old Charlotte, whose backpack contains a copy of a self-help book titled How to Get Away with Murder. The book’s author, Denver Brady, claims to be a serial killer so successful no one knows his name—and as its contents go viral, it becomes disturbingly clear that someone is taking its lessons to heart.

Philipson’s smartest move is structural. This is a book within a book, with Sam’s investigation unfolding alongside chapters from Brady’s alleged murder manual. What initially looks like a gimmick becomes the engine of the novel. As Sam tries to piece herself back together after a breakdown triggered by sexual harassment from her former partner, the reader is simultaneously asked to interrogate the truth, purpose, and authorship of the “how-to” guide. The reveals are carefully timed, and the way the two narratives echo and undermine each other is where the novel really shines.

Power, loyalty, and self-interest run through every layer of the story. One of the book’s clearest themes is that family—especially found family—cannot always be trusted to act in your best interest when it conflicts with their own. Sam’s godfather and boss, Harry, embodies this betrayal. He swept her assault under the rug, pushes her back into active duty before she’s ready, and shows little concern for who ends up behind bars as long as his own reputation remains intact. Justice, to him, is flexible.

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Sam herself isn’t entirely innocent. She’s very much a product of the boys’ club that is her department, and she’s willing to destroy evidence to protect her trainee. The difference, and the reason she remains a compelling protagonist, is motive. Her worst decisions tend to be made for what she sees as the greater good rather than pure self-preservation. Philipson resists easy moral binaries here, letting the discomfort sit.

There is one major plot hole that’s hard to ignore, though it’s tricky to discuss without spoilers. A detective from up north uncovers evidence that could have been used to build a strong case against Betty’s murderer—potentially putting the right person in jail and blowing up Harry’s undeserved professional boost. That thread is never fully tied off, and the omission creates a moment of genuine reader frustration. The story might not have wanted to go there, but it needed a cleaner explanation for why it didn’t.

Still, the ending largely makes up for it. Some readers may debate whether justice is served in a legal sense, but thematically, everyone gets exactly what’s coming to them. I closed the book feeling satisfied and oddly triumphant on Sam’s behalf. Right or wrong, good job, Sam. Good job.

Have you read How to Get Away with Murder, or are you planning to pick it up when it releases? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

An advance reader copy of this book (ARC) was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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