The BUTCHER and The LIAR

“Woeppel’s narrative dances nimbly between a coming-of-age story, a ghost story, a murder mystery, and a dark exploration of trauma; somehow, she manages to make all these different tones harmonize and create something fresh, exciting, and unexpected.”

- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Daisy Bellon thinks she may have buried her skeletons forever. At thirty-five, she runs a butcher shop in a forgotten corner of Chicago, keeping her past locked away. But when an anonymous letter arrives, she’s thrust back to the day her life split in two.

At nine years old, Daisy meets Caleb Garcia, a boy who makes her believe in the possibility of friendship and happiness. But that same night, she stumbles upon her father dismembering a woman in their basement and becomes his unwilling apprentice, sworn to keep his monstrous secrets. When the victim’s ghost appears in Daisy’s room, she's bound to a haunting legacy. To endure, Daisy weaves a web of lies, clinging to the light of Caleb’s friendship while slipping deeper into the darkness of her father’s shadow.

More than two decades later, following the arrival of the mysterious letter, someone close to Daisy is brutally murdered in an all-too-familiar fashion. Forced to confront the truth about her family and herself, Daisy must decide whether to let the darkness consume her—or to fight for love and redemption, even if it means revealing everything she’s tried to bury.

What readers are saying about The Butcher and The Liar:

“The Butcher and the Liar is a brilliant tour de force, telling Daisy’s story in such a way that you’re always rooting for her, even if/when she does the wrong or hurtful thing.”

- Marilyn’s Mystery Reads

"A raw portrayal of Daisy’s struggles to reconcile the painful fragments of her life, The Butcher and the Liar shows how vulnerability epitomizes the dangers and rewards of human connection."

- Booklife