My enormous thanks to Lily Birch at Faber for sending me a surprise copy of Kiss Marry Kill by Yemi Dipeolu. It’s my pleasure to share my review of Kiss Marry Kill today.

Published by Faber on 23rd April 2026, Kiss Marry Kill is available for pre-order here.  

Kiss Marry Kill

It’s Ife’s dream wedding – until her new husband Ade is arrested for murder.

His missing ex, Cynthia, has been found dead on the Dorset coast.

Case closed: it’s always the ex, right?

But did Ade kiss, marry – and kill? One person hopes the truth never comes out.

My Review of Kiss Marry Kill

Ife and Ade’s wedding reception is interrupted by the arrival of the police to arrest Ade on suspicion of murder.

It’s quite hard to believe that Kiss Marry Kill is Yemi Dipeolu’s debut as it is a captivating and assured thriller that I thought was excellent. There’s a smoothness to the writing that means the narrative flows brilliantly, with a hint of independent narrator behind it. The effect is to create a kind of intimacy with the reader so that they feel part of the events.  

The plot is perfectly crafted, with Ife’s present day life interspersed between the events in the 12 weeks leading up to Cynthia’s disappearance, giving a taut and manipulative story that has the reader guessing who might be responsible for that disappearance and making them vacillate in their suspicions with every nuance, conversation and detail. Yemi Dipeolu is so skilled in drawing in her reader. 

I loved the claustrophobic use of limited characters in Kiss Marry Kill too because it creates an intensity. As the personalities of Cynthia, Ade, Mark and Ife are gradually uncovered there are moments that truly take the reader by surprise. Indeed, it’s character that is the lynchpin for this book.  I don’t want to spoil the read for others, but nature and nurture, coercive control, love, obsession, family, friendship, self-delusion, and jealousy are just a few of the themes that manifest themselves through the people here. Each person, even the victim Cynthis, is flawed but is understandable and real. They all have the ability to fool others and themselves. I loathed Mama and felt I couldn’t trust anyone in the story. This added to the suspense and drama, making for a gripping read. 

I am aware I have been a little vague in my review of Kiss Marry Kill, but it’s so tautly written that I am terrified of giving too much away. I thought Kiss Marry Kill was a fabulous debut thriller and I thoroughly recommend it. Equally, I have a feeling that Yemi Dipeolu is going to be a name to watch. 

About Yemi Dipeolu

Yemi Dipeolu is a British-Nigerian writer from South East London. She studied English Literature with Creative Writing at the University of Surrey and has an MFA from Kingston University. By day, Yemi works as a copywriter, using her passion for storytelling to help businesses connect with their customers. In her fiction, she blends her two favourite genres, crime and romance, to create character-driven thrillers with relationships at their centre. Kiss Marry Kill is her first novel.

For further information about Yemi, follow her on Instagram.