Darling Bud cover art

Darling Bud

Pre-order with offer Pre-order: Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Darling Bud

By: C.J. Skuse
Pre-order with offer Pre-order: Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Pre-order Now for £17.99

Pre-order Now for £17.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

PRE-ORDER the brand-new gripping dark comedy thriller from the world of the Sweetpea series – Now a major TV series on Sky Atlantic, starring Ella Purnell!

🌷🌷🌷

Murder can be a family business …

🌷🌷🌷

Even wallflowers have to bloom.

Sixteen-year-old Ivy is your average teenager. She’s annoyed by the scratchy labels on her school uniform, old men who wolf-whistle, and her mother the serial killer.

But is murder in her roots?

Ivy was raised far away from the shadows of Rhiannon Lewis, the Sweetpea killer, but when the local predator – better known as Ivy’s football coach – is found dead, could it be that she has discovered a taste for blood?

As suspicion grows deeper, Ivy’s only way out is to get some motherly advice. But when the internet’s unlikeliest vigilantes determine that Ivy must be punished for her mother’s crimes, she must decide whether to control the rage burning inside her.

Or to unleash her thorns…

READERS LOVE C.J. SKUSE!

‘This darkly comic novel… has the potential to become a cult classic’ Daily Mail

‘Dark, depraved and devilishly delicious. A full throttle savage and satirical thriller’ John Marrs

'Hilarious, refreshing, dark and memorable. It doesn’t disappoint, I loved it’ Phoebe Morgan

‘Visceral, chilling and absolutely downright thrilling: I wish I had read it sooner!’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Wickedly funny’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Brilliantly dark and twisted’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Think Bridget Jones but really really angry, readable and deeply dark and funny’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘A deliciously dark and twisted read that had me well and truly gripped’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'Bridget Jones meets Dexter! Brilliant, original and unputdownable!’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

*****

©2026 C.J. Skuse

Critic reviews

Praise for C.J. Skuse

‘This darkly comic novel…has the potential to become a cult classic’ Daily Mail

‘Filthy and funny… a compulsive read’ Sunday Times

‘This isn’t a book for the squeamish or the faint-hearted … think Bridget Jones meets American Psycho Red

‘Dark, depraved and devilishly delicious. A full throttle savage and satirical thriller’ John Marrs, author of The One

‘Hilarious, refreshing, dark and memorable. It doesn’t disappoint, I loved it’ Phoebe Morgan

‘You MUST read this book especially if you like your (anti) heroes dirty-mouthed, deadly and dark, dark dark. ADORED IT' Fiona Cummins, author of Rattle

‘Pitch dark, laugh-out-loud hilarious – the Sweetpea series is pure genius escapism’ Susi Holliday

‘Fascinating, intriguing and twist after twist in the tale’ Suzy K Quinn

‘Dark and wickedly funny, and as dry and acerbic as Fleabag, it’s hard not to love Rhiannon Lewis’ Claire Allan

‘Sweetpea hits all the right buttons. A dark, twisted read about a female serial killer with dollops of humour, sarcasm and a lightweight approach…keeping you gripped and on the hook, both smiling and squirming.’ Maxim Jakubowski, Lovereading

‘Witty, vulgar, sweary, darkly funny, but enthralling – a must-read for thriller fans’ My Weekly

‘This book is OUTRAGEOUS’ Compulsive Readers

‘This anti-hero is psychotic without doubt, sexually voracious and incredibly funny’ Shots magazine

No reviews yet