New Release
1
of
1
Mrs Shim is a Killer
Brief Description
From a major new international voice comes a gritty, humorous Korean literary crime novel about a housewife turned contract killer. Mrs Shim is a Killer is perfect for fans of BUTTER and KILLING EVE. A hilariously unsettling tale of love, food, and one woman's unconventional quest...
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$3100
$3800
Elsewhere:
Unit price
/
Unavailable
OVERNIGHT NZ-WIDE DELIVERY
Found a better price? Request a price match
Mrs Shim is a Killer
$3100
$3800
Elsewhere:
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
From a major new international voice comes a gritty, humorous Korean literary crime novel about a housewife turned contract killer. Mrs Shim is a Killer is perfect for fans of BUTTER and KILLING EVE.
A hilariously unsettling tale of love, food, and one woman's unconventional quest to support her family.
I am no ordinary ajumma. I am a killer.
When Mrs Shim—widowed, unemployed, with two children at home and a fridge to fill—answers a job ad at the Smile Detective Agency, she boosts its fortunes forever. For Mrs Shim is sharp as a blade, handles business cleanly, and is like a padlock when it comes to keeping secrets.
By day, she prepares kimchi for her family and her neighbour with dementia; by night, Mrs Shim is out on a contract.
But what starts as a need for survival escalates into a thirst for vengeance. For Mrs Shim is done with being everyone's doormat.
Diving headfirst into her new career among petty criminals, crooked cops, ghosts, and assassins, Mrs Shim's past comes hurtling towards her.
Savage and unexpectedly moving, Kang Jiyoung presents a kaleidoscopic tale of twisted love, unhinged loathing, and hopeful reinvention. Her world of endearing misfits, dead bodies, and good food marks the exuberant arrival of a major new international literary voice.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781529957518
Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 23 April 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Doubleday
Contributors:
- Translated by Paige Morris
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 40.0mm
Width: 135.0mm
Height: 216.0mm
Weight: 600g
Pages: 368
About the Author
Kang Jiyoung (Author) Kang Jiyoung is an established Korean writer based in Paju, near Seoul. She is the author of the story collections Goodbye Paradise, Time for Dogs to Eat and The Killer's Shopping List. Her novels include Quarantine Station of New Culture, Elza's Ha-yin, Circus in the Dark Forest, Frankenstein Family, Yawning is Delicious, Pheromone Boutique and Shopping Mall for Killers. Shopping Mall for Killers was adapted for television by Disney+. Mrs Shim Is a Killer will be published in over twenty languages worldwide. Paige Morris (Translator) Paige Morris divides her time between the United States and Korea. Recent translations include works by Pak Kyongni, Ji-min Lee, and Chang Kang-myoung. She was recently longlisted for a National Book Award for her co-translation of Han Kang's We Do Not Part.
Also by Kang Jiyoung
View all-
King's Maker, Volume 1
A full-colour Korean Boys' Love comic, published in partnership with Tappytoon, with over 3 million views online. A rebellious prince, once thought dead. A noble's son, held captive by a deviant king. A bold plot that could change the fate of a kingdom. When Wolfgang is forced to move into the royal palace and take up his rightful seat as...Paperback$3800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Mrs. Shim Is a Killer
When a middle-aged widow loses her job at the butcher shop, she's at a loss as to how to provide for her family—until she's offered a position that puts her carving skills to new uses in this darkly humorous bestselling Korean thriller. Mrs. Shim Is a Killer introduces us to Mrs. Shim, who needs money. She's lost her husband and...Paperback$5300Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
King's Maker, Volume 2
An ascending prince, or an obedient pawn? The second volume of the hit BL manhwa by Haga and Kang Jiyoung. With the help of Soohyuk Shin, Wolfgang has managed to pass his first test as fourth prince. Resolving the tax dispute with the Duchy of Ulysses has won him potential allies, but a new challenge soon arises. The fifth prince...PaperbackSold Out
More from Crime & Thriller
View all-
New ReleaseEvery Lake
Scary stories are fun... until your life becomes one. When Alice was fifteen, her father killed Mia Heywood in their lakefront cottage before vanishing into the trees. At least that's what the locals think happened. Over a decade later, Alice has lost her job as a journalist, she's going through an expensive divorce and she desperately needs to sell the...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseIt Could Have Been Her
PREPARE TO BE HOOKED: The no. 1 Sunday Times and MULTI-million-copy bestselling author is back with a brand-new spine tingling thriller. It was the night she almost died. Jane Trevally, newly divorced and feeling a little lost, agrees to accompany a man she doesn't know to his house in the darkest corner of Hampstead Heath. She's offered a drink, goes in, and...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New Release26 Beauties
The twenty-sixth thrilling novel in the globally bestselling Women's Murder Club series. Beautiful young women are disappearing by the dozen. A celebration is cut short when a concerned father crashes Detective Inspector Lindsay Boxer's party. His daughter is missing - and she's not the only one. DI Lindsay Boxer has been tracking a chilling pattern: a Jane Doe washed ashore,...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseThe Secrets We Hide
The stunning new North Falls thriller by the bestselling author of We Are All Guilty Here 'Quite simply, Karin Slaughter is the best of us' Dervla McTiernan Welcome back to North Falls -- a small town with big secrets. The house at 1601 Iris Drive looks like any other in the quiet, residential street. But rumours are rife about the Vickery...Paperback$3099Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseThe Parkwood Murders
They came for an escape, but can they escape a killer? Detective Nicola Bridge returns in another gripping and immersive mystery For its loyal guests, Parkwood Holiday Village in west Dorset is a haven- woodland walks, a tranquil lake, service around the clock. Until, just after midsummer, a body is found floating in the swimming pool. Detective Nicola Bridge, exhausted...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Hope Rises
'BALDACCI IS STILL PEERLESS' - THE SUNDAY TIMES REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD . . . Walter Nash, working under the alias of Dillon Hope, is on the road to revenge after becoming an informant for the FBI against a global criminal operation headed up by Victoria Steers. Steers has ripped everything Nash held dear away from him....Paperback$3099Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New Release
Slash
A year after a brutal shootout left her lover dead, ex-police sergeant Honey Chalmers is a hot mess, drinking too much and eating too little, working casual gigs for a shady firm of private investigators — while holding conversations with a ghost. A desperate father asks her to investigate his missing son — a double-murder suspect last seen during the...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseA River Red With Blood
The players call it the Game, and its aim is simple: to abduct and kill a stranger without getting caught. They're very good at it. They've been playing it for a long time. And they can keep playing as long as everyone sticks to the rules: No Killing Close to Home and No Killing Outside the Game. But those rules...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Shadow Step
The new Detective Miller thriller from bestselling author Mark Billingham, full of tension, wit and incredible twists. The Shadow Step: One taken simultaneously by a pair of dancers facing the same direction, one of them behind and slightly shifted leftwards ('in the shadow') Typically, such a step perfectly demonstrates synchronized elegance. It showcases a couple in near telepathic harmony with...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableBackorderShips mid August -
New ReleaseBlue Lightning
Blue Lightning The fourth Shetland novel A remote island on lockdown. A killer on the loose . . . Shetland detective Jimmy Perez knows it will be a difficult homecoming when he returns to Fair Isle to introduce his fiancée to his parents. With the autumn storms raging, the island is cut off from the rest of the world. Then...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseRed Bones
Red Bones is the third Shetland novel featuring detective Jimmy Perez. Sometimes the dead won't stay buried... When a young archaeologist uncovers a set of human remains, the island settlers are intrigued. Is it an ancient find—or a more contemporary mystery? Then an elderly woman is shot in what appears to be a tragic accident in the middle of the...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseThe Last to Drown
Praise for Noelle W. Ihli: 'Hands down one of my favourite reads of the year' - FREIDA MCFADDEN 'A true classic in the genre' - LISA JEWELL 'A propulsive story that haunts and mesmerizes' - KARIN SLAUGHTER FIVE DAYS. TWENTY STRANGERS. NO PHONE SIGNAL. The rafting trip was supposed to be the adventure of a lifetime. But now that Kaia's...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3499Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
Crime & Thriller lists from the team
Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!
