Three Burials

A THE TIMES BEST CRIME BOOK OF 2024 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ILP JOHN CREASEY FIRST NOVEL DAGGER 2025 
 
‘Extraordinary . . . both a madcap crime caper and a savage state-of-the-nation novel . . . Anders Lustgarten writes like a man possessed: bursting with energy’ The Times 
 
An electrifying wild ride of a debut novel from award-winning playwright Anders Lustgarten 
 
Meet Cherry, a bandit queen on the run, driving a pink soft-top convertible through the badlands of South-East England. She's never felt more Thelma & Louise in her life - except there are three of them in the car and one of them is dead. 
 
How did a head nurse and mother of two end up driving a handcuffed policeman and the corpse of a murdered refugee on a journey to find justice? Pursued by a racist, roid-raged, shaven-headed officer of the law - not to mention by her husband and daughter - what else can a woman with a conscience do in modern Britain? 
 
Thrilling, radical and darkly comedic, Anders Lustgarten's open-hearted storm of a book explores pressing political concerns with clear-sightedness and holds a mirror up to contemporary Britain. 
 
‘An irreverent, tragicomic tour de force as absurd and as urgent as hope . . . Lustgarten’s novel is comedy as weapon and deep moral inquiry’ Guardian

[Three Burials] combines political astuteness with tonal exuberance, morbid humour, situational irony and moral passion. The outcome is an irreverent, tragicomic tour de force as absurd and as urgent as hope . . . Brave and provocative, goofy, flippant, farcical, droll and deadly earnest, Lustgarten’s novel is comedy as weapon and deep moral inquiry

Three Burials is both a madcap crime caper and a savage state-of-the-nation novel. Anders Lustgarten writes like a man possessed: bursting with energy and spitting bile at the “vicious fraudulent kleptocracy” Britain has become. That it is also very funny and deeply moving makes this debut all the more extraordinary

[Three Burials] is both a cinematic car-chase caper and a blistering critique of the response to the refugee crisis and capitalist exploitation in broken Britain

Three Burials is a powerful rollercoaster of a debut, careering through the good, the bad and the ugly of our times, but with heart and with humour

A heady mixture of murder mystery, black comedy, and an introspection on what makes us human. As an added bonus, the whole amazing story is built on an expert analysis of the state of the British economy and society

Ha-Joon Chang, author of '23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism'

Three Burials is a romp of a novel. It tackles subjects like police violence and irregular migration without proselytising, painting a vivid picture of how the myriad ways we love one another counteract interpersonal and state violence

Gracie Mae Bradley, author of 'Against Borders'

Anders Lustgarten is one of the most important political writers of his generation

Dennis Kelly, author of 'DNA' and 'Utopia'

A fierce writer whose activism blends intellectual curiosity and idealism

Anders Lustgarten is a playwright and novelist. He won the Catherine Johnson Award for A Day at the Racists and won the Harold Pinter Playwriting Award for If You Don't Let Us Dream, We Won't Let You Sleep. His play Lampedusa has been performed in forty countries. His debut novel, Three Burials, was shortlisted for the ILP John Creasey First Novel Dagger 2025. 
Kill Billionaire is his second novel. 
 
Prior to becoming a writer, Anders was an international 400m runner and a teacher of people on death row in California.

Meet Cherry, a bandit queen on the run, driving a pink soft-top convertible through the badlands of South-East England. She's never felt more Thelma & Louise in her life - except there are three of them in the car and one of them is dead. 
 
How did a head nurse and mother of two end up driving a handcuffed policeman and the corpse of a murdered refugee on a journey to find justice? Pursued by a racist, roid-raged, shaven-headed officer of the law - not to mention by her husband and daughter - what else can a woman with a conscience do in modern Britain? 
 
Thrilling, radical and darkly comedic, Anders Lustgarten's open-hearted storm of a book explores pressing political concerns with clear-sightedness and holds a mirror up to contemporary Britain.

Anders Lustgarten

'I couldn’t put it down! An extremely cathartic and energising read for anyone who’s angry about the state of the world today. Hopeful and exciting. Funny and heartbreaking all at once. I enjoyed it so much that once I finished I started reading it again. I want to read more books like this!'

Mikaela Loach, author and climate justice activist

‘I love the anarchy and hilarity and the arrow-sharp way Anders Lustgarten describes what’s so fucked up about our society. I wouldn’t be surprised if it became a handbook for the revolution. I just loved it!’

Patrick Alley, co-founder of Global Witness

Scarily believable…Kayla’s a compelling narrator and her murders are horribly entertaining

'This is a breathtaking book. At its base, there are penetrating analyses of the ills of our economy and society today, but you don't even notice that they are there because it is a ripping and heartfelt story, pure and simple. Let's all read it!'

Ha-Joon Chang, author of 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism and Edible Economics

Perhaps one reason not enough people kill billionaires is it’s actually quite tricky... 
 
'Hopeful and exciting. Funny and heartbreaking ... I want to read more books like this!' Mikaela Loach 
'Scarily believable' Daily Mail 
 
When her home is destroyed in wildfires, fourteen-year-old Australian outback genius Kayla Connolly decides to hunt down the culprits of climate change: billionaires. 
 
She teams up with Mr P, a giant ex-soldier from Tuvalu whose home is being flooded by rising sea levels. Together, they find ingenious ways to kill a property developer building on protected wetlands and a mining company CEO poisoning the earth with toxic chemicals. They also find an unexpected ally in Nancy, a wealthy elderly woman with a shocking past. 
 
The trio’s mission soon develops a life of its own, taking them first to California to crack billionaire tech bros and then to London for superrich oil executives, spawning a global movement along the way. In pursuit are the FBI and Detective Sergeant Kate Anderson of Scotland Yard, but Kate is having doubts about whether Kayla is even in the wrong. Will Kayla be able to stay ahead of the game and pull off one final, remarkable hit? 
 
'I wouldn’t be surprised if it became a handbook for the revolution' Patrick Alley

Anders Lustgarten

Praise for Kill Billionaire

'I couldn’t put it down! An extremely cathartic and energising read for anyone who’s angry about the state of the world today. Hopeful and exciting. Funny and heartbreaking all at once. I enjoyed it so ...

‘I love the anarchy and hilarity and the arrow-sharp way Anders Lustgarten describes what’s so fucked up about our society. I wouldn’t be surprised if it became a handbook for the revolution. I just loved it!’

Scarily believable…Kayla’s a compelling narrator and her murders are horribly entertaining

'I couldn’t put it down! An extremely cathartic and energising read for anyone who’s angry about the state of the world today. Hopeful and exciting. Funny and heartbreaking all at once. I enjoyed it so ...

‘I love the anarchy and hilarity and the arrow-sharp way Anders Lustgarten describes what’s so fucked up about our society. I wouldn’t be surprised if it became a handbook for the revolution. I just loved it!’

Scarily believable…Kayla’s a compelling narrator and her murders are horribly entertaining

'I couldn’t put it down! An extremely cathartic and energising read for anyone who’s angry about the state of the world today. Hopeful and exciting. Funny and heartbreaking all at once. I enjoyed it so ...

‘I love the anarchy and hilarity and the arrow-sharp way Anders Lustgarten describes what’s so fucked up about our society. I wouldn’t be surprised if it became a handbook for the revolution. I just loved it!’

Scarily believable…Kayla’s a compelling narrator and her murders are horribly entertaining

Books by Anders Lustgarten

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