Eight Detectives
Ratings8
Average rating3.4
THE BIGGEST MYSTERY CAN BE MURDER TO SOLVE . . . DISCOVER THE YEAR'S MOST ORIGINAL CRIME NOVEL 'One of the year's most entertaining crime novels' SUNDAY TIMES, CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH 'When did you last read a genuinely original thriller? The wait is over' A. J. FINN 'An elegantly structured, intellectually challenging and completely unique thriller that grips like a vice' SOPHIE HANNAH _______ All murder mysteries follow a simple set of rules. In the 1930s, Grant McAllister, a mathematics professor turned author, worked them out, hiding their secrets in a book of crime stories. Then Grant disappeared. Julia Hart has finally tracked him down. She wants to know what happened to him. But she's about to discover that a good mystery can be murder to solve . . . _______ 'One of the most creative detective novels of the year . . . If not of all time' Samantha Downing 'Intelligent and inventive . . . It's the most fun I've had in ages' Cathy Rentzenbrink 'So, so clever . . . Agatha Christie would take her hat off to this one - bravo!' Sarah Pinborough **Winner of the Capital Crimes Reader Award for Debut Book of the Year** SHORTLISTED FOR THE GLASS BELL AWARD AND THE BARRY AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL
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There is an intriguing concept behind this story - 8 short stories linked together by an overarching main story about an editor putting together a new edition of a collection of stories. There is something beguilingly meta about the whole construct, and it is definitely an interesting concept. The way the stories are tied together is interesting with link sections between the short stories providing the overall drive for the main plot.
Where this falls down to me is in the quality of the short stories that form the framework. Some of them just struggled to grab me, and when the whole overarching plot is based around these individual short stories, they need to all be really gripping and well crafted.
Ultimately, this was a worthwhile read - the main linking story is interesting and cleverly put together. The overall concept is delightfully meta. I just struggled a little with some of the components
3.5 stars. Love a good book within a book - especially if it plays with Agatha Christie like murder mysteries and plot structures. Thoroughly enjoyable.
3.5-stars from me. Enjoyed the different closed-door mysteries and the twist for each, plus the intriguing mathematical hypothesis and tale that wrapped around the mysteries. The book is like a candy box of murders, differently flavoured and wrapped. It's a clever way to house and thread short stories together. Ultimately, because there were many characters, detectives, suspects, and victims, the reading is from a distance and the ending had less emotional punch. Still an enjoyable and unique read.
