Eight Detectives

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 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.

This was a very quirky novel and one I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved the format of the book and how there were seven different short murder mystery stories within the overall novel. This made it quite the page-turner I was anticipating. I loved the narrative between the editor and author and was intrigued to hear about the inconsistencies that she stumbled upon in each of the stories. I completely missed these each time and found myself overtly trying to find them in the next story. I failed every time!

This book was very unique and written in such a clever way. I was hooked from the beginning and loved how there was a running thread which linked the stories. For me, the ending was shocking and one I didn't see coming. I adored the twists that just kept coming. What an exhausting, invigorating read! Highly recommend.