"There are rules for murder mysteries. There must be a victim. A suspect. A detective. The rest is just shuffling the sequence. Expanding the permutations. Grant McAllister, a professor of mathematics, once sat down and worked them all out - calculating the different orders and possibilities of a mystery into seven perfect detective stories he quietly published. But that was thirty years ago. Now Grant lives in seclusion on a remote Mediterranean island, counting the rest of his days. Until Julia Hart, a sharp, ambitious ...
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"There are rules for murder mysteries. There must be a victim. A suspect. A detective. The rest is just shuffling the sequence. Expanding the permutations. Grant McAllister, a professor of mathematics, once sat down and worked them all out - calculating the different orders and possibilities of a mystery into seven perfect detective stories he quietly published. But that was thirty years ago. Now Grant lives in seclusion on a remote Mediterranean island, counting the rest of his days. Until Julia Hart, a sharp, ambitious editor knocks on his door. Julia wishes to republish his book, and together they must revisit those old stories: an author hiding from his past, and an editor, keen to understand it. But there are things in the stories that don't add up. Inconsistencies left by Grant that a sharp-eyed editor begins to suspect are more than mistakes. They may be clues, and Julia finds herself with a mystery of her own to solve. THE EIGHTH DETECTIVE is a cerebral, inventive novel with a modern twist, where nothing is what it seems, and proof that the best mysteries break all the rules."--
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New in new dust jacket. New, Publisher overstock, may have small remainder mark. Excellent condition, never read, purchased from publisher as excess inventory.
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New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 304 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 304 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
I had very high expectations of Alex Pavesi's The Eighth Detective/Eight Detectives, I was imagining something like The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton - an intelligent and well-crafted mystery story. Eight Detectives is very different from what I was expecting - the book alternates between an over aching plot and 8 short stories of murder/mystery as an editor interviews their author about the equation for a great murder mystery.
Although I really enjoyed some of the stories (the house on the island in particular), there were some I enjoyed less and so all of the pitfalls of an anthology were present in this book as well. The pacing was off as the stories I enjoyed I raced through and the ones I didn't I felt like they dragged. With the one about the elderly aunt and her jewellery I actually started skimming which was a mistake for later on in the book! The little discrepancies that Julia notices were buried a little too deeply for me to notice and it would have perhaps been better if they were slightly obvious from the initial reading. I did really like how the book pulled all of the stories together at the end though and it was very clever and showed how well constructed the book was.
I would have perhaps wanted a little more of the through-line plot - we only got the chapters with Julia and Grant discussing the books and then at the end it all felt a little rushed. It got to about 85-90% of the book before that plot really started to get going and I would have enjoyed a little expansion on it.
Overall, Eight Detectives is a good anthology of murder mysteries, with enough to cleverly pull them together at the end, however I would have enjoyed a bit more expansion on the main story line. Thank you to NetGalley & Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.