Book Review – Eight Detectives

Title: Eight Detectives

Author: Alex Pavesi

Genre: Mystery & Thriller

Goodreads Rating: 3.54

My Rating:

Source: Hardcover

Synopsis:

All murder mysteries follow a simple set of rules. Grant McAllister, an author of crime fiction and professor of mathematics, once sat down and worked them all out.

But that was thirty years ago. Now he’s living a life of seclusion on a quiet Mediterranean island – until Julia Hart, a sharp, ambitious editor, knocks on his door. His early work is being republished and together the two of them must revisit those old stories: an author, hiding from his past, and an editor, keen to understand it.

But as she reads, Julia is unsettled to realise that there are things in the stories that don’t make sense. Intricate clues that seem to reference a real murder, one that’s remained unsolved for thirty years.

Julia realises she’s unwittingly entered a battle of wits where there can only be one winner. But Grant will soon realise that he underestimates her at his peril…

My Review:

After discovering that a few of the ladies in my book club had this one to read we decided to do a buddy read. I had heard a lot about this book and was very intrigued to see if I would enjoy it.

All of us agreed that we loved the layout, the conversations between Julia and Grant gave you a chance to reflect on the story you’d just read and see what you missed. One thing became very apparent to me and that was my lack of detective skills! I had missed quite a few of the errors and hints that were hidden in the story but this didn’t take away any of the enjoyment.

The short stories were very cleverly written and each was very different from the other. After reading the first story I wasn’t entirely sure what I’d stepped into but was instantly intrigued to see what happened next. Three of my favourite stories were ‘An Inferno in Theatre Land’, ‘Trouble on Blue Pearl Island’ and ‘The Shadow on the Staircase’.

I had a feeling that there was more to Grant and Julia’s story than they were sharing and whilst I expected a twist to come I hadn’t guessed the final revelation. The final few chapters, particularly Julia’s part were well written and gave the story a different ending to the one I had imagined.

This was a murder mystery written with a quirky, unusual style. It’s something that you could pick up and read just one of the short stories without loosing the plotline and characters. I found it very easy to read and whilst the mathematics went over my head I did enjoy learning the different elements of what makes a murder mystery.