‘The master puppeteer of literary crime’ JANICE HALLETT

‘Today’s greatest exponent of playful detective fiction’ GUARDIAN

‘A new spin on the traditional country house murder . . . when the style is this good, it’s worth the investment‘ Irish News

–
May, 1999:
Six friends gather at a country house for a birthday.
The host insists they play a game.

Each will write a story about one friend murdering another.
Points are given for plausibility.
No secret, grudge or affair is off limits.

Six stories. Six murders.
And now six unexpected motives.

Because this game is about to get murderously real . . .
–

Praise for Alex Pavesi’s sensational bestseller, Eight Detectives

‘One of the year’s most entertaining crime novels’ Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month

‘So, so clever . . . Agatha Christie would take her hat off to this one – bravo!’ Sarah Pinborough

‘A wonderfully tricksy debut and a loving tribute to the golden age of crime fiction’ Mail on Sunday

‘A box of delights . . . Pavesi’s revelations are completely unexpected, right up to the end’ New York Times

‘The master puppeteer of literary crime’ Janice Hallett

‘Today’s greatest exponent of playful detective fiction’ Guardian

—–
Six friends gather at a country house for a birthday weekend. They decide to play a game.

All six names go in a hat. Choose two, and imagine one murdering the other.

Write it down. Type it up. Read it out.

Points are given for making the murders sound convincing.

Of course, when given such a task, it’s only natural to use what you know.

Secrets. Grudges. Affairs.

But once you’ve put it in a story, that secret is out.

So with each fictional murder, someone gets a motive for a real one.

Which leads to the most important question:

When a real murder comes, will you be able to spot it in time?

—-

Praise for the sensational bestseller Eight Detectives

‘One of the year’s most entertaining crime novels’ Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month

‘So, so clever . . . Agatha Christie would take her hat off to this one – bravo!’ Sarah Pinborough

‘A wonderfully tricksy debut and a loving tribute to the golden age of crime fiction’ Mail on Sunday

‘A box of delights . . . Pavesi’s revelations are completely unexpected, right up to the end’ New York Times

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