Rules for Perfect Murders
The 'fiendishly good' Richard and Judy Book Club pick
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4.0 • 37 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK
'Fiendish good fun' ANTHONY HOROWITZ
If you want to get away with murder, play by the rules
A series of unsolved murders with one thing in common: each of the deaths bears an eerie resemblance to the crimes depicted in classic mystery novels.
The deaths lead FBI Agent Gwen Mulvey to mystery bookshop Old Devils. Owner Malcolm Kershaw had once posted online an article titled 'My Eight Favourite Murders,' and there seems to be a deadly link between the deaths and his list - which includes Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders, Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train and Donna Tartt's The Secret History.
Can the killer be stopped before all eight of these perfect murders have been re-enacted?
'An ingenious game of cat-and-mouse' The Times
'Never less than enthralling' Daily Mail
'Tremendously enjoyable' Sunday Mirror
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Peter Swanson’s sixth novel is a terrific, keep-you-guessing mystery in its own right and also a handy guide to some crime thrillers everyone should read. Boston bookstore owner Malcolm Kershaw becomes a person of interest to the FBI when a serial killer goes on a spree seemingly inspired by a blog post Malcolm once wrote about crime fiction’s most toughest-to-crack murders. The list features crime standards by Agatha Christie, Patricia Highsmith and more. The obvious risk of referencing such books is that your own novel pales by comparison, but Swanson’s airtight plot and expertly crafted twists ensure he holds his own in this esteemed company.
Customer Reviews
I never meta crime novel I couldn’t reference
3.5 stars
Author
American. Six novels set in Boston and environs including The Kind Worth Killing (2015) and Her Every Fear (2017). He's been translated into 30 languages, and written stories, poetry, and features for various magazines and newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic (the ocean, I mean, not the magazine, although he's written for that too).
Precis
Forty-year-old, widowed, indie bookseller in Boston, who specialises in crime and mysteries, wrote a blog post several years earlier listing his top eight fictional murders. Thirty-something female FBI agent comes to visit in the middle of a snowstorm because she suspects someone is reproducing the list IRL. She wants to know if it's our boy, and if not, whether he can help her work out who it is. One of the stiffs used to come to the store before she moved to Maine. The dead wife's a piece of work too. Stuff happens. The are multiple and repeated references to historical crime classics (Agatha, J M Cain, John D McDonald, yada, yada), which sort of blow it for you if you've never read them and think you might like to.
Writing
Slow to get going. Repetition and analysis of historical plot lines as noted above got old very quickly for me. Character development so-so. Identifying whodunnit wasn't too difficult, but Mr Swanston's reveal was artful.
Bottom line
Fiction doesn't get much more meta than this. (The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz comes to mind). Reviews are mixed. An interesting premise the author failed to nail IMHO (How's that for assonance?). He's flagged this as the start of a series. I wonder what he'll do with Mr Kershaw second time at bat.