This Is Not a Game
A Novel
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- ¥2,000
発行者による作品情報
Golden Girls meets Only Murders in the Building
MURDER
MARTINIS
A GRANDMOTHER-GRANDDAUGHTER SLEUTHING DUO
DACHSHUNDS (x2)
A GLAMOROUS ISLAND MANOR
Widow Mimi lives on idyllic Mackinac Island, where cars are not allowed and a Gibson martini with three onions at the witching hour is compulsory. Her estranged granddaughter, Addie, is getting over the heartbreak of not only being dumped by her fiancé, Brian, but also being cut out of the deal for the brilliantly successful video game Murderscape they invented together (with Addie doing most of the heavy lifting).
When Mimi gets an invitation from local socialite Jane Ireland—a seventysomething narcissist who’s having a salacious affair with her son-in-law—to a charity auction, she invites Addie. But Mimi doesn’t tell her that a blackmail threat from Jane looms over the party’s invitation.
Once they arrive, a big storm rolls in, trapping everyone in the mansion. And then, Jane is murdered. Soon Mimi and Addie’s strained relationship is put to the test when they must team up to narrow down the suspects. When another body turns up, the sleuthing pair realize someone else is playing a deadly game, and they might not survive the night.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mullen debuts with an impressive closed-circle whodunit. Septuagenarian Mimi MacLaine mostly keeps to herself on Michigan's idyllic Mackinac Island, so she's surprised to receive an invitation to an auction at the home of her wealthy neighbor, Jane Ireland. Mimi's surprise turns to shock when she discovers a note inside the invitation threatening to expose an undisclosed secret unless she makes a high bid on a valuable manga. Horrified, Mimi turns to her estranged granddaughter, Addie, for help. A lifelong mystery fan, Addie is the creator of Murderscape, a popular multiplayer video game; Mimi hopes that Addie's passion for puzzles might help loosen her from the jam. Addie agrees to help, but after she and Mimi arrive at Jane's home, they find her dead, and immediately wonder if her blackmail plot has gotten her killed. Soon, a storm traps Addie, Mimi, and several more of Jane's auction guests in her mansion, and the body count starts to balloon. Mullen makes the most of her classic setup, playing scrupulously fair with readers while leavening the bloodshed with dashes of wry humor. It's a promising start.
