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Eight Detectives

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

'When did you last read a genuinely original thriller? The wait is over.' A. J. Finn, bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

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...

© Alex Pavesi 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

 Crime Crime Thrillers Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Murder Mystery Psychological Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Fiction Funny Witty Suspense

Critic reviews

TODAY'S GREATEST EXPONENT OF PLAYFUL DETECTIVE FICTION. A gloriously original, intricate and often very funny series of practical jokes played on the reader
Terrific. Alex Pavesi knows the genre inside out. One of the year's most entertaining crime novels
Dizzying, dazzling - a potent potion of a thriller, a brew of bibliophilia (think The Shadow of the Wind), wire-taut tension (The Talented Mr. Ripley), and plot swerves so sharp and sudden you risk whiplash with each turn of the page, as bold as the best of Michael Connelly and Lisa Gardner. When did you last read a genuinely original thriller? The wait is over.
So, so clever. A twisty story and an education in the maths of murder mysteries, Agatha Christie would take her hat off to this one - bravo! (Sarah Pinborough)
Alex Pavesi is a lively writer . . . It feels like a game of Clue-do-ku
An elegantly structured, intellectually challenging and completely unique thriller that grips like a vice (Sophie Hannah)
This is both a wonderfully tricksy debut and a loving tribute to the golden age of crime fiction
It's rare for me to read a book in a single day, but I couldn't put Eight Detectives down. Compelling, clever, and beautifully-constructed. It deserves to be huge. I genuinely wanted to applaud at the end (Alex North)
A brilliantly twisty thriller. I adored this clever, game-playing book - it's like Agatha Christie for bibliophiles
A box of delights . . . Pavesi's revelations are completely unexpected, right up to the end
All stars
Most relevant
The narration was excellent and tbe story itself was clever and well written. However the twists within the narrative were not as complex as I had hoped.

Well written but not as surprising as I had hoped.

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Although I was confused at the beginning, I found this a really good book the more I listened to it Great narration by Ms Fox.

Excellent book

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*NO SPOILERS*
I read this after it was recommended by Sunday times.

It’s more of a series of short stories with main story told in between.

I felt like it only really needed 5/6 short stories.. I persisted through the last part just to get the ending… which was very good and so relatively worth persevering with.

Collection of short stories with underlying main plot - trudged through last few chapters to get to a good ending

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This was a really unusual debut and I really enjoyed it. Is is essentially seven short detective stories linked together by the narrative of a writer trying to solve a further murder. They were all great stories and I enjoyed them all individually, there is a really clever twist in the last third of the novel which took it off into a different direction altogether along with the twist at the end. I would recommend this very different thriller.

Great listen highly recommend

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Enjoyable detective story that keeps the pages turning. It feels like the author is tipping their hat to the classic era stories but bringing it more up to date
Production of the audio book is really good, it helps so much when pauses are left in to allow the listener to c
absorb some key info or adapt to a change of scene

Classic Golden Age style detective story

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