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  • Eight Detectives

  • By: Alex Pavesi
  • Narrated by: Emilia Fox
  • Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (183 ratings)
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Eight Detectives

By: Alex Pavesi
Narrated by: Emilia Fox
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Summary

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 30 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 30 years.

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

©2020 Alex Pavesi (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"When did you last read a genuinely original thriller? The wait is over." (A. J. Finn, best-selling author of The Woman in the Window)

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What listeners say about Eight Detectives

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great listen highly recommend

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.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Nasty versions of Christie tales

I wanted to like this book but I really didn’t.
The premise of an editor dissecting a tale to find the solution to a contemporary mystery is familiar from Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders, and more recent Moonflower Murders.
But this book is unnecessarily convoluted, and very drawn out. It’s more about the author being clever than writing a good story.
Moreover, the Golden Age murder mysteries are far more gruesome than the Christie ones they copy. The details are needlessly nasty and the stories are curiously dull and flat.
The book becomes tiresome after a while as there are no likeable characters in any of the stories, and the whole book is cold and clinical.
The 1960s setting is ill-defined and unconvincing plus the feisty female ‘editor’ is too young to be sent on any such assignment.
In addition, the language grates (a 30s starlet would have been called an actress not an actor) and the lumpy metaphors are too numerous to mention.
Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson is much better.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Poor

I've read this book for school book club. Although it processes the crime qualities. However it's not gripping and is a bit clunky. I'm a avid crime lover and feeling it's not satisfying.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Badly Written Mathematical Conundrum

Emilia Fox makes the most of this irritating novel which has no emotional or psychological integrity. The. Reader cannot invest in a single character and some of the plots are so ridiculous they seem to parody Agatha Christie. I continued to the end hoping that the Literary Agent might be murdered by the implausible writer. No such luck!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Eight Detectives: absolutely original

Even one of these stories and subsequent conversations between the presumed author and acting publisher would have stood out as a most satisfying and thought-provoking book but the full book offers a rich, multi-layered ingenious treat.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Just a series of short stories...

The book is a series of short stories tying together different forms of the detective genre, with a loose overarching storyline to link them together. Overall, the common thread is tenuous and the short stories necessarily lack depth. Maybe enjoyable for diehard fans of murder mysteries but perhaps give it a miss if you looking for a good story!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

It was ok

It was quite clever, some of the individual stories were better than others. Why was chess mentioned in most of them but it was never explained. When I finish a really good book I am left wanting more. In this case I am left feeling a bit irritated.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

SOOOO dull. tried twice, gave up twice

If I could if return this title, I would, but I've had it for two years thinking I'll try again but I just can't sit through the dull ancient crime stories and the even duller dissection of them in between.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Waste of good reading time

This was one of the most dreary books I have listened to. It was a series of unconnected short stories which I kept thinking would all come together eventually. Unfortunately eventually never arrived and I was left wondering what was the point of this book. Emilia Fox did her best to keep the reader interested but if you want a good murder mystery don’t pick up this book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

An exciting twist on Detective books

I have read quite a few Murder Mystery/Detective books this year and they started to get quite predictable. But this one took me by complete surprise. All the twists and turns were so exciting and kept my attention throughout! Would definitely recommend

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