Eight perfect murders : a novel / Peter Swanson.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

New York Times bestseller

"Swanson rips us from one startling plot twist to the next... A true tour de force." --Lisa Gardner

"[A] multilayered mystery that brims with duplicity, betrayal and revenge." --USA Today

From the hugely talented author of The Kind Worth Killing comes a chilling tale of psychological suspense and an homage to the thriller genre tailor-made for fans: the story of a bookseller who finds himself at the center of an FBI investigation because a very clever killer has started using his list of fiction's most ingenious murders.

Years ago, bookseller and mystery aficionado Malcolm Kershaw compiled a list of the genre's most unsolvable murders, those that are almost impossible to crack--which he titled "Eight Perfect Murders"--chosen from among the best of the best including Agatha Christie's A. B. C. Murders, Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, Ira Levin's Deathtrap, A. A. Milne's The Red House Mystery, Anthony Berkeley Cox's Malice Aforethought, James M. Cain's Double Indemnity, John D. MacDonald's The Drowner, and Donna Tartt's The Secret History.

But no one is more surprised than Mal, now the owner of the Old Devils Bookstore in Boston, when an FBI agent comes knocking on his door one snowy day in February. She's looking for information about a series of unsolved murders that look eerily similar to the killings on Mal's old list. And the FBI agent isn't the only one interested in this bookseller who spends almost every night at home reading. The killer is out there, watching his every move--a diabolical threat who knows way too much about Mal's personal history, especially the secrets he's never told anyone, even his recently deceased wife.

To protect himself, Mal begins looking into possible suspects . . . and sees a killer in everyone around him. But Mal doesn't count on the investigation leaving a trail of death in its wake. Suddenly, a series of shocking twists leaves more victims dead--and the noose around Mal's neck grows so tight he might never escape.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Lonely, widowed Boston bookstore owner Malcolm Kershaw gets a call from the FBI and meets with an agent who thinks a cold-blooded killer is using his years-old blog post that listed "eight perfect murders" in crime fiction as a playbook. Gwen thinks that three murders could be tied to Malcolm's post; Malcolm, who has a few secrets of his own, wonders if the killer is someone he contacted on the dark web about trading murders à la Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train. As the story unwinds, Malcolm's chilly, dispassionate narration becomes more unreliable and tension increases about who might be next and how it ties in with his list. The suspects range from his quirky millennial employees to acquaintances of his dead, drug-addicted wife, and everybody around him harbors dark secrets. VERDICT The wintry New England setting and eerily cool narration, together with trust-no-one twists and garish murders, will satisfy thriller readers; fans of classic mysteries by Agatha Christie, Ira Levin, and John D. MacDonald will enjoy how Swanson (Before She Knew Him) repurposes the plots. While you may not warm to Malcolm, you'll stay to the finish of this one. [See Prepub Alert, 8/25/19.]--Liz French, Library Journal

Publishers Weekly Review

In 2004, Malcolm Kershaw, the narrator of this outstanding fair-play crime novel from Swanson (Before She Knew Him), began working at Boston's Old Devils Bookstore, where he posted a list on the store's blog of eight mysteries in which "the murderer comes closest to realizing that platonic ideal of a perfect murder." Years later, FBI agent Gwen Mulvey tells him she's investigating multiple killings that she believes may have been influenced by his blog post. For example, Mulvey is probing the deaths of three people apparently connected only by having a name related to birds, a setup similar to Agatha Christie's The A.B.C. Murders, one of the books on the list. Mulvey is also looking into a murder that mirrors the circumstances of James M. Cain's Double Indemnity and hopes that Kershaw can give her a lead as to who might be using his list for a campaign of bloodshed. The stakes rise when Kershaw admits he knew one of the victims but chose not to share that with Mulvey. Swanson will keep most readers guessing until the end. Classic whodunit fans will be in heaven. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel & Weber. (Mar.)

Kirkus Book Review

A ghoulish killer brings a Boston bookseller's list of perfect fictional murders to lifethat is, to repeated, emphatic death.The Red House Mystery, Malice Aforethought, The A.B.C. Murders, Double Indemnity, Strangers on a Train, The Drowner, Deathtrap, The Secret History: They may not be the best mysteries, reflects Malcolm Kershaw, but they feature the most undetectable murders, as he wrote on a little-read blog post when he was first hired at Old Devils Bookstore. Now that he owns the store with mostly silent partner Brian Murray, a semifamous mystery writer, that post has come back to haunt him. FBI agent Gwen Mulvey has observed at least three unsolved murders, maybe more, that seem to take their cues from the stories on Mal's list. What does he think about possible links among them? she wonders. The most interesting thing he thinks is something he's not going to share with her: He's hiding a secret that would tie him even more closely to that list than she imagines. And while Mal is fretting about what he can do to help stop the violence without tipping his own hand, the killer, clearly untrammeled by any such scruples, continues down the list of fictional blueprints for perfect murders. Swanson (Before She Knew Him, 2019, etc.) jumps the shark early from genre thrills to metafictional puzzles, but despite a triple helping of cleverness that might seem like a fatal overdose, the pleasures of following, and trying to anticipate, a narrator who's constantly second- and third-guessing himself and everyone around him are authentic and intense. If the final revelations are anticlimactic, that's only because you wish the mounting complications, like a magician's showiest routine, could go on forever.The perfect gift for well-read mystery mavens who complain that they don't write them like they used to. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.