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Eight Detectives

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What to expect

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

Critics Review

TODAY'S GREATEST EXPONENT OF PLAYFUL DETECTIVE FICTION. A gloriously original, intricate and often very funny series of practical jokes played on the reader
Oskar Jensen, GUARDIAN
Terrific. Alex Pavesi knows the genre inside out. One of the year's most entertaining crime novels
Sunday Times, Crime Book of the Month
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.
A J Finn, bestselling author of The Woman in the Window
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
Times
An elegantly structured, intellectually challenging and completely unique thriller that grips like a vice
Sunday Times bestselling author of The Killings at Kingfisher Hill
This is both a wonderfully tricksy debut and a loving tribute to the golden age of crime fiction
Mail on Sunday
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
Sunday Times
A box of delights . . . Pavesi's revelations are completely unexpected, right up to the end
New York Times

User Reviews

Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
Author Alex Pavesi
Narrator Emilia Fox
Duration 11 hours and 17 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781405945134
Format Audiobook
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Genre Crime and mystery: women sleuths, Modern and contemporary fiction, Psychological thriller
Availability AU, GB, IE
Rating
5.0 (1 review)
Narration
5.0 (1 review)

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