What a phenomenal opener to a very unique book. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from it, but it is a book that certainly blows your mind. I haven’t felt so fondly for a book since reading The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle but Eight Detectives is high up in that league. The concluding parts got me good, I didn’t know how it was all going to wrap up but I loved it.

This is an epic one of a kind book that everyone needs to read.

I love a book where the dialog is of two people which this book is. This is not a light read, it's a very complex read but it's really engaging and clever. It's a slow burn but it's a different take on mystery crime and there are lots of twists and turns that you will not see coming. It's a really good read but you need to concentrate to keep up. I would really recommend this for a different type of read from your usual read.

‘Eight Detectives’ is a detective novel about an author of detective novels. Grant McAllister, a mathematician, published a series of seven detective novels in the 1940s as part of his research into the mathematics of murder mysteries. Many decades later, Julia Hart – an acquisitions editor for Blood Type Books – seeks out Grant McAllister, now retired and living in seclusion on a remote island, as she wants to republish his books. However, as they talk through the stories together, discrepancies start to appear – and is Julia imagining the link between The White Murders and a real-life White murder that happened back in 1940?

The idea behind this is brilliant – detective stories within detective stories – and this started very strongly. The tales contained within this are Christie-esque and very hard to predict until the culprit is revealed at the end. I also enjoyed the dynamics between Julia and Grant – clever, sharp-eyed Julia picking out discrepancies and asking probing questions, Grant trying to avoid the questions and steer the discussion towards mathematics. Julia’s youthful inquisitiveness and energy contrasted well with Grant’s weariness and musings. After spending years living in anonymity and seclusion, Grant both welcomes the normality of human interaction and seems wary of what Julia could unleash.

The ending is what makes or breaks a murder mystery, and the ending of this didn’t pack quite the punch I wanted. The major twist was clever – I hadn’t predicted it – but in many ways it felt like cheating. This book was keen to reinforce the rules of murder mystery novels, going over the required components and mathematics – yet the major twist seemed to bend those rules. The final two chapters contained two more twists – one which I had predicted (I believe this was the author’s intention), and one which I had not. It speaks to the author’s ability that it was a complete trope of the genre and still took me by surprise.

In many ways, I think I preferred the constituent detective novels to the overarching plot. The idea of a story within a story is brilliant but very hard to carry off effectively – I can only think of a couple of successful examples. This came very close, and for some it will likely work well, but I wasn’t quite satisfied.

If you’re a fan of detective novels I’d recommend this – the idea of the mathematics and the story within a story is excellent, and the tales within are brilliant examples of short murder mysteries. As for the ending, I’ll leave you to make up your own minds.

I am conflicted about this book. It is original, clever and well written; unlike anything I have read before. Seven short stories bound together with a final one bringing the whole narrative together. Nearly all of the stories have alternate endings and it needs a devious mind to keep track of all the clues scattered about. Nothing is as it seems. It starts with Julia, an editor, travelling abroad to interview a reclusive author about his book of detective short stories written from a mathematical formula with a view to republishing after many years. By the end your brain is spinning with all the twists and turns. Sadly, I couldn’t personally connect with either of the main characters, but the book is well worth reading for its brilliance.

This is a very clever and unique murder mystery novel. It consists of several short stories, written years ago, and in between is a dialogue between the author, Grant, who now lives away from society, and a young woman, Julia, who wants to publish a new edition of them. Grant has also published a mathematical analysis of the murder mystery genre, which forms the basis of their discussions. There are some anomalies in the stories which she questions and they are possible clues to another, local, murder. To be honest I did not follow all of this and reading on a kindle with no chapter index, it is difficult to flip back to check a point. I thought it was like reading a series of Jonathan Creek mysteries. It was clever and there are a couple of twists at the end, but I felt it was an intellectual exercise and there was very little real emotion in it.

The Eighth Detective is not quite the "thrilling, wildly inventive nesting doll of a mystery" I was hoping it'd be promised to be. I approached this novel hoping for something in the realms of Anthony Horowitz. Sadly, The Eighth Detective seems closer to The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, in that both novels are hellbent on 'confusing' the reader with 'shocking' reveals. Similarly to Horowitz's Magpie Murders, The Eighth Detective introduces to a the work of fictions writer of detective fiction. In Alex Pavesi's novel the writer of a collection of short stories (all whodunnits) has relocated to an unmanned island. He's approached by an editor interested in re-publishing this collection. She decides for theatrical reasons to read his own stories to him, all of these stories build on a paper he wrote "examining the mathematical structure of murder mysteries" called 'The Permutations of Detective Fiction' (very a la Ronald Knox). The editor notices discrepancies in his stories (continuity errors, incongruous descriptions etc.).
The novel is ¾ made up by these short stories...and dare I say, or write, that they are at best mediocre? Most of them seems Agatha Christie rip-offs (the most ostentatious of which is acknowledged by the fictions author as a 'homage' to his favourite crime novel). Each short story is followed by sections titled 'Conversations' in which the editor grills the author about his stories. The author seems to have little recollection of the intentional discrepancies he peppered into his stories, but the editor is unyielding and tries to learn more about his private life (which made certain later reveals less 'shocking'). Each time she finishes reading a short story the final line appears twice (once at end of the short story and once at the beginning of the following 'Conversation'). This did not help in making the novel feel less repetitive.
The writing style doesn't seem to vary so that the short stories and the 'Conversations' seem to have been written by the same person (which they have, but it kind of ruins the illusion of the stories having been written by a character). The characters were mere names on a page, their personalities inexistent or irrelevant.
The Eighth Detective will offer little to readers who are fans of detective fiction and/or whodunnits. The short stories were populated by boorish caricatures, relied on predictable twists, and failed to amuse or surprise me.

When is a book of short stories actually really just the one story? Eight detectives is that book. It took me while to warm to this format or to see where it was going but I had to find out.

An interesting concept which made me curious when I realised it would feature all of McAllister’s detectives as part of the wider novel. However, I when I came to read them, I just wasn’t wowed by the short stories that were part of The White Murders, they seemed to be lacking some kind of spark for me which made for a very long set up. I found that they weren’t holding my attention enough either and in fact I was only really enjoying the chapters with the interactions with Julia and Grant. The novel only truly got under my skin near the end with the dramatic reveal. I didn’t find it as a rewarding reading experience as other reviewers did which was a shame.

I really wanted to love this one, especially as so many people have been raving about it. Sadly, I just didn’t get on with it. And I’m sure it’s a case of it’s me, not the book, most likely it was just not what I was looking for in a book right now. It’s a great premise, has interesting characters is well written, but it’s just not for me at the moment!

I’m afraid I’m in a minority in not getting on at all well with Eight Detectives. It’s a very ingenious idea but it’s simply not very well done.

The premise is well described in the publisher’s blurb: a professor of mathematics once worked out the maths of detective stories and wrote some short stories himself. A young editor is sent to meet the author and revise them for publication and finds possibly disturbing clues to an old, unsolved murder.

So far, so enticing. My problem is that I didn’t find it well enough written to hold my attention. The stories themselves aren’t very interesting, are sometimes rather repellent and generally very implausible. The prose creaks and plods more than a little and the descriptions of present day events read in a very similar voice to the stories, which doesn’t help. In addition, the “mathematical rules for a murder mystery” are things like “There must be at least one victim” or “There must be at least two suspects” and that the sets of victim, killer, suspects, and detectives may overlap in different ways. It’s hardly earth-shaking stuff. I’m afraid I decided that life was too short for this, gave up around half way and skimmed to the end. Sadly, I found it just as unrewarding as the rest of what I’d read.

Others have plainly enjoyed this book very much and have found the puzzle engrossing, but I was very disappointed in it and can’t recommend it.

(My thanks to Penguin for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Eight Detectives is like nothing you have read before.

The name of the novel alludes to the fact that someone out there is the eighth detective, each story contains details that lead you to solve the mystery, and you do have to pay a lot of attention when reading it.

Perfect for those who enjoy complex, multilayered story lines and don't mind a slow burn read.

Disclosure: I'd like to thank the publisher for my advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

https://jemimareads.wordpress.com/
https://www.instagram.com/jemimareadsofficial

Wow, do you need to pay attention when reading this book! Clever, intricately detailed and good twists in the second half. I found it quite hard work though and struggled with keeping track of the many little clues in each story.
The 'elements of a murder mystery' was great though, and the use of each story to portray them was well executed.

Eight Detectives is a real joy. Julia Hart has come to meet Grant McAllister, the author of The White Murders. Grant's book was written 30 years before and comprises of 7 detective stories, each of which sum up the rules of murder mysteries. The reader gets to read all of the stories, many of which are recognisable homages to classic detective fiction. They are creepy and uneasy stories to read and reflect on the interactions between Julia and Grant. Julia is the eighth detective and is trying to solve her own queasy mystery. I got increasingly worried for Julia and I would never have expected the outcome. The writing is so clever and engaging. Alex Pavesi shows a real love for the genre which is often not taken as seriously as it could be.

WOW, what a brilliant inventive debut novel .perfect for fans of Christie and Doyle’s stories. This is certainly a different take on mystery crime stories, brilliantly written, with more than one ending, and several twists that you may or may not see coming.

Grant McAlister, mathematician, and author, of a book with a collection of seven murder mystery crime stories The White Murders, a book he had written 30 years earlier, before taking himself off to solitude on a Mediterranean island. He applies mathematics to his theory on what makes a good murder mystery, you need three things to make it work, a victim, a suspect or even more than one, and a detective, once you have those all you have to do is shuffle the permutations and you have the perfect murder mystery. He is approached by Julia Hart an editor who would like to reprint his book. She goes to join him on the remote island, where she spends time with him reading the stories out, but as she does so she notices some inconsistencies within each story, but when she questions Grant about them he says he can’t remember. But the way Julia sees it there is something more going on with the stories, as she delves deeper she questions whether there are clues into a real life case that had happened 30 years earlier, but had remained unsolved. Could she be right? Or is it just a coincidence. Grant says it is? Julia is the eighth detective attempting to solve another mystery and unearth the secrets she believes Grant is keeping.

Each of the stories is different, very cleverly written, giving the reader a chance to play detective. It’s so unusual to be reading a story within a story. But watch for those riddles and twists, that will keep you guessing. Read carefully and take in all the clues and see if you can guess the answers correctly.

This is such a unique read, challenging, clever, engrossing. If this is what Alex Pavesi’s debut novel is like I cannot wait to see what comes next. A truly exceptional book for lovers of the good old murder mysteries/whodunit plays that I loved so much growing up.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #MichaelJoseph for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

This is essentially 7 short stories linked together by an 8th - but ones that I really enjoyed. The 8th story takes place between Julia and Grant and unfolds between the readings of the other 7. They start to critique the stories and explore the 'rules' of murder mysteries. Julia spots many inconsistencies in the books, and as a reader, you start joining in, looking for the inconsistencies, rather than necessarily trying to solve the murders.

I thought they were excellent mysteries and the ending of the book which linked them all together even more was very satisfying. It's a new take on the old murder mystery genre, which is always welcome, but ultimately nothing revolutionary here.

It's an enjoyable read that fans of murder mysteries will love, but it's also easily forgettable - hence the three stars. However, I'm looking forward to more books by Pavesi.

A full review will appear in the Bert's Books Podcast released on 7th June 2020

I enjoyed the machinations of the plot more than the narrative and while the short stories were brilliant, I found myself lost for most of the book. I really loved the structure, but I think the plot leave the reader floundering for much of the novel for anything secure to latch onto - to the detriment of the book.

I’m not sure if I’m missing something or if my head isn’t in the right place for this book as I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I love a Murder mystery, I love trying to work out what the connection is to help prise apart the story so it can give up it secrets. With Eight Detectives however I just did not care.

The premise is that a publisher goes to visit a reclusive author to discuss a series of short stories he wrote many many moons ago. She reads each story (so the reader can ‘listen’) and then they discuss it along with the theories he has written about regarding the perfect murder mysteries. I didn’t particularly like the stories as they never had any redeemable characters, and I found that I kept skimming over their discussions as I found them a bit tedious. The extra twists at the end were a nice addition, but by this time I simply wanted to finish the book and be done with it.

I feel like I’ve let it down, which saddens me.

I am always on the look-out for genre fiction that tries to something different with the genre it is operating in, so when I heard about Eight Murders, I thought I'd give it a go. The basic premise is a book editor (Julia Hart) has been commissioned to edit and compile a retrospective collection of stories called the White Murders by ex-professor of mathematics, and one time author, Grant McAllister.

To do this she journeys to the quiet Mediterranean island McAllister has retired to, to quiz him about his life, his ground-breaking mathematical work on the maths of the murder mystery, and his old mystery short stories.
Structurally the book has Julia re-read each story to McAllister and then them discuss it and what he remembers of it and why he chose particular things. The question is whether or not there is an additional mystery to solve.

Of course there is, otherwise what would be the point of the book!

I love the idea of this book. But. I think this is one of those books where the idea behind it is slightly better than the execution. This – at least in part, for me, is because the writing of some of the 'original stories' was a bit meh. In some ways that is not the point, but as they do take up the majority of the book they have to be satisfying in and of themselves and not just be props for any potential later twists. In that sense I felt the end of the book was written first and then worked back.

On the positive, it was still an enjoyable read and one twist, I'll admit, I didn't see coming at all.

Thanks to Netgalley, Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and Alex Pavesi for the ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

The premise of Eight Detectives was intriguing and I really, really wanted to love it but I was left underwhelmed. It was a bit clunky and the narrative thread holding the stories together wasn't really strong enough to carry the book. Although the short stories are brilliantly written - they are tightly constructed and very clever - I was left feeling unsatisfied and a bit disappointed.

I had absolutely no idea I was going to love this book as much as I have.
No review I write will show how absolutely fantastic this book is. I have devoured this book in one sitting and been kept gripped. Absolutely loved it.