What a book! I loved this very different read, in fact I romped through it.

Set on a Mediterranean island, a young editor visits a reclusive author, with a view to republishing a book he wrote many years earlier, 'The White Murders'., a collection of short stories. Together they read the stories, as he sets out his ingredients for a perfect murder mystery. Many of the stories have an Agatha Christie-esque vibe, and as the book progresses these in turn get darker and darker. (and yet due to the era in which they are set are delivered in a genteel way!)

Delivered with a great twist at the end, I couldn't put this one down, it's definitely one of my top recommendations for 2020. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Classic murder mystery tropes + a professor of mathematics? Yes please!

Julia is an editor at a publisher planning to republish the short stories of Grant McAllister. Each exploring different combinations of the components of a classic murder mystery.

I love seeing logic applied to things like this, and I really loved exploring it through the inclusion of those full stories within the novel. Each was a little mystery in itself, and I loved the added fun of trying to work out what each one is representing!

There are so many nods to classic mysteries, so it you’re a fan of that you’ll have a lot of fun trying to think of those examples yourself! There’s a particular story which takes significant inspiration from one of my favourite stories, but no specific titles are mentioned so you won’t be spoiled!

Behind these stories, we’re also following Julia and Grant’s interactions, including questions for how the collection potentially references an unsolved murder.

Overall this was a joy to read. I loved the genre references, and at the same time was intrigued by the mysteries scattered throughout. A must read for fans of classic murder mysteries!

I found this book a little confusing to begin with until I realised it consisted of short stories wrapped around a debate. Not my favourite book I have to confess as I found it much to verbose and I found myself skipping through chunks of it. The final chapters where the twists and turns in the story happened were quite intriguing and very clever but for me were much too long. A good idea that just didn't work for me.

Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi
This is a fascinating novel which manages to put a new sin on the age old detective story. We encounter Professor Grant McAllister who is living in a remote village on a small island in the Mediterranean. Many years previously he published a collection of murder mysteries called The White Murders. Julia Hart has come to interview him about his mathematical theories and also to question him about the stories in the book. She is going to be his editor as his book is made ready to be republished. As she reads each stories she questions him about small inconsistencies in each story and as the reader we too are on the lookout for these clues spread throughout the book.
Julia Hart is a fascinating character and as she discusses her thoughts about the stories with the author we gradually learn more about the author’s theory of the mathematical elements necessary for a crime novel. The stories are very Agatha Christie-esque but the thread which weaves them all together in the denouement is well worth waiting for.
A tautly written story which keeps you engaged throughout and one which I will be recommending to all my book groups. It is a pleasure to read such an innovative novel. Many thanks to the author, the publishers and to Net Galley for the opportunity to read this novel in return for an honest review.

Very clever and interesting. I liked the linking of different short stories with a theme and each of the murder mysteries were well plotted and succinct. I enjoyed this.

Grant McAllister is a math teacher. He's written out the rules for murder mysteries: a victim, suspect and a detective.

Julia Hart is an editor who travels to a remote island to talk to the author of a book of short stories that had been written thirty years ago. She wants to republish the book to gain a wider audience. Grant McAllister was the author of the book.

Grant McAllister tells Julia he can't remember much about the stories, so she reads them out to him. But whilst reading them, she notices inconsistencies within the stories. When she asks Grant about them, he says he can't remember. But Julia thinks there's more going on with the stories. When she delves deeper, she finds clues that link to the an unsolved case that happened thirty years ago. Each story is cleverly crafted. There's clues hidden in every story that will reveal a bigger mystery. I'm not usually a fan of short stories but this book I loved. This is an interesting read that kept my attention throughout.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and the author Alex Pavesi for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Today I'm thrilled to be sharing my review for this impressive debut novel by Alex Pavesi. Thank you to Michael Joseph at Penguin UK for a digital review copy via NetGalley - my thoughts are my own and not influenced by the gift.

As I've already stated above, this is a very impressive debut novel. full of lies, secrets and murder mysteries. I've enjoyed reading murder mystery books over the years, starting with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, then onto PD James and Agatha Christie.

However this book takes this genre to the next level. Julia is hoping to solve a mystery, as she reads the thirty year old stories back to the author, hiding on a secluded island. This book takes so many twists and turns, that I think I need to read it again, now I know how it ended. At no stage did I see the ending (or endings) coming.

This is a set of books within a book which should be enjoyed as a book and also be made into a film. Apologies for the brief review - I don't want to give away any spoilers.

Julia Hart has travelled to a quiet Mediterranean island to the home of mathematician and one time author Grant McAlllister.  She wants to re-publish 'The White Murders', a book of short stories he wrote some years ago, which uses the stories to look at how 'mathematically' a story can be classed as a murder mystery.

Eight Detectives is cleverly structured by interspersing the short stories, from Grant McAllister's book, with the conversations and discussions between Julia and Grant as she visits daily at his cottage, to discuss the book and it's re-release.

This book caught me out somewhat by starting straight off with one of the short stories and it took me a while to figure out what exactly was happening. Clearly far to clever for me!  At the end of each of The White Murder stories, Julia picks out a number of inconsistencies within it's narrative.  I can't remember at what point I realised what was happening, but as she continues to notice these issues and brings up a possible link to an old real life crime the penny dropped and I realised there was something more to discover from these two meeting.  

I enjoyed the short stories.  A date isn't mentioned but they all have a very strong golden age crime feel to them, in fact one, based on a favourite of McAllister's, has a strong Agatha Christie resemblance to it.  They are all different from each other and made for a very complex and detailed group of stories.  As I became accustomed to Julia pin pointing the discrepancies I concentrated even more to see if I could figure them out before she did.

I did find the conversations between Julia and Grant a little repetitive, his reluctance to answer her questions annoyed me somewhat as it didn't seem to move the book forward and as you don't know anything about these two characters for a lot of the book I wasn't finding that I had warmed to them. However, and without giving too much away, the later part of the book changed things completely.  I became much more invested in Julia and Grant and the new track the story took had me hooked. A clever ending.

If you like golden age crime but would enjoy a new spin on it. This is a book for you.

A twist, within a story, within a book!!

Author Grant McAllister left his life behind to live a secluded existence on a remote island. When a woman, Julia, contacts him, ostensibly to discuss a re-issue of his series of mystery stories, he is forced to relive his past.

The book details all the stories, and the structure that lies behind all mystery novels. Julia questions him about the details that seem inconsistent, and appear to have links to a real life murder case, that of a young woman, Elizabeth White, murdered in 1940.

As her suspicions grow, she tricks the author and the truth is revealed about who he really is. But there is one further twist, which shows that perhaps none of us can ever really know what secrets our loved ones are hiding.

A really interesting and original concept, this was a mystery within a mystery within a mystery. Nuanced and complex, it was a fascinating read and highly recommended for those who like a book that provides a literary challenge.

“She was just a splash and a smear of clothing on the rocks.”
— Eight Detectives/ The Eighth Detective, by Alex Pavesi

EIGHT DETECTIVES IS AN INSTANT NEW FAVOURITE!

My goodness, I. WAS. GRIPPED. Some of you will know that I have an ever so slight obsession with the idea of there being a story within a story. Well, Eight Detectives has SEVEN short stories (all EPIC murder mysteries) that are interwoven into a larger narrative that features an editor interviewing and questioning the writer of these short pieces of fiction.

It is set in a remote Mediterranean village, where an ambitious editor, Julia Hart, seeks out writer Grant McAllister to explore his motivations behind writing these murder mysterious, for, after all, he is a mathematician before anything else. A mathematician who has broken down the concept of murder mysteries, and has created a simple formula in how they are created. But even this story is laced with mystery. Something here is not right, maybe even sinister. And Julia is determined to find out just what exactly this man is hiding.

DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR AND JUST READ IT. It is without a doubt one of the greatest written murder mystery books I have EVER read. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Thank you so much NetGallery and Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for this readers copy! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Read. Be happy. Stay safe.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the arc, which I have enjoyed reading.
Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi is an unusual book, it is about a book called the White Murder, which is supposedly written to a mathematical formula. The writer lives on an island and has for some years, when he receives an offer to publish the book again. The female editor comes to meet him and then go through each story until they reach the end. The editor believes that there is a hidden murder story in the book about the White murder that again happened many years ago in the 1950’s.
There are many twists and tails in each of the previously published stories, and also many twists in the events that happen in the present tense.
It is an engrossing storyline, with many plots and turns. It has an old fashioned writing feel to the whole story, which seems to be an ideal setting for the whole book.
Highly recommended.

Easily one of the best books I've read in a long time. It's so refreshing and engaging I loved every bit of it.

If you have any interest in murder mystery stories, story structure or want a masterclass in story telling then you need to read this. It's so intelligently put together from the first page to the last with multiple layers and weaving it's just...wow.

3.5 rounded down.

The idea for this is really interesting. It seems kind of high concept but it isn't once you start reading. If you like old-fashioned murder mysteries you'll like this.

I thought the structure worked well, but that neither main character had a fully developed personality. Partly because they're hiding things, which I understand but a little more development would have made me feel something. Instead I was left a little unmoved by this.

I found that some of the stories were a bit too dry for me. I really want something to feel fresh even though it's set in the past.

Perhaps my expectations were a bit high, but I was hoping for a slightly more elegant conclusion.

My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rating 3.5/5

I have to say I do enjoy and story within a story, I hadn’t quite realised that this was going to be featured in this book so it was a pleasant surprise. Although the book does start off on one of the stories and to be honest I did have to double-check myself because for a moment I thought I had mixed up which book I was about to read.

I really liked The White Murders stories, there was something about the atmosphere of them and as we discover that there are inconsistencies in them I found myself really paying attention to see if I could figure out what they were. I only had an inkling toward one which turned out to be correct but there was a lot of enjoyment in the challenge.

Of course, the book is framed so that as a reader you are suspicious of the author Grant McAllister from the start and as we switched back to the present timeline I was intrigued to find out why he was being so evasive. I do feel though that I wasn’t quite as invested in this part of the book as I could have been. The set up of the story is clever but it doesn’t give the reader as much time to be involved with Julia and Grant and at times their sections were a little bit too repetitive.

The murder mystery being a maths formula was another interesting aspect and one that I could follow for the most part but I will admit that there were a few times that it kind of lost me completely. I don’t think it really matters in the grand scheme of the book but as a reader, I tend to feel a bit frustrated if I am not understanding something and know I likely won’t work it out.

The conclusion of the book was interesting and I didn’t expect some of what was revealed but it also didn’t grab me the way I expected it to, I think in contrast with The White Murders stories it felt a bit mundane. Everything felt resolved but I maybe wasn’t left with the satisfaction that I wanted to feel at the end.

There was a lot about this book that I liked and I appreciate how original in style it is, for me it didn’t quite land where I wanted it to but I definitely think that people will be blown away by this book.

I confess to finding this a disappointment.
I read right to the end, yet found no satisfaction in the denounment.
I like the idea, but in delivery it's all rather dull and has a streak of melancholy I don't need in my life.

I try to put thought into my reviews but all I can say about this is that it left me cold. Can't even be bothered to describe all the ways its not good. Easy enough read though..

#EightDetectives #NetGalley

This was an odd book – it took me several attempts to get into it as the first chapter didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but as the book continued it became obvious that this was not like any other murder mystery book.
Julia is an editor who visits the reclusive author and mathematician Grant McAllister to discuss a reissue of his book “The White Murders”. Grant has mapped out a set of rules that all murder mystery follows: you must have one or more suspects, you must have one or more victims, you must have one or more killers, you must have one or more ‘detectives’ … and he has written a number of short mysteries that explore these rules, change the balance of each component & push them to the limits. Julia is keen to explore this old work ready for the republication, but starts to notice some inconsistencies. Over time she starts to wonder if there is a hidden message hidden within the stories. Something that points to a real life, unsolved murder mystery.
Overall, this is a clever book that takes many of the ideas that are explored by Agatha Christie and other authors who wrote in the ‘golden age of crime’, but adds its own twists. It is a bit choppy, but this is inevitable when we have short stories interspersed with dialogue & development. I enjoyed it, but still think there is room for improvement … it finishes rather smoothly & neatly when it could have had an even more dramatic twist.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book free from the publisher via NetGalley. Whilst thanks go to the publisher & author for the opportunity to read it, all opinions are my own.
#EightDetectives #NetGalley

I couldn’t get into the format of this book. I simply did not enjoy the short story within a longer novel format. I don’t like short stories anyway so had I been aware of this, I probably wouldn’t have requested the book from netgalley. But I found the short stories distracted from the larger mystery developing. DNF at 36%. Not for me, sorry. Maybe it’s a marmite book?

Thank you to Michael Joseph for my copy of the book via NetGalley.

I have really looking forward to reading this book. I love a detective story although I had no idea how involved this one would be.

The story begins how all good mysteries should with a murder, the first is set in 1930 and I will not give anymore away about the this one.

Julia arrives on the island to see if she can persuade Grant McAllister to revisit the White Murders and to do this they must go through them one by one. It is clever book with many nods to some of my favourite crime stories. I enjoyed the stories and there are many clues throughout the book about the author and the background the stories.

I found some of the book slightly confusing as I am not a mathematician by any means and I struggled with some of the details which is why I am giving the book 4 stars. Overall,I did enjoy it and it maybe one to return to as I feel that I may have missed some of the clues.

A solid unique read with many, many threads, which are very clever and I enjoyed the sense of place on the island it is an excellent debut novel.

This starts by switching between a conversation between an author and a journalist, and excerpts from the book the journalist’s reading from. Initially this confused me quite a bit because there were names and plots that hadn’t been previously explained appearing. It felt a bit like when you start reading a book before realising it’s the second or third one in a series. However, I quickly understood what was going on and it became very easy to read.

Whilst it was easy to read, it didn’t keep my attention very well. I got about half way through and was getting quite bored and found my eyes glazing over and my attention wandering. To me it didn’t seem to be going anywhere at all. I found myself forcing myself to read it and I eventually just gave up on it. I felt that if I dread picking a book up and just finish it for the sake of finishing it rather than enjoying reading it, it probably isn’t worth reading anymore.