Fair play is not only a whip-smart locked room mystery novel but delves deeper with an emotional gut-punch that left me reeling. To describe this book through genre would be to diminish this books appeal. It is more than a simple 'crime' novel. Louise Hegarty has created a labyrinthine puzzle of a book which will keep you blindsided right up until the reveal. Genius!

i really enjoyed how this book subverted traditional crime genres and my own expectations of where the story was going. What began as a fun detective story with a twist became something very moving! I hope to read more of Louise's books in the future - it felt like a very talented debut.

The narrative splits into two competing storylines: one a metatextual homage detective fiction, complete with a butler and amateur sleuth, and the contemporary narrative following Abigail's grief.

While the novel's inventive structure and tonal shifts are inventive, it didn't entirely work for me, I was left wishing for a more cohesive narrative.

A locked room saga. A group of people who go to a house for a birthday party and there is a murder mystery game. Then somebody is really found dead and another murder mystery type investigation begins. So the same group of people playing a game and actually being the game. It’s clever, but I got a little lost and I think it was fairly obvious from the beginning whodunnit, but I’m still not too sure why. So a great premise, and probably well executed, but just lost me a little.

This unfortunately wasn't for me, I was quite intrigued by concept when I had first read the blurb but I think the execution felt a bit off and I found it a bit confusing at times and the characters flat. It is quite unique in the way the story is structured maybe I just didn't get it.
But I would defo read more their work - Thank you again for the opportunity

Fair Play by Louise Hegarty is a mystery novel about a man found dead in his bedroom after a party to celebrate his birthday.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Pan Macmillan/Picador, and the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.  However, I will be more selective when I request from this publisher, as they only offered a pdf version of the book -- which didn't work well on either my kobo nor my kindle e-reader.


Okay, in one way this was the ultimate mystery within a mystery.  In other ways, it was just confusing.

Part One introduced us to Abigail and her plans for the birthday bash, where she is renting an airbnb.   Part Two introduced us to characters, some of which are not part of Abigail's plans - like a butler and a maid, and soon I'm not even sure who owns the house. Part Two also gave  us "rules" for writing a murder mystery, taken from various magazine articles in the 1920's.  The author definitely knows the "golden age" of  authors like Christie.-- even the neighbours called "Mallowen".  The next parts mostly dealt with the detective interviewing the guests and coming to different conclusions each time.  All of this was very different from a normal mystery novel, and if executed a little better, could have been amazing.

If you can't handle repetition in your reading material, I would recommend you pass on this one.  Even though the repetition was intentional, I found it grating.

The best part of the book showed how Abigail dealt with the death of her brother.  This look at grief was very well done.

So, overall, this book probably wasn't for me.  However, the author's knowledge definitely crept in, and again, the topic of grief over the death of a loved one was phenomenal.

I get what the author was trying to achieve with this ambitious novel, but I am afraid it simply didn’t work for me. There were delightful moments, and I enjoyed the setting out of the rules of days-gone-by detective novels. Detective Bell was a wonderful Agatha Christie-like detective, and yet surely there was a better way of him pronouncing the different murderer scenarios without all the replication. I has to skim quite a bit of this book, particularly towards the end, as I found the repetition annoying. And maybe I’m stupid, but I really didn’t get what the ending was trying to achieve.

A truly unique novel, Fair Play is one of those books where you realise partway through that you're not necessarily reading the book you thought you were reading.

It begins with a locked room murder mystery. so you naturally assume that the novel is going to be about solving that mystery, but then it changes to something else entirely. I found myself constantly flicking backwards and forwards, doubting my own memory of what I'd read previously and not quite sure where the book was taking me.

Part homage to every murder mystery trope there is and part fractured exploration of grief and loss, this is a book that plays with genre and defies easy explanation. Readers will either love it or hate it, but it's most definitely going to be one of the most unusual books released this year.

I regretted finishing this. Whenever I thought I figured out what happened, I was lost. I'm unsure what the point was or why we were put through this. Is it a meta-mystery or choose your choose-your-ending book, or just an exploration of grief?

While the book had a strong opening with friends meeting up at an Airbnb to celebrate one of their birthdays/New Year, the rest of the story veered between strange and confusing. It was riddled with plot holes (none of them get cleared up) and a mystery that leads you nowhere. We are told multiple times that this book is a murder mystery, but ironic that we don't get a satisfying ending to it.

Thanks to Netgalley & Pan Macmillan for the e-copy, but this wasn't for me.

Thank you for the ARC! Sadly unable to read as this was downloaded onto a device I no longer have access to and the book has since been archived.

Fair Play by Louise Hegarty

I didn’t finish this book but can comment on the parts I did read. I went in expecting a twisty tale based around a murder mystery weekend - something I’ve seen a couple of other novels recently - Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson and Three Dahlias, only one of which I finished. The books opens with an ensemble of people gathering for the party, which is being held for a birthday and also New Years Eve. The party is for Abigail and Benjamin who are twins. Thy enjoy a night of drinking and catching up on the gossip. In the morning, Benjamin is found dead. For part two of the book a famous detective arrives. Auguste Bell promises he can solve Benjamin’s death in thirty chapters. This reads like a Golden Age detective novel, such as Agatha Christie, with the format of a locked room mystery. So many different things were happening that I honestly struggled to take it all in and know who was playing at being murdered and who had been murdered for real. There were so many post-modern bits of trickery here, from the changes in style, narrative switches and breaking the fourth wall. It felt like too many techniques and not enough substance for me. There are sections dealing with Abigail’s grief, which felt odd next to the language and humour of 1920s detective fiction. By part three I was confused and gave up. I can see there was a great idea here, but I need to feel connected with my characters and the emotional aspects of a murder case and on this occasion the clever ideas overshadowed the human elements and emotions.

Perhaps judging a book by its cover is another theme for this month. Doesn’t that cover just scream playful? When I sat down to read Fair Play, I was expecting a fun murder mystery. Abigail throws a murder mystery party for her brother, Benjamin. The celebrations come to halt when Benjamin is found dead the next day.

Hegarty sets out the conventions of the detective novel, the rules by which the narrative will play. Into the scene bursts detective Auguste Bell - highly esteemed, suave and astute - to get to the bottom of who did it. He tells us in what chapter the key evidence will be discovered, signposts key witnesses for us and keeps the investigation within the rules.

But this isn’t just a play on genre. The detective novel alternates with a sombre literary novel about Abigail’s grief and coming to terms with what happened. The juxtaposition between the two narratives is jarring, discombobulating and a bit unsatisfying (like grief?).

Fair Play is about a search for answers: in one story ‘who did it?’ and in another ‘why did this happen?’. While I’m not sure it was 100% successful, it was interesting enough for me to recommend.

I don’t usually have a problem with meta ideas or high concepts, but I don’t think this book worked at all - it’s trying hard to be clever but doesn’t deliver anything substantial. Starting initially as a whodunnit, it turns into something totally different whilst still toying with the concept of the detective novel on the surface. it’s actually underlying that the story of a sister struggling with grief at the death of her brother. But the characters are one-dimensional; even the lead, Abigail, realises while grieving that she basically doesn’t know anything much about the other characters. I liked the murder mystery game at the beginning but it really doesn’t connect to the rest at all, or give any of the depth that would make the latter half poignant. We aren’t invested in Abigail’s grief as readers because we know nothing about her or her brother or friends. And I’m not sure that I see the point of going through a caricature of a murder mystery based on a fictionalised version of events surrounding Benjamin’s death alongside the actual events? It’s repetitive and nonsensical - we’re reading it whilst knowing that an actual detective would want to know the substance of the tense conversation, not just say oh thank you for telling me that so-and-so had a tense conversation- why if it’s not even going to try to seem realistic? It’s all so illogical just to tie in with the idea of implicating everyone. Because all the rules of fair play and deduction are pointless here. Just urgh. I hate it. I get what it was trying to do but I didn’t find it clever at all. It seems this is going to be a marmite book.

My thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher, Picador, for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book had such a good set up - but I got lost around half way - it may have been just not for me.

This book delves into the intricate dynamics of a seemingly idyllic small-town community in rural Ireland, where long-held secrets and simmering tensions erupt following a tragic accident. The story centers around the aftermath of a fatal car crash involving two teenagers from vastly different social strata: Johnny, a popular young man from a well-respected family, and Kevin, a more marginalized figure in the community.

Hegarty skillfully weaves together multiple perspectives, primarily through the voices of Sarah, Johnny's grieving mother, and Michael, Kevin's ostracized father. Through their raw and emotionally charged narratives, the author paints a vivid picture of a community grappling with grief, guilt, and the insidious undercurrents of class divisions and ingrained prejudices. As the investigation into the accident unfolds, long-buried resentments and unspoken truths begin to surface, exposing the fault lines that run deep within this seemingly close-knit society.

A game of two halves
—
As is Abigail’s usual way, she’s throwing a combined New Year’s Eve, her brother Benjamin’s birthday and a murder mystery game, this time at a swanky house to make up for all the times they didn’t during lockdown. A small select group of long-term friends, one with a partner, as well as Benjamin’s lonely secretary, turn up and the evening goes as planned. The next morning they wake to find that Benjamin has died in the night.

Immediately, the tale becomes a locked room mystery and a quirky European detective Auguste Belle arrives on the scene to interrogate the partygoers and the staff (a butler, a cook, a housemaid…), sure that this will be another open and shut case like the ones he has solved before.

As we follow Auguste Belle, we are also let into Abigail’s days after Benjamin’s death, trying to make any sense of his senseless death, catching up with all their friends who were there, with Benjamin’s secretary, with their aunt. Abigail is bereft and there’s nothing that anyone can do or say.

And that’s all she wrote. The initial death is a great introduction to a literary novel, the meta approach to the murder mystery is a decent stab but still colours within the lines, Abigail’s palpable and unceasing grief is well done but…

I think Belle at one point talks about two narratives as parallel railroad tracks, destined to never meet, and sadly, that’s the way of this book. As good as the writing is — the deftly drawn pen portraits, the inked in relationships, the clear knowledge and passion for Golden Age crime — there is never a thematic or plot moment where the whole thing ties together in an intricate and beautiful framework. As one example, in the murder mystery game, the ‘corpse’ becomes the detective; but in Auguste Belle there is no sense that he is a version of Benjamin, or even of Abigail. It’s as if the two halves exist in separate places, sharing only the names of characters.

I picked up Fair Play by Louise Hegarty expecting a typical murder mystery, and at first, it seemed to be just that—intriguing setup, a locked room mystery, and the promise of suspense. But as the story progressed, it took an unexpected turn. Instead of following a clear mystery arc, the plot became increasingly confusing and eventually split into what were two separate narratives.

While the writing was solid and the themes ambitious, the shift in focus made it hard to stay engaged. I found myself constantly trying to piece together how the two threads were meant to connect, but the payoff never quite came. It felt more like two half-finished stories than one cohesive novel.

In the end, Fair Play left me feeling dissatisfied. It had the potential to be a gripping read, but the confusing structure and lack of resolution made it fall flat.

It seems I’m maybe in the minority here but I really enjoyed this book! I read it so quickly and I thought it was clever and well written.

I liked the ending, I thought it was quite insightful.

Each year, for her brother Benjamin's New Year's Day birthday, Abigail gathers the same group of friends for a party. There is drinking, eating and general merriment, culminating in an elaborate murder mystery. Abigail, the self-appointed organiser of the group, prides herself on making sure everything is perfect: the clues; the character assignments; the moment the investigation begins. This year's party, in a gorgeously grand eighteenth century home in the countryside, goes off without a hitch. The victim is brutally slain, the clues discovered and the culprit identified. In the early hours of the morning, the friends pour themselves into bed, sated with food, drink and fun. However, when the sun rises, one of the guests is discovered dead inside a locked bedroom, and suddenly the game becomes horrifyingly real. Who killed Benjamin? Why?

All of a sudden, the reader is transported into a 1920s detective story, complete with the genre's rigid set of rules, set pieces and characters - a figment of Abigail's grieving mind conjured up to make sense of her brother's death. The juxtaposition of the 'investigation' and the unbearable, overwhelming sadness she feels is effective, and it brings a much needed levity to the devastatingly sad narrative of Abigail trying to face life without Benjamin and find meaning in how he died. Fair Play pokes fun at the conventions and formulaic nature of old-fashioned detective stories, and there are some laugh out loud moments when Hegarty sends up the genre tropes, such as the detective's bumbling Watson-esque sidekick and the sudden materialisation of an assortment of servants holding important clues to the investigation.

For most part I was captivated by this weird little tale, which is at turns moving and amusing, and I found the choice to blend the two narratives a clever, interesting one. Fair Play also explores the complexities of sibling relationships and the strain of navigating long-term friendships once they have been outgrown but not yet completely discarded. However, I found the ending unnecessarily drawn-out; the point that was being made by it could have been established in fewer chapters or in one longer scene.

I was reminded of West Heart Kill, the 2023 Dann McDorman novel which celebrates and parodies the classic detective story, and I would definitely recommend that book to readers who enjoyed this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Fair Play by Louise Hegarty in return for my honest review.
This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I was intrigued after reading the bio, unfortunately this book was not for me I found it quite a slow read and a little confusing in places.