This was an intriguing debut novel that toes the line between a traditional murder mystery (very traditional, like Agatha Christie style) and a try-hard experimental text on grief. I enjoyed the experience but can’t say I loved it.

What a weird book.

This story began as an old-fashioned murder mystery. Abigail had invited some friends over to celebrate her brother Benjamin's birthday. But the next morning he is dead. So one of them must be the murderer. She hires a detective to solve the problem. After that the book gets really confusing.

I think I did not understand the book. There are at least two different stories going on without any explanation as to why or what they are about. The detective breaks the third wall, well sort of, and says things like something will happen in chapter sixteen and he refers to his older cases by names that sound like book titles. It is very strange and very boring at the same time. Nothing happens because it is all very repetitive. It took me a while to realise that there were several stories being told, and I got confused when I noticed the discrepancies. For example, Abigail invites the friends to an Airbnb to celebrate, but suddenly it is her family's house, complete with servants. It was so confusing and disturbing.

It took me two weeks to read the book and it was a real struggle. I read the term "Meta Murder Mystery" in other reviews. I have never heard of this genre and obviously it is not for me. Unfortunately, I have nothing good to say about this book. It's boring, confusing, the characters are flat and the ending... I don't know what it was. Maybe I just didn't get it.

Fair Play is a locked room suspense about a group of friends sharing an Airbnb on New Years Eve to celebrate Benjamin’s birthday. Everyone but Benjamin wakes up the next day, and so a professional detective is called in to help. Think Knive’s Out. This is by far one of the most unique books that I’ve read in a long time and not my usual jam. I felt muddled and confused and out of control and yet at not time did I feel that Louise Hegarty had lost control of this which was comforting but a little annoying considering I felt so at odds with it all. I felt as much a victim as, well the victim, but I knew there would be a satisfying conclusion and it was satisfying. Did I enjoy this nudge nudge wink wink book? I’m not sure but then I must caveat that by saying I was not a huge fan of Knives Out but that is not to say I have the knives out for this book. What I will say is fair play to Louise Hegarty for the absolutely epic plotting skills showcased in this book.

For me this was 3.5 stars but I believe that is more a reflection on me as a reader and the types of books I usually read. I think this will be an absolute banger for the right readers. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read an advance copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I loved the premise of this book and was excited to read it. It started well and I was entertained until the book split. I enjoy Agatha Christie and like the reference to the old crime mysteries but was slightly confused as to the other narrative and how they entwined. I also found the repetitiveness too much for me. Not my cup of tea, but I'm sure there will be some cult fans out there as it is an unusual book!

Rather confusing in places but an interesting mystery. A tale of grief and making sense of loss.
I could see what the author was trying to do with this one, I think and the story with the detective and the locked room mystery was a clever twist. Maybe too clever.

It took me so long to work out what actually was happening in this book - particularly with the introduction of the murder mystery section - but I did enjoy it even if I am still not 100% sure about what actually happened!
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

'Fair Play' offers a clever twist on Golden Age detective fiction by juxtaposing the tidiness and order of murder mysteries with the messy realities of grief.

On new Year's Eve 2022, Abigail welcomes a selection of guests to an Airbnb for their annual murder mystery party to celebrate her brother Benjamin's birthday. The next morning, Benjamin doesn't wake up and his bedroom door is locked; when they break down the door, he is dead. The novel takes a surprising turn at this juncture, as celebrated detective Auguste Bell arrives to investigate (accompanied by his 'Watson', Sacker), but now Abigail is the owner of the house which has a butler, a maid and a gardener, and the novel has turned into a classic crime story (and a rather knowing one at that - Bell frequently refers to the chapters of the story and the various 'rules' of detective fiction from writers such as S.S. Van Dine and Ronald Knox.)

The accounts of Bell's perfunctory investigation and often arbitrary deductions are punctuated with sections which revert to the novel's initial setup as Abigail navigates the the complexities of grief, returning to work and re-connecting with friends. We might, therefore, imagine that the murder mystery represents what Abigail longs for most at this stage: a world with rules and (as the title implies) a sense of 'fair play' which enables to make sense of the loss she has experienced rather than the sense of chaos that now engulfs her.

I found this a compelling and engaging read with an intriguing premise which raises interesting questions about how death is viewed in fiction and real life. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.

I’ll start this review by admitting that Fair Play is a bit off of my typical reading genres (fantasy, romance and literary fiction), but the synopsis left me curious, and I jumped at the opportunity to request it on NetGalley.

Fair Play has a very strong start, and I was really interested in the group and overall plot. Comes the second part, and my enthusiasm increases as it begins with several sets of rules and conventions of murder mystery books. This was the cherry on top of the cake for me, as it took me on a trip down memory lane to a time I was discussing mystery books with a friend who loved them, and first told me about these conventions, which help you be a real-life Poirot and solve that case before the end of the book.

Imagine my disappointment, when after eagerly reading the rules, I am patronized a few pages later and told to read them, as I if I would have skipped them. Here it’s when things start going down for me… I don’t mind narrators speaking directly to me, there are some brilliant books doing that (e.g. Italo Calvino’s “If on f on a winter's night a traveller”), but you need to understand your audience. I wouldn’t ever skip something the author purposefully included, and I am deeply annoyed by the assumption.

Additionally, I didn’t love the self-aware detective Bell, as he never seemed quite fully formed, much less the playfulness of his interactions with me, letting me know in which chapter I would get certain revelations.

However, there are some things I believe this book did very well such as the realistic and touching portrayal of grief, the homage to the genre and the blend with the literary fiction genre.

Fair Play is a promising debut, with a somewhat uneven execution. Still, I’ll keep an eye on Louise Hegarty next release.

If you enjoy a more experimental narrative style, this book is for you!

<i>I would like to thank Pan Macmillan | Picador for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review</i>

This had such a strong start that I immediately felt like I was in for a great time. Good tone, cast of characters and set up. I thoroughly enjoyed it for the first 100 pages or so. It had solid nods to genre, genuine intrigue and a character to connect with in Abigail. From there, it got too meta for its own good. I totally get that the meta path is what it's going for and some people will love it. But for me, it felt circular and unsatisfying. It was eventually so relentless that I was ready to get off the ride well before it was over. Promising set up and it should fine its audience, it just didn't quite hit for me.

New Years Eve begins with a group of friends celebrating not only New Years Eve but a birthday on New Years Day. However, when the group wake up the next morning one of the party is dead and so begins the locked room mystery like no other.

I love a locked room mystery and I can honestly say that this was like no other. I'm not sure I entirely 'got' the concept but I enjoyed the ride. Was this Abigail's way of dealing with Benjamin's suicide? Or a trickery by the eminent detective to bamboozle the reader? An interesting and unusual read that has been reflecting on the story longer after I finished the novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

This book is clearly not for everyone, but it was 100% for me!! Heres the thing, I've read the reviews, and I can totally understand what people are thinking,  but all of those elements that switched others off, I enjoyed; lots!!

The story is introduced as a modern murder mystery with a group of friends gathering to celebrate New Year and (the soon to be dead) Benjamin's birthday.

The plot then deviates from what you might expect, with two plot lines exploring what may have happened to Benjamin and how everyone is connected.  The police declare his death a suicide, but it's hard for his family and friends to accept and they look for an alternate solution. Could he have been murdered?  The two storylines explore Benjamin's life and, in turn, the impact of grief.  We see some of Benjamin's sister's life after her brother's death and how she searches for answers.

I realise this does not explain what the book does specifically,  but I loved discovering it for myself, so dont want to say too much.  The book asks the reader quite literally to consider life through the lens of Benjamin and Abigail and the conventions of murder mystery books.  One of the elements that worked for me that hasn't for all readers was the repetition, the replaying of events with minor details changed, and one chapter that used this style was really moving for me.  As a lover of poetry, I thought this used poetic style to engage the reader in a different way.

In essence, I thought it was wonderful and it was totally a book for me (spot the repetition)! I have adored other books that ask the reader to be ok with not understanding everything all at once, like Lanark, Cracked Mirror and Death of the Author.  Not that this story could be likened to these very different books in style or in genre, however there's something in the atmosphere of the unexplained, where you can't completely grasp elements of the characters or story.  You're left unsure, but your thoughts have been all stirred up.  I look forward to sharing theories with other readers as they discover Fair Play.

It’s been a while since I read a book in a day, but Fair Play, Louise Hegarty’s debut novel, ended up being a hard one to put down, and my sunny front garden bench proved a perfect reading spot today.

Fair Play isn’t a book that everyone is going to love - it’s genre-defying and it might feel unsatisfying for some - but it’s clever and inventive and ultimately really quite moving. It left me feeling bereft.

For most of the book this was a rather fun read - it’s Cluedo meets Agatha Christie, an homage to detective novels of the 19th Century with a splash of David Lynch surrealism, but then it pivots rather unexpectedly, shocking the reader into the realisation of what is actually going on.

The book opens with Abigail planning her brother Benjamin’s birthday party, a murder mystery party on New Year’s Eve in a rental Airbnb where Benjamin ends up dead, before shifting to their permanent residence, complete with butler, maid and gardener, and visiting detective Auguste Bell determined to uncover Benjamin’s murderer.

If you like clever, playful and experimental literary fiction m, I think Fair Play will be one you’ll enjoy.

Lots of readers have complained in reviews about the final vignette, the beach scene. I found it poignant and illuminating. Overall I don’t know if I completely loved the book but I admired and will certainly remember it and it left me stewing. 4/5⭐️

*Fair Play was published on Thursday 3 April 2025. Many thanks to Cormac Kinsella and Picador Books for the #gifted advance proof.

The author has clearly put a lot of thought into writing a unique book, part murder mystery, part story of grief following the death of a family member. Told over a few timelines.

We are introduced to the various rules about writing murder mystery novels, and they are referred back to during the investigations. For this reason I would recommend reading an actual book rather than an e book which is not yo easy to flick back.

We have a Poirot like investigator with a Watson like sidekick.

The investigation part of the book was quite tongue in cheek but the dealing with grief part was quite serious.

I’m afraid the whole thing just didn’t work for me but I would say give it a try as clearly many readers have enjoyed it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

I am not sure what this was all about. It is almost as if we got ideas and drafts about various parts of a book and I am sorry to say that I remain unsatisfied and confused by the book as a whole.

On the plus side, the bits I understood are well written with good characters and a brisk pace. I liked all the Agatha Christie references - Mallowan, Westmacott, Sven Hjerson, Hastings' red headed wife were the ones I noticed. I liked the traditional parts of the book, the crime, the aftermath, the interviews by the detective. I particularly liked the various rules for detective novels and the bit from Fred (HR) about the kitchen was very funny and surely rings true to all office workers.

I didnt mind the detective speaking directly to the reader or talking about what would happen in later chapters. I did not even mind the confusing switch from the Airbnb to the family home complete with butler, gardener and maid.

I did not mind the first couple of endings but then it became too much with all the different solutions. I felt cheated. I like a whodunnit to tell you definitively and straightforwardly who in fact dunnit. I assume I have missed the point of the very end bit with the children on the beach unless it points to the killer. Is it significant that Abigail was an old name for a maid? I suppose I could read the book again and look for things I must have missed but ...

This was a fascinating study of grief and how we cope with it! I really felt for Abigail, especially in the “reality” chapters.
At first, I loved the device of investigating Ben’s death like a murder mystery, but in the last quarter of the book, it began to wear on me. Louise Hegarty is clearly a connoisseur of the genre, but towards the end I wanted more of the reality and less of the detective novel chapters.
Still, a very talented debut and a very touching read!

Abigail is hosting a birthday party for her brother, Benjamin & has invited his circle of close friends. She arrives at the Airbnb to set up the food & drink & also hide the clues for the period murder mystery game they'll be playing later. The party passes without a hitch but the next morning, Benjamin fails to appear for breakfast. His bedroom door is locked & he isn't answering their knocks so they eventually break the door open but Benjamin is dead.

The story then splits into two, one following the aftermath in the present & the second has the friends appear in a real-life murder mystery. A famous detective arrives to investigate the death & the house suddenly has staff including a butler, a gardener and a housekeeper. This is a golden-age locked-room mystery & everyone is a suspect.

This started off quite well & I was looking forward to the offbeat angle of the mystery. There were aspects I liked: the knowing metaphorical 'wink' to the audience by the detective, the nods to the authors (including Conan Doyle & Agatha Christie) of some of the greatest detectives ever written, & the dual narrative, but overall it just didn't work. The main issue for me is that the ending just didn't make sense - I'm not sure if it was due to being an ARC & there was some text missing or not, but it just finished abruptly. I'm still not entirely sure who the actual killer was supposed to be in the end. 3.25 stars (rounded down) as I did enjoy most of it but the ending let it down.

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Pan Macmillan/Picador, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Louise Hegarty is a new to me author so I was interested to see if her writing would be to my taste, but unfortunately after reading this I discovered it wasn't.
First off, this book started off strongly and I enjoyed the first part. I liked how all our characters were brought together for a murder mystery evening and I was having a good time. But that was when it ended.
Part 2 seemed to take a turn in the plot and the writing and I wasn't a fan. I found the switch to be jarring and straight away I fell out with the book.
I maybe in the minority here, but it felt so muddled to me. It felt like it was trying to be meta style Agatha Christie and I hated it.
Then it would add in all these bits of breaking the fourth wall, it read like it was the 1920's but it actually isn't and I just ended up feeling so uninterested.
All the characters felt very 2D and all lacked any backstory. I was never invested in the plot or the mystery that was going on.
I'm not sure what the author was trying to achieve with this book, but it went completely over my head. The whole story felt flat and surface level with no depth to the plot or characters.
This was a unique story but it just didn't work for me.

I’m sorry but this wasn’t for me! I found it quite confusing, it started off well in an Air BNB holiday home but then it seemed as though Abigail was living there. Then suddenly servants arrived who had been with Abigail and Benjamin’s family for years. There were also a good amount of repetition which I did skip over. I got that there were shades of Sherlock Holmes and characters from Agatha Christie’s books. I also realised the significance of the last trip down memory lane. I don’t like giving a negative review, however, there were other reviewers who really enjoyed this book. I received a copy and have voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Fair Play by Louie Hegarty is a novel that left me wondering if I missed something. I noticed one of two things as I was going along but by the end I had probably as many questions as answers. It could be that I just didn't pay close enough attention; hopefully there will be more enlightenment and I can appreciate this fully.

This debut novel from Irish author Louise Hegarty needs filing under “Quirky”. It’s a whodunnit which turns itself inside out, both featuring and subverting the tropes of a locked room mystery. “Quirky” is a bit of a risk – if it pays off then you can end up with something like Janice Hallet’s “The Appeal” (2021) which made her name and with its development of a crime plot wholly through text messages, e-mails and Post-It Notes felt totally original and was a Top 5 book for me in 2021. Get it wrong, however, and it can end up with a sense of style over substance.
I approached this with an open mind, sensing something fresh, but soon had the niggling feeling that the author’s approach to this novel had probably been done countless times before. Tom Stoppard’s play “The Real Inspector Hound” premiered back in 1968 kept slipping into my subconscious.
It all starts straightforwardly. An Air BnB is rented for a joint New Year’s/Birthday party with the change of year being seen in by the guests playing a murder mystery game, adapting the stereotypical guises of a 1920’s Jazz-Age country house set-up. By the next morning a real death has occurred and the second part of the novel features a mash-up between the characters coping with the events with grief as a central theme and 1920s counterparts of the same characters as part of a locked room mystery novel. There is considerable humour here in the characters recognising the artifice, referring to things happening in chapters and seeing themselves as part of a successful Golden Age Crime franchise. Within the contemporary sections the characters become more fully realised than they would have done within the format of the traditional mystery novel.
Tropes and crime fiction cliches appear and are subverted and disappear. There’s multiple solutions and the contemporary and classic elements often morph into one another. There were sections when I was muttering under my breath “don’t do that, don’t do that” in a belated plea to the author who went on and did it anyway.
A third section raises more questions than it answers with a distinct change of tone but maintaining the reserved sense of politeness which permeates the first section but ultimately left me a tad bewildered.
I think there is a danger, as far as I am concerned, if too much is played around with then the reader does not know where they are supposed to fit into the proceedings and they can stop caring. I got the crime references, enjoyed both the humour and the emotional heft of sudden death and characterisation but at times it felt like an in-joke that I was being excluded from.
But this writer can write and that kept me going throughout and I can say I enjoyed it but the different elements did not pull together in the way I hoped and the playful freshness that I was anticipating didn’t lead to anything that special and ultimately I was left with a sense of having experienced a really promising writer whose idea was not fully realised on this occasion.
“Fair Play” was published by Picador on 4th April 2025. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.