Eight Detectives: The Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month

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I loved the characters, especially editor Julia Hart and mystery author Grant McAllister. I liked the theories very much although I had certain intellectual quibbles with them. (What about mysteries when you already know who the murderer is up front, but you’re just waiting to see him get caught, for example? Is that not a mystery too?) This book will make you want to race through to get to the ending, but you can’t really do that, because it’s so dense and intellectual and you might miss some clues. When you DO get to the ending though, it is a fantastic payoff. It’s the kind of book you may want to read again, now knowing what you know. Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.

This is a clever, original mystery. A mathematician wrote a book of murder mystery short stories in the 1930s. The book was meant to outline the necessary rules for a mystery. ”The number of suspects must be two or more, otherwise there is no mystery, and the number of killers and victims must be at least one each, otherwise there no murder...Then the final requirement is the most important. The killer must be drawn from the set of suspects.” The footpath on the southern coast of Evescombe was isolated. It was a perfect place to murder someone...all it takes is a gentle push...decades of erosion...possible 'Death by Distraction'? According to Grant's mathematical concepts-two suspects could be guilty...a suspect or the victim as suspect.As Julia and McAllister discuss each of these tales, it's clear the editor has an agenda. She thinks McAllister killed a woman called Elizabeth White decades ago, a crime the press dubbed the 'White Murder.' Furthermore, Julia thinks McAllister left clues about this in his stories....which she tries to winkle out. Thus, it's a bit of a cat and mouse game between Julia and McAllister, with each one keeping secrets.

In Eight Detectives, Alex Pavesi constructs a remarkable puzzle that turns readers into literary detectives with every new twist. Both a celebration and a reinvention of mystery fiction Matthew Pearl, bestselling author of The Dante Club Grant McAllister is a retired mathematician living on a remote island in the Mediterranean. Over twenty years ago he wrote a collection of mystery stories and had a meager publishing of them. Julia Hart is an editor representing a small publisher who found a copy of the book and wants to republish the collection. She arranges a meeting and they read and discuss each story methodically, fitting them into his carefully designed mathematical theory of mystery construction. The novel is a set of seven mysteries, placed within an overarching narrative. They are all written in the style of the golden age of crime writing and the eighth detective (of the title) is present throughout, though perhaps not obvious at first.The novel is told around the short stories that the author wrote. Julia has asked Grant to go through the stories individually so that she can gather ideas for the republished works. The novel alternates between the short stories and author and editors discussions. I loved this intelligent and inventive novel and I'm sure that it will find legions of fans amongst aficionados of classic crime. It's the most fun I've had in ages Cathy Rentzenbrink

I was intrigued by this debut novel purely because of the premise which sounded so clever but the reality couldn’t have been more different for me and I found it boring and hugely unrewarding. I suspect part of this was down to the fact that the book features seven very average short stories and my reading preference is always for the continuity and depth of a full length novel. Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Julia wants to sit with the author to revisit the stories and convince him to republish his book. Julia Hart the editor wants to understand why the author is hiding from his past.Even Julia and Grant are not detailed characters, there is no pen portrait of either, but it is the mystery itself which becomes the focus and drives the novel. Alternative endings to each short story are offered and indeed, there is even a choice of endings when the novel finally reaches (or appears to reach) its conclusion. Julia realizes she is the 8th detective to dig out another mystery and find out the secrets that Grant kept. The two suspects sat on mismatched furniture in the white and almost featureless lounge, waiting for something to happen. Between them an archway led to a slim, windowless staircase: a dim recess that seemed to dominate the room, like a fireplace grown to unreasonable proportions. The staircase changed direction at its midpoint, hiding the upper floor from view and giving the impression that it led up to darkness and nothing else. Has an intricacy rare in modern crime fiction. Alex Pavesi deserves huge applause for his plot, constructed with all the skill of the old masters Sunday Express Terrific. Alex Pavesi knows the genre inside out. One of the year's most entertaining crime novels Sunday Times, Crime Book of the Month

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 In the 1930s, Grant McAllister, a mathematics professor turned author, worked them out, hiding their secrets in a book of crime stories.Yes,’ she said. She sat down on the edge of the bed, ignoring the spreading blood. ‘Henry, do you know what this means?’ In Eight Detectives, Alex Pavesi constructs a remarkable puzzle that turns readers into literary detectives with every new twist. Both a celebration and a reinvention of mystery fiction -- Matthew Pearl, bestselling author of The Dante Club She walked over to the window. Outside, the Spanish countryside was an indistinct orange colour. It looked uninhabitable in the heat. A box of delights . . . Pavesi's revelations are completely unexpected, right up to the end * New York Times *