mal is decent at both, so he assists in the investigation, looking into several recent killings for connections either to the methods of murder or the philosophy of the murder ers in the eight novels, sharing some, but not all, of what he discovers with gwen, for reasons. he will feel less conflicted about sharing with the reader the whos and hows and occasionally the whys of the murders in all eight books on his list. if you've already read these books, it's fun to see them adapted into slightly different murdershapes for swanson's purposes. if you haven't, well, it'll either be glass half empty and he spoils those books for you or glass half full and he saves you the trouble of reading them. This was my first Peter Swanson book and I loved it! I connected with the writing, characters and storyline immediately and that connection remained strong throughout. This one isn’t quite a wow, but I really enjoyed it just the same. What’s not to like a book about mysteries? Oddly the title is a misnomer, how can the murders be perfect if the suspects are all caught? If not, then enjoy Peter Swanson’s homage to crime writers past and present, in this, his latest novel, most reminiscent of the book that made him, famous, “The Kind Worth Killing”.

I also really liked the premise of this book. There have been other books and movies also featuring killers replicating the work of others. Copycat killers. Sometimes they’re just psychotic and keen to kill but want to find a clever way to do it. Here, it seems obvious there’s a link – of some sort – to Malcolm. He eventually suspects what it might be, but realises he’ll have to face up to events of his past if he wants to uncover their identity. Mal ends up taking on some leads into the investigation himself. He has to for his own safety. Will this game of cat and mouse ever stop? There's a lot I can't say about Eight Perfect Murders, but I'll try to give you some idea what it's like. I've only read one other Swanson book so far ( Before She Knew Him) and this one was very different. This was a buddy read with my friend, Marialyce, and we enjoyed our discussion, especially of the ending. I thought about all the press conferences I’d seen over the years, parents trotted out for missing kids, killed kids, abused kids,” she says. “We can be sad, distraught, confused, pleading, forgiving. But not furious. Fury is reserved for other people. The worst thing you can be is an angry woman, an angry mother.” But Eve is angry, and now she has nothing left to lose.Written by Peter Swanson — Anthony Horowitz calls this entertaining new puzzle mystery by Peter Swanson ‘fiendish good fun’, and that really hits the nail on the head. It pulls together some of the best plots from past crime novels and combines them in a deliciously innovative way. DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Faber & Faber via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Rules For A Perfect Murder by Peter Swanson for review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own personal opinions. The list has also caught the attention of the FBI, bringing them straight to Malcolm's door- which is where our story begins... What else is this about?: This is a mystery for book lovers of any kind, peppered with familiar titles and outcomes. Peter Swanson has created a maze in literary form, couple with characters that will essentially make you second guess everything they say. Which is actually what you do want in a murder mystery. So trust no-one, second guess everything and then maybe you might just understand what’s going on before the end of the book. Maybe.

All I am going to say is that although the pace of this book was a S L O W burn...Mr. Swanson caught me by surprise, MORE than once, again!! I guess, by its nature the book is (in fact) a homage to crime fiction – particularly that by some of the greats. It’s twisty and very intelligently written. Indeed it’s very different. It could have been amazing but (though still a good read) I felt it fell slightly short of its potential. To me, this book was a celebration of the mystery genre. A laugh at its conventions; a love letter to its best and underappreciated works. Following Malcolm as he tries to piece together the puzzle and come to terms with just how guilty he himself is... well, it's quite a ride. The eight books Mal has listed for 'Eight Perfect Murders' are ones a lot of us are familiar with, but there were a few there I hadn't read (I will remedy that). Swanson continues to refer to other mysteries throughout the book - I have come away with a huge reading list! This is a bookish book, for bookish people, and one I will be buying a hard copy of. I expect to read it again. If I could nominate this as a modern classic murder mystery, I would. This deserves to be with the Agatha Christies, which is exactly where it will be being placed on my library shelves. What did I learn from making this list? That perfect murders, at least the artful kind we find in books, are all about concealment and misdirection. They have a lot in common with well-executed magic: it’s all about fooling the detectives (and the readers), making us look away from where the crime is happening. Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders, another book on Malcolm’s list, is a textbook example: it appears as though a psychopath is bumping off victims according to the initials of their names, but the truth is something else altogether. Poirot, naturally, is not misled, and the world can be set to rights.

Rules for Perfect Murders

The Red House Mystery, Malice Aforethought, The A.B.C. Murders, Double Indemnity, Strangers on a Train, The Drowner, Deathtrap and The Secret History. Gwen and Malcolm realise that the killer may not be killing victims in the exact same manner as the author wrote the original murders in the books and the victim themselves may not be targets, but it’s the intent that’s important. But still…. A graduate of Trinity College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Emerson College, he lives in Somerville, Massachusetts with his wife and cat.

Perhaps my one word of caution here: because EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS delves so deeply into the crimes that take place in each of the eight crime novels on Malcolm’s original blog post, there will be spoilers in this novel for those eight books. If you haven’t read one of the books on Malcolm’s list and are interested in reading it for yourself, I would recommend either reading it before you dive into EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS, or just going into this book knowing that there will be spoilers along the way. Personally, I didn’t have any problem with this—while I haven’t read all eight books on Malcolm’s list, I’ve already read the books from the list that appeal to me on a personal level, and had no issue with reading spoilers of the others through Swanson’s writing. With Johnson’s death, the murder spree veers much too close to Kershaw. She was a particularly troublesome regular at Old Devils Bookstore who’d moved away, thankfully. He hopes to hide this connection from Agent Mulvey, and it’s only the first of his many cleverly disguised secrets, as you gradually realise what an unreliable narrator you have on your hands. Mulvey isn’t telling him everything either, of course, and from the beginning you may have doubts about her and the entire investigation.Once the FBI made the connection between Malcolm’s blog and the murders, the investigation naturally draws Malcolm into the center of it. There are a lot of things Malcolm Kershaw doesn’t want to talk about. Life has thrown him some unexpected curveballs. The biggest one being his wife dying in a car accident. There is plenty of blame to go around, but Malcolm knows who is most responsible for his wife’s death. I didn’t get rejected for this book but I couldn’t let it root at the NetGalley’s pending purgatory so this time I’m thanking myself and my husband’s credit card to buy this book and devour it at one sit! Highly recommending, one of the best thrillers of the year! Of course I should have had this! It seems, if Special Agent Mallory’s theory is correct, that a killer is using Malcolm’s list to perpetrate similar murders. Crime writers have done all the work for any burgeoning murderer. A summer spent reading the very best of Agatha Christie might be the best research a person with murder on his mind could do. As Malcolm and Claire ponder the evidence, looking for aspects that fit the crimes from the blog list, it starts to become evident to Malcolm that maybe….just maybe...he knows the killer.