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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
I wish it had not had the current-day framing around the inner story. I understand why it was there, but took it from a 5 to a 4 for me.
The book is about two murder mysteries. The first is the plot of a novel; the second is the murder of the author of that novel. It’s an interesting idea, but the second mystery was long enough that I forgot some the details of the first by the time the second was resolved.
A clever and intricately crafted homage to Agatha Christie that manages to layer a whodunnit into a second whodunnit, ultimately resulting in a sort of whodunnit onion. Or a matryoshka doll of murder, if you will. Whatever contrived metaphor you prefer, this was really a rather ingenious novel that both celebrates and makes fun of the genre. Good fun.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
I liked the Pund book better than the "real life" story that was happening around it, though both were interesting stories. I just didn't like the narration of Susan as much as I liked the writing style of the Pund sections. However, the mysteries were both very well thought out and very enjoyable to try and figure out.
Well written, clever, self-reflective & entertaining murder mysteries - a pair of them to be exact being both the book within a book & the mystery surrounding the death of the author of the book within a book. Dividing the book in between the two watered down the tension but boosted the drama. The final twist could could have been grounded in more character development to lay evidence. Maybe I've been watching too much Scandi Noir to be totally satisfied by the traditional British whodunnit. I wanted more interplay between the two sets of characters given the obvious parallels but overall was satisfied.
4.5 stars - I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the audiobook and was really invested in the two mysteries. A witty and somewhat cynical homage to Agatha Christie. And this time around, I actually managed to find out the culprit before the big reveal! (Well, one of the two but still...!)
The premise of this book was so interesting that I had to read it!
