Name: Rules for Perfect Murders
ISBN: 9780571342372

Peter Swanson

Rules for Perfect Murders

Jemima Scott

'Fiendish good fun' ANTHONY HOROWITZ If you want to get away with murder, play by the rules A series of unsolved murders with one thing in common: each of the deaths bears an eerie resemblance to the crimes depicted in classic mystery novels. The deaths lead FBI Agent Gwen Mulvey to mystery bookshop Old Devils. Owner Malcolm Kershaw had once posted online an article titled 'My Eight Favourite Murders,' and there seems to be a deadly link between the deaths and his list - which includes Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders, Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train and Donna Tartt's The Secret History. Can the killer be stopped before all eight of these perfect murders have been re-enacted? 'An ingenious game of cat-and-mouse' The Times 'Never less than enthralling' Daily Mail 'Tremendously enjoyable' Sunday Mirror

The ‘fiendishly good’ new thriller from the bestselling author

Adeline

The brilliantly twisty and intelligent new thriller from Peter Swanson.

This is not my go-to genre but I have to admit this book surprised me in a pleasant way. The storytelling was engaging and I enjoyed all the book-ish parts. 

Fatin Allen

Rules for perfect murders lives up to its reputation of being fast paced with an immediately gripping start. However I found it managed to lose me quite a bit during the majority of the book, only spiking my interest again at the end. Each character was incredibly thought out, yet I feel that Marty being Charlie was the authors last-ditch attempt at the classic murder mystery plot twist. It wasn’t that I was expecting Marty in the scene at Tess and Brian’s house, I just felt it would’ve been more impactful if, say, Mal DOES realise he was Charlie all along in a manic episode as mentioned at the very end of the book. I did very much like being addressed by the narrator, and the book existing as a memoir/suicide note. Overall, a good book to get out of a reading slump, or be introduced to the genre, however doesn’t really live up to expectations. 

ariah 

Nadine 

Quick murder mystery nicely wrapped up in the end

A really fun thriller - I didn’t expect to enjoy this one as much as I did☺️🔍📚

Ruth Parker 

This book follows a man who runs a bookstore who wrote a blog years ago called Eight Perfect Murders. Someone has started copycatting the murders he picked out and the FBI want to know what Malcolm has to do with it.
It was an intriguing premise and I had fun reading this. I didn’t enjoy being majorly spoiled for a book or two I haven’t yet read but that’s on my head! Not the best Peter Swanson but it is definitely still well worth a read!

Julia

Hm.. i guess it was .. fine? I expected more of the concept and the reveal wasn't exiting. The ending was pretty predictable. So maybe more a 2.5?

"Specialising in mystery books, Old Devils is a Boston institution; a place where tourists come to snap photos with the shop's Instagrammable cat and browse first editions of Patricia Highsmith novels. Malcolm Kershaw, its owner, lives a quiet life, so he's surprised when an FBI Agent shows up one gloomy winter morning and asks him if he can answer some questions. Agent Gwen Mulvey is investigating a series of unsolved murders that appear to have one thing in common: each of the deaths bears an eerie similarity to the crimes depicted in several famous classic mystery novels. Malcolm doesn't know what to say - he doesn't know anything about the crimes, has barely even heard of the victims - but he certainly isn't expecting Agent Mulvey to bring up a blog post he wrote years ago. 'My Eight Favourite Murders', posted in 2004, was Malcolm's inaugural piece on the Old Devils site. Now, it seems, someone is using that list as a template; Agent Mulvey thinks Malcolm's specialist knowledge of the mysteries will help her solve the murders. But with each murder, the killer is inching ever closer to Malcolm himself, and the more Malcolm and Agent Mulvey learn, the less clear it becomes who is investigating whom."--Publisher description.

Tammie Harvey

Read- October 2021
- I am sad that I didn't love this because I liked the premise but I just think the ending was a bit shit.