Tuesday, May 18, 2021

The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi

 

First Lines: Spain, 1930. The two suspects sat on mismatched furniture in the white and almost featureless lounge, waiting for something to happen.
 
Former professor of mathematics Grant McAllister once sat down and wrote out the rules of a proper murder mystery. Let's face it, all murder mysteries have rules. There must be a suspect, a victim, a detective... McAllister then sat down and wrote seven stories to illustrate each one of the rules; however, only a few privately printed copies of the book exist. Young, ambitious editor Julia Hart has found one of those copies and wants to bring McAllister's stories to a much wider audience. To do that, she's tracked him down to the remote Mediterranean island where he lives.
 
But as they go over each of the stories, Julia, who's keen to understand the author, begins to realize that the older man is hiding from his past. And there's more. Each story has inconsistencies that don't add up. Julia thinks that they are more than just oversights, mere mistakes. These inconsistencies may be clues to something, and Julia Hart is determined to find out what it is.

~

Alex Pavesi's The Eighth Detective is an homage to the classic detective story, and I enjoyed every bit of it. Each of the seven stories is a winner, and when Julia began dissecting them, forgive me if I was rather pleased with myself that the same things that puzzled me were the inconsistencies that she'd found. 

But it's not just the stories that held my interest throughout the book. The characters of Grant and Julia did as well. It didn't take me long before I had a list of questions about them. Why was Grant tucked away on such a remote island? Why was it so important that Julia track him down, and surely it was more than her job as an editor that kept her picking away at each tiny item in the stories that didn't make sense to her. Between the stories and the dynamics between Julia and Grant, my mind was very happily occupied, and I loved the twist at the end. 

In the mood for puzzles? The Eighth Detective will serve up plenty of them on a silver platter. Enjoy them if you dare!


The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi
ISBN: 9781250755933
Henry Holt & Company © 2020
Hardcover, 304 pages
 
Suspense, Standalone
Rating: A-
Source: Purchased from Book Outlet. 

19 comments:

  1. Wow. I wasn't expecting this. I had to grit my teeth to finish this. I realize that give me a choice of this book or one about a New York detective living on donuts and coffee, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, trying to solve a few murders and I'll take the latter any day.
    Interesting how everyone has their own taste in books, often agreement, sometimes not. I rarely differ, but on this one, I have a different take.
    Well, back to my stash of library books. I just can't dig into a book for some reason.
    Hope your health is improving.

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    1. My health is improving, but slowly. I'm trying not to be frustrated. I hope you've found a book you can dig into. I know I have. (Bad Axe County)

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  2. This sounds intriguing, Cathy. And it sounds like an innovative way to go about telling a story. Hmm.....I also respect Kathy D's opinions on books, too. Funny how people can see the same book in different ways, isn't it. That's a puzzle in itself!

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    1. But yet I tore through Michael Connelly's The Law of Innocence like a house afire. Loved it. Clever, funny, so well put together. And Mickey Haller ends up a happy guy in the end.

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    2. Yes, it can be a puzzlement, Margot, but it does happen.

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    3. And here I tend to avoid the Mickey Haller stories because I have a low tolerance for legal thrillers even though I love Michael Connelly's writing.

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    4. What? Didn't you watch Perry Mason shows when a child? Was it on then? My father liked them, so my sister and I watched them. Then I read a few of the books in my early crime fiction days. And I worked at a nonprofit law office for 10 years. So both my sister and I like legal mysteries.
      This Mickey Haller is a combination of legal thriller and murder investigation. He is framed up and is in prison, and he defends himself and directs the investigation.

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    5. Yes, I watched Perry Mason as a child because Mom liked the series. I got bored with it after a while. And, to be honest, lawyers who will defend anyone, no matter how guilty, just for the money, make me sick... to the point where I don't want to read much of the legal thriller genre.

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    6. I like legal mysteries where the person charged with murder is innocent, and the lawyer uncovers the real killer. That was Perry Mason. And so many legal mysteries have this element. I don't like in real life where the superrich can buy the best lawyer to defend them and they get off, and poor people who have an overworked public defender who can't access evidence that would clear them. And the news often tells of innocent people released after decades in jail because their innocence is proven. The Innocence Project, in which John Grisham is involved, does good work and gets innocent people released.

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  3. Sounds as though you are becoming quite the detective yourself, Cathy : ).I think that comes from the education you are giving yourself with all the books you read.

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    1. I think my reading material does have a lot to do with it, Gretchen. Just last night, Denis and I were watching something on TV and I suddenly said, "Don't turn your back on him!" (I was right. *grin*)

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    2. Yes. There are things I tell friends who rarely read mysteries when I notice a particular plot device, like a missing person who's been gone for years. Always watch out for them returning.

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    3. Ah yes. One of my cardinal rules of detecting: Show Me The Body!

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    4. Yes! Also, sometimes if a "body" is seen from afar and then disappears, one has to wonder about it.

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  4. This sounds like a really clever take on the genre. It's always nice to find something different enough to make you appreciate it for exactly that.

    I've watched all but 11 of the 36 lessons in the Great Courses course on mystery & thriller novels, and I think that's made me really sensitive to the set patterns and how the past styles and "rules" influence writers even today. I'm really loving the class.

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    1. That is something I'd like to at least sample, but so far I just haven't found the time. I think I've been more focused on getting out of this house (as much as I love it).

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  5. I'm going to look for this one! It sounds so interesting. I need to stop reading your recommendations because I will never get through the ones I add to my list!

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    1. I'll never get through my own list, but I keep adding to it. Fortunately, I don't suffer from any kind of Huge List Remorse.

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