If you want to get away with murder, play by the rulesA 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?
Rules For Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson was published by Faber on 5 March. As part of the Blog Tour, I'm delighted to share an extract from the book with you today.
I also have one hardback copy to give away. Entry is simple; just fill out the competition widget at the end of the post. UK Entries Only Please.
GOOD LUCK!
Extract from Rules for Perfect Murders
If I could go back to late December of that year, then I would never
have written this list. I would have spent all my time fighting tooth
and nail for my wife, telling her that I knew about her affair, that I
knew she was doing drugs again, telling her I forgave her, and that
she could come back to me. Who knows if any of it would have
made a difference? But at least I would have tried.
have written this list. I would have spent all my time fighting tooth
and nail for my wife, telling her that I knew about her affair, that I
knew she was doing drugs again, telling her I forgave her, and that
she could come back to me. Who knows if any of it would have
made a difference? But at least I would have tried.
I scrolled back some more, found another list, “Crime Novels
About Cheating,” and quickly checked the date. I didn’t officially
know about my wife at that point, but I must have guessed, must
have known something was going on at a gut level. I kept scrolling
backward, the blog posts coming more and more frequently as I
reached the years when I’d been better at keeping the blog updated.
I thought, not for the first time: Why does everything need to be a list?
What compels us to do that?
It was something I’d been doing ever
since I became an obsessed reader, ever since I started spending all
my money at Annie’s Book Swap. Ten favorite books. Ten scariest
books. Best James Bond novels. Best Roald Dahl. I suppose I
know why I did it back then. It doesn’t take a psychology degree to
understand that it was a way of giving myself an identity. Because
if I wasn’t a twelve- year- old who’d already read every single Dick
Francis novel (and could name the ve best), then I was just a lonely
kid without friends, with a distant mother and a father who drank
too much. That was my identity, and who wants that? So I guess
the question is, Why keep doing it, making lists, even after I was
living in Boston, had a good job, was married and in love? Why
wasn’t all that enough?
since I became an obsessed reader, ever since I started spending all
my money at Annie’s Book Swap. Ten favorite books. Ten scariest
books. Best James Bond novels. Best Roald Dahl. I suppose I
know why I did it back then. It doesn’t take a psychology degree to
understand that it was a way of giving myself an identity. Because
if I wasn’t a twelve- year- old who’d already read every single Dick
Francis novel (and could name the ve best), then I was just a lonely
kid without friends, with a distant mother and a father who drank
too much. That was my identity, and who wants that? So I guess
the question is, Why keep doing it, making lists, even after I was
living in Boston, had a good job, was married and in love? Why
wasn’t all that enough?
Fiendish good fun. -- Anthony Horowitz
A great first review in The Times: 'An ingenious game of cat-and-mouse between Kershaw and the feds, and between Peter Swanson and the reader . . . the excitement is cerebral., The Times
Never less than enthralling, this urban nightmare is more than a match for the classic mysteries at the heart of the story., Daily Mail
Deftly plotted, frantically paced and brilliantly suspenseful, Rules for Perfect Murders is a supremely accomplished murder mystery, one which doffs its hat to classics from the genre while simultaneously pulling off new tricks . . . hard not to remain rapt until the bitter end., The Herald
Hours of endless fun., SHOTS
This smart and super stylish thriller is a tremendously enjoyable love letter to crime fiction., Sunday Mirror
Engagingly original. This [is a] multilayered mystery that brims with duplicity, betrayal and revenge - all bubbling slowly to the surface. Swanson has a bent for revenge and murder. Fans won't be disappointed., USA Today
A devilish premise combined with jaw dropping execution . Swanson hits every note in this homage to the old-school crime novel, and the turnabout ending will leave readers reeling in delight., Booklist (starred review)
The pleasures of following, and trying to anticipate, a narrator who's constantly second- and third-guessing himself and everyone around him are authentic and intense . You wish the mounting complications, like a magician's showiest routine, could go on forever., Kirkus (starred review)
Intelligent, twisty, stylish, startling. No matter how well you know someone, you can never fully know what's in their heart and mind. Eight Perfect Murders proves the point. Which is what makes it perfectly creepy., New York Journal of Books
A great first review in The Times: 'An ingenious game of cat-and-mouse between Kershaw and the feds, and between Peter Swanson and the reader . . . the excitement is cerebral., The Times
Never less than enthralling, this urban nightmare is more than a match for the classic mysteries at the heart of the story., Daily Mail
Deftly plotted, frantically paced and brilliantly suspenseful, Rules for Perfect Murders is a supremely accomplished murder mystery, one which doffs its hat to classics from the genre while simultaneously pulling off new tricks . . . hard not to remain rapt until the bitter end., The Herald
Hours of endless fun., SHOTS
This smart and super stylish thriller is a tremendously enjoyable love letter to crime fiction., Sunday Mirror
Engagingly original. This [is a] multilayered mystery that brims with duplicity, betrayal and revenge - all bubbling slowly to the surface. Swanson has a bent for revenge and murder. Fans won't be disappointed., USA Today
A devilish premise combined with jaw dropping execution . Swanson hits every note in this homage to the old-school crime novel, and the turnabout ending will leave readers reeling in delight., Booklist (starred review)
The pleasures of following, and trying to anticipate, a narrator who's constantly second- and third-guessing himself and everyone around him are authentic and intense . You wish the mounting complications, like a magician's showiest routine, could go on forever., Kirkus (starred review)
Intelligent, twisty, stylish, startling. No matter how well you know someone, you can never fully know what's in their heart and mind. Eight Perfect Murders proves the point. Which is what makes it perfectly creepy., New York Journal of Books
Peter Swanson is the author of five novels, including The Kind Worth Killing, winner of the New England Society Book Award, and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, and Her Every Fear, an NPR book of the year. His books have been translated into 30 languages, and his stories, poetry, and features have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Atlantic Monthly, Measure, The Guardian, The Strand Magazine, and Yankee Magazine.A graduate of Trinity College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Emerson College, he lives in Somerville, Massachusetts with his wife and cat.
www.peter-swanson.com
Twitter @PeterSwanson3
Author Page on Facebook
Instagram @petermswanson
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