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EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS

Peter Swanson

From the hugely talented author of Before She Knew Him comes a chilling tale of psychological suspense and an homage to the thriller genre tailor-made for fans: the story of a bookseller who finds himself at the center of an FBI investigation because a very clever killer has started using his list of fiction's most ingenious murders.
Years ago, bookseller and mystery aficionado Malcolm Kershaw compiled a list of the genre's most unsolvable murders, those that are almost impossible to crack—which he titled “Eight Perfect Murders”—chosen from among the best of the best including Agatha Christie's A. B. C. Murders, Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, Ira Levin's Death Trap, A. A. Milne's Red House Mystery, Anthony Berkeley Cox's Malice Aforethought, James M. Cain's Double Indemnity, John D. Macdonald's The Drowner, and Donna Tartt's A Secret History.

But no one is more surprised than Mal, now the owner of the Old Devils Bookstore in Boston, when an FBI agent comes knocking on his door one snowy day in February. She's looking for information about a series of unsolved murders that look eerily similar to the killings on Mal's old list. And the FBI agent isn't the only one interested in this bookseller who spends almost every night at home reading. There is killer is out there, watching his every move—a diabolical threat who knows way too much about Mal's personal history, especially the secrets he's never told anyone, even his recently deceased wife.

To protect himself, Mal begins looking into possible suspects . . . and sees a killer in everyone around him. But Mal doesn't count on the investigation leaving a trail of death in its wake. Suddenly, a series of shocking twists leaves more victims dead—and the noose around Mal's neck grows so tight he might never escape.

Peter Swanson is the author of three novels: The Girl With a Clock For a Heart, an LA Times Book Award finalist; The Kind Worth Killing, winner of the New England Society Book Award, and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger; and his most recent, Her Every Fear. 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.

ACHT PERFEKTE MORDE
Deutsch von Fred Kinzel
[PB Blanvalet 07/2022]
Available products
Book

Published 2020-03-01 by William Morrow

Comments

"Classic whodunit fans will be in heaven ... an outstanding fair-play crime novel" (starred review)

“Swanson hits the mystery writer's daily double: a devilish premise combined with jaw-dropping execution.” (starred review)

“Clever and surprising. EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS opens with a true mystery lovers delight, a killer seemingly paying homage to the classics. But you can barely say Agatha Christie before Swanson rips us from one startling plot twist to the next With mounting tension and fraying nerves, it careens to the final stunning conclusion. A true tour de force.” – Lisa Gardner, New York Times bestselling author “Fiendish good fun.” – Anthony Horowitz, author of The Magpie Murders and “Foyle's War”

UK: Faber & Faber; Norway: Cappelen Damm; Bulgaria: Soft Press;; China: Guomai Culture & Media Co.; France: Gallmeister; Italy : Piemme; Korea : Prunsoop;

Optioned for film by New Regency, with Ryan Reynolds attached to produce and star

“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.” (starred review)