With time loops, body swaps and a psychopathic footman, this is a dazzling take on the murder mystery
Some books are a gift to the marketing department. The folks at Raven, a newish crime imprint at Bloomsbury, have described this one as “Gosford Park meets Inception, by way of Agatha Christie”. It’s a good tagline, but they might just as well have chosen “An Instance of the Fingerpost meets Battle Royale via Punchdrunk theatre”, or “Quantum Leap crossed with The Bone Clocks and Zork”, or “Cluedo meets Groundhog Day by way of The GCHQ Puzzle Book (with a twist!)”.
So yes, it is derivative, but that’s not meant as a criticism. Stuart Turton, a debut novelist, has drawn on half a dozen familiar tropes from popular culture and reworked them into something altogether fresh and memorable. His murder mystery takes place in the classic setting of the 1920s country house, but right from the start, you know you’re far from Hercule Poirot territory.
As each morning brings the victims back to life, murder comes to seem no more dreadful than flicking off a light switch
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