Reviews for How to write a murder
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
A wildly metafictional account of what happens, or maybe happens, or sort of happens, to the participants in a mystery writers’ conference at a refurbished California monastery. Boozy philanderer Ian McCloud, the keynote speaker, has asked his assistant, Bennett Hartley, to make sure Alastair Sinclair—the agent he’s accused of embezzling $2 million of his money—is disinvited from the conference, and to invite Ian’s YouTube promoter, Darius Walker, instead. Although a sudden storm and a blocked entryway keep many of the registrants away, Sinclair shows up anyway. So do Simone Prescott, Ian’s sometime lover; self-published author Isabel Torres; ancient Evelyn Channing and Dexter, her cat. Shortly after the guests settle in under the iffy guidance of novice facilitator Jade Brooks and her sister, Jasmine, a power outage plunges California’s Monastery of the Shrouded Vale into darkness, and the next morning, the writers find Ian’s body floating in a pool outside. As the characters ask whodunit, readers are more likely to ask how many other shameless cliches Brody, or another character identified as The Author who hovers over the whole mishmash, can cram into 560 pages—doubles, disguises, accusations and counteraccusations, red herrings broadly identified as such, flash drives chock-full of incriminating information about everyone on the guest list—and how this can possibly end for characters who keep protesting, “For the last time, this isn’t a mystery novel!…This is real life!” Spoiler: It’s a mystery novel that couldn’t possibly have less to do with real life. If you suspect anyone here of hiding a guilty secret, you’re absolutely right—except that these are actually unending layers of secrets. A gleeful demonstration of the universally acknowledged truth that “if anyone can get away with murder, it’s a writer.” Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Invitees converge at a former California monastery for a writing conference held by famous mystery author Ian McCloud, only for the proceedings to devolve into a deadly real-life whodunit, in this clever if overlong meta-thriller from Brody (The Geography of Lost Things). Plans for a peaceful event implode as soon as McCloud spies Alastair Sinclair, the longtime agent he’s just fired (and disinvited from the conference) after publicly accusing him of embezzling $2 million. Another guest McCloud isn’t exactly thrilled to see is model Simone Prescott—his on-again, off-again mistress. Toss in a motley cast including fanboy and failed novelist Darius Walker, who runs a McCloud YouTube channel; event coordinator Jade Brooks, who’s clearly not who she claims to be; and octogenarian aspiring author Evelyn Channing, and about the only thing missing is Knives Out protagonist Benoit Blanc. Before long, a landslide blocks the monastery’s sole access road, and a mysterious figure who seems to be orchestrating the action starts interrupting the plot to deliver tongue-in-cheek asides. Unfortunately, as these initially intriguing, fourth wall–breaking communiques become more frequent and frenetic, they begin to feel intrusive, a narrative device more successful in concept than execution. By the time a dead body turns up and an investigation gets underway, most readers will be exhausted—though Brody ties everything up with an admittedly killer finale. This is fun, but it overstays its welcome. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich, and Bourret. (Sept.)
