The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton: A Review

“How lost do you have to be to let the devil lead you home?”
― Stuart Turton, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

First of all I have to say, the whole time I was reading The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle I was thinking, ‘Stuart Turton is so much smarter than me.’ In this novel, Turton surprised me again and again with the ways he was able to weave a very intricate and intelligent story line into compulsively readable fiction. I love books with interesting narrative structures and I’ve never really read a book like this before. I will try very hard not to reveal anything about the plot that you couldn’t glean from the dust jacket but this book is so page-turning that I just want to shove it into everyone’s hands and say: “read this next!” Turton is able to take genres that feel really familiar and combine them in ways that make his novel fresh and unique. There are big twists in the plot but they never feel gimmicky or unnecessary. There are a lot of lose threads in the story and when they are brought together at the end it just made me sit back and marvel at how Turton was able to do that.

So, no spoilers but how is this for an opening: you suddenly find yourself in the woods with no idea how you got there or who you are. The only thing you think you know for sure is that there are two other people in the forest – a woman named Anna and someone who is trying to kill her. You are terrified and lost. And then the murderer gives you the means to find your way out of the woods and back to the manor house where you are staying. That night, the daughter of the house, Evelyn Hardcastle, will be killed during a lavish party. You have to figure out who her killer is. And you will wake up every day and live the events leading up to Evelyn’s murder over and over until you know who did it.

What made The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle so interesting is that Turton moves it beyond a genre-bending murder mystery. As the main character, Aiden, is forced to live the same day again and again, the novel really makes the reader start to question the forces that shape our lives and actions: how much is down to our nature? Can we change or are we following prescribed paths laid out by fate? How far can we trust other people and to what extent should we rely only on ourselves?

I love when a novel can manage to feel suspenseful and smart all at once. Seven Deaths is certainly one I would recommend, especially if like me, you love mysteries and old manor houses and books that take you by surprise. Until next week, happy reading everybody!

The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick: A Review

“Sometimes there’s no right decision. Just the one you make at the time.” – Phaedra Patrick, The Library of Lost and Found

Martha Storm, the lead character in The Library of Lost and Found, is a bit lost herself. She gave up a life of her own to look after her ailing parents and after their deaths, she fills her time by helping out others in any way she can. Her house has become overcrowded with projects she has taken on for others and she is repeatedly overlooked at the one thing she loves – her volunteer position at the local library. One night, someone leaves a mysterious book for Martha outside the library. It appears to be written by her beloved grandmother, but was published years after her grandmother supposedly died. Martha sets out to unravel the mystery of the book’s publication and along the way makes unexpected friends and uncovers many family secrets.

Moving between Martha’s present and her childhood, the story reveals the ways that her life has been shaped by her sense of duty to her family. Discovering her grandmother’s book serves as an awakening to Martha who has become a doormat to almost everyone in her life. Her attempts to understand what happened to her grandmother bring her face-to-face with aspects of her family she was completely unaware of and force her to question her relationships and her sense of self. This novel would likely make a good summer read because it’s not too heavy and it has a sense of charm about it but it follows a lot of the tropes of so many contemporary novels where the quirky main character experiences a series of unlikely events and makes equally quirky friends. It’s a pleasant story but not particularly original. I would have liked Patrick to develop the backstories of her secondary characters further to develop more depth and interest. I think I was hoping for a story that was either more laugh-out-loud funny or heart-wrenching but in the end, the novel doesn’t really deliver either. It’s cozy and sweet but not the kind of book that will stick with you years from now.

If you’ve read anything by Phaedra Patrick, drop me a line and let me know what you thought. Until next time, happy reading!

A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny: A Review

“Not everything needed to be brought into the light, he knew. Not every truth needed to be told. And he knew she was right. He’d seen their faces as she’d fled. She’d said too much. He didn’t understand it, couldn’t see it, but he knew something foul had just come to light, come to life.” – Louise Penny, A Rule Against Murder

When I referred to Penny’s novels as ‘cozy’ mysteries back in the April Line Up post, I didn’t realize that was an actual thing. Cozy mysteries are apparently mystery stories that are not too graphic or too dark, which is an apt description for this series. The main character is Inspector Gamache; head of the homicide team for the Surete du Quebec, Gamache is intelligent and a refined. The novels are set primarily in Quebec, usually alternating between Montreal and the tiny village of Three Pines. While Penny certainly creates intricate plots, her writing does not embrace many tropes of typical mystery series: there are lots of references to art and poetry and music in her books. The female characters are strong and savvy. But what I love most about Penny’s writing is the sense of atmosphere she is able to develop. There is a strong sense of place in her novels and she contextualizes the setting with smatterings of Quebec’s (and Canada’s) culture, history and politics without it overshadowing the story. These are the novels I come back to when I need a break and just want to settle in with characters who feel as familiar as friends.

A Rule Against Murder is set at a remote country manoir where Gamache and his wife are staying. The other guests are members of the Morrow family – wealthy, English and Québécois – all there for a reunion. The Morrows are a family fraught with malice and secrets and when one of them is murdered, it brings to the surface things that have been hidden for years. The murder and subsequent investigation play out in ways that keep you guessing. One of Penny’s strengths is her ability to create characters that have depth and she uses this depth to add the intrigue in the plot.

I think that her writing really takes off after this book. While this is a good novel, the ones that come later in the series are stronger, in my opinion. I particularly like the later ones set in the village of Three Pines. If you like mysteries and haven’t picked up one of her novels, her fifth, The Brutal Telling might be a good place to start.

If you are reading something you love this spring, drop me a line and let me know. I love hearing other people talk about books they are passionate about. Until next week, happy reading!

April Line Up

This month’s theme is, ‘can you keep a secret?’ Each of the novels for April center around secrets. One of them is a mystery in the conventional sense, but the rest are novels where secrets drive the story in other ways. There is something delicious about a good secret and as a reader, I find it so compelling to try to unravel them. I hope some of these secrets appeal to you and you find something in this month’s line up to read along with me.

April 6, 2019: Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I’ve never read any novels by Taylor Jenkins Reid and I wasn’t too sure about this one – it’s set in the 1970s and follows a rock band as they make music and go on tour. No one knows why the group split after their last show in Chicago in 1979 at the height of their popularity but the secret is revealed over the course of the novel. I was on the fence about reading this one, but a new friend gave it the thumbs up so I decided to put it on the list for this month and happily borrowed her copy.

April 13, 2019: A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny

Penny is a Canadian novelist and A Rule Against Murder is part of her Three Pines series (I think there are fourteen of them now). All of the novels are set in Quebec and I love them for the sense of atmosphere Penny creates and the cast of quirky characters that populate her fictional world of Three Pines. You don’t need to read the series in order, each mystery can stand alone although there are over-arching plots. In this one, family secrets lead to murder at a isolated Manior and Chief Inspector Gamache must solve the case.

April 20, 2019: The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick

I’m a sucker for a book about books, which is what first led me to pick up Patrick’s latest novel. If you are a book nerd like me, how is this for a story line? The main character is Martha Storm, an awkward but kindhearted librarian. One day, a mysterious book of fairy tales arrives on her doorstep and the dedication is written by her grandmother, Zelda, who died mysteriously years before. Martha comes to believe her grandmother may still be alive and starts to follow the clues that ultimately reveal family secrets.

April 27, 2019: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

At the end of the ball, Evelyn Hardcastle is murdered. But it doesn’t look like a murder, so the murderer doesn’t get caught. Until Aiden, one of the guests at the party, can solve the murder the day will repeat itself, over and over again and Evelyn will be killed each night. I really like it when authors take a genre you think you know and push its boundaries. This is Turton’s debut and I am really excited to see how this story unfolds.