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Fair Play - Louise Hegarty

 


Description

This is a murder mystery. This is a story about love. Or is it? . . .

Fair Play is the puzzle-box story of two competing tales that brilliantly lay bare the real truth of life - the terrifying mystery of grief.

'A treat – clever, confident, and always surprising, a mystery story that ingeniously escapes the locked room of the genre to take on the biggest questions of life and death' Paul Murray, author of THE BEE STING

'Dazzling, formally subversive, brimming with compassion' Colin Walsh, author of KALA

Abigail and her brother Benjamin have always been close. To celebrate his birthday, Abigail hires a grand old house and gathers their friends together for a murder mystery party. As the night goes on, they drink too much and play games. Relationships are forged, consolidated or frayed. Someone kisses someone they shouldn’t, someone else’s heart is broken.

In the morning, everyone wakes up – except Benjamin.

Suddenly everything is not quite what it seems. An eminent detective arrives determined to find Benjamin’s killer. The house now has a butler, a gardener and a housekeeper. This is a locked-room mystery, and everyone is a suspect.

As Abigail attempts to fathom her brother’s unexpected death in a world that has been turned upside down, she begins to wonder whether perhaps the true mystery might have been his life . . .

Review

At first I wasn't sure what I had just finished reading, I needed time to digest it.

The book opens with Abigail preparing an Air BNB for the yearly NY party/her Brother's birthday. So far so good. The guests begin to arrive, rather a lot to keep track of for me.

The next day is Benjamin's (her brother) birthday. But he never wakes up to celebrate. He is found in a locked bedroom. A fictional detective and his sidekick turn up to investigate and it appears the house the guests are in, is not a Air BNB, but a grand house that Abigail and her brother own. They even have their own servants. It would seem we are also transported back to the 1930s judging by the dialogue. Strange I thought, reading on and deciding to stick with it.

I actually enjoyed the fictional detective and his powers of deduction ala Monsieur Poirot. The plot became a little like the "Sliding Doors" film. It got a tedious when there was a lot of repeated dialogue, which I scan read. Maybe italics might have been good at this point to distinguish the prose just read. 

Then came the ending. Which at first floored me, I had no idea what had happened. Mulling it over for some time after finishing I think I can reconcile what Abigail was doing and the reason for the ending, but that would be a spoiler.

Most important to mention is that this is not an Agatha Christie clone, or a mystery per se. The trope is used to convey much more than that, so you may be disappointed, or confused if you are expecting it to be purely a murder mystery.

The more I mull, the more I realise how clever the writing is, but it won't be for everyone. So I am giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. The book is published 3 April 2025. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review.

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