We’ve reached the final stop and it lands with me.

Thank you to Josh at Faber & Faber for inviting me to host “Rules For Perfect Murders” on the blog as part of it’s tour this month.

Malcolm Kershaw is an avid fan of mystery novels. Whilst working in Old Devils bookstore, Boston, which specialises in that genre, he wrote a blog post; Eight Perfect Murders.

But that was a few years ago, yet now the FBI are questioning him about his list. Because there have been a few unsolved murders recently and they seem to have Malcolm’s list in common. Can Agent Mulvey and Malcolm find out the culprit before they reenact all the murders from the post? 

As an unofficial new year’s resolution, I decided to read more thrillers and crime books this year. So I was super excited to be contacted about Rules For Perfect Murders. I’d never read any of Peter Swanson’s previous works and the info sent to me definitely intrigued me. 

Swanson writes incredibly intelligently about the publishing and online world of books and writers. Which as a book blogger, is refreshing to see. Someone that understands the reader a little more than others care to share. 

I don’t think with books of this genre, you’re always supposed to feel so suspicious of the antagonist but this is where I was at with Mr Kershaw. Sure, it passed from him to every character after a while but it always came back to Malcolm. How someone so ordinary could find himself here and who even is this FBI Agent? Are they legit too? 

One question I was left asking is, why eight? Why not ten? Most top lists comprise of more rounded numbers. It’s clever and different but it doesn’t actually need a reason, but it certainly felt odd. 

The setting left me cold, the description of the murders left me cold. That’s not a bad thing. I could see all the characters and found them well developed. Good stuff all round. 

If you don’t think of yourself to be a reader who could get into thrillers, I’d recommend “Rules For Perfect Murders” as a good one to dive in with and try.

Thank you again to Faber & Faber for the proof and the opportunity to review the book.