Eight Detectives: The Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month

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The novel is told around the short stories that the author wrote. Julia has asked Grant to go through the stories individually so that she can gather ideas for the republished works. The novel alternates between the short stories and author and editors discussions.

The book runs through each of Grant’s original murder mystery short stories, each interspersed with a short ‘conversation’ chapter in which Julia and Grant discuss the story and she probes the reclusive writer in an attempt to learn more about the man behind the book. Julia Hart is an editor who is charged with interviewing Grant for the purpose of re-publishing his book with a new introduction. She meets him on a remote island where he has been living like a recluse. Wait,’ she began, but he had already vanished. She heard his bare feet thudding unmusically on the steps that were as white and hard as piano keys, heard him pause as he reached the turning in the staircase and slap one palm flat against the wall to steady himself, then heard the course of his movements around the floor below. To illustrate his ideas, McAllister wrote seven detective stories, and published them in a book called 'The White Murders.'The Eighth Detective" by debut author Alex Pavesi is a fascinating puzzle, a unique perspective on the murder mystery. "The killer or killers must be drawn from the group of suspects [mathematically speaking], the killer(s) must be a subset of the suspects...". Why is Grant McAllister's book titled "The White Murders"? Readers are in for an innovative, very creative read. Kudos to Alex Pavesi. A few hours earlier they’d been having lunch at a small tavern in the nearest village, a thirty-minute walk through the woods from Bunny’s house. Bunny had stood up at the end of the meal and they’d both immediately noticed how drunk he was. A box of delights . . . Pavesi's revelations are completely unexpected, right up to the end New York Times It won Debut Book of the Year at the Capital Crime Readers Awards and has been long-listed for the Barry Award for Best First Novel and the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award. Who knows,’ said Henry. ‘Right now he’s sleeping the sleep of the just-had-lunch.’ She didn’t smile. ‘You can go ahead and leave. I think anything he has to say can wait.’

Second in the military crime series featuring Special Agents Scott Brodie and Magnolia "Maggie" Taylor, after The Deserter (2019). Eight Detectives was published in the UK on 20th August 2020 by Michael Joseph, and in the USA on 4th August 2020 (as The Eighth Detective) by Henry Holt. It is also available in several translated editions, with more forthcoming. Alex Pavesi's Eight Detectives is a delightfully inventive and enjoyable debut which plays fascinating games with the classic murder mystery and puts a fresh spin on the notion of whodunit. Bravo! -- Martin Edwards, winner of the 2020 Diamond Dagger This is a case of a blurb promising more than the book delivers. It certainly isn’t “thrilling” (it isn’t even trying to be thrilling) and I also wouldn’t call it “wildly inventive”. The short stories are Agatha Christie-esque, particularly “Trouble on Blue Pearl Island” which is intended as an homage to Christie’s “And Then There Were None”. That was my favorite story because of its diabolical ending. My problem was that the stories weren’t great. Late in the book there is a twist that presents an alternative ending for each story. The new ending didn’t improve any story. Then there is a second twist, and a third one. I think the plot actually had the potential to be clever if the characters had more bite to them. This is not a battle of wits. The characters are more likely to curl up into a fetal position than they are to engage. Also, the short stories could have been better. 3.5 stars Multiple detective stories with an Agatha Christie vibe. The murder mystery rules. Grant McAllister wrote 7 stories, hiding the secrets in them. Only those with a super keen eye will find them.I have never read a book quite like this. It's original, clever and compelling - and the revelations at the end took me totally by surprise. Rachel Abbott

This book is about a mathematician who has a long-forgotten book of short mysteries rediscovered by a modern day publisher. Through their discussions, we learn he has a mathematical theory about the structure of mysteries. We also see that he may be dropping clues about a larger motive for writing these stories. This is a book within a book, and within both stories the reader is given a bunch of theories and clues to figure out. Some of the time I felt like I was reading Agatha Christie and other times I was put in mind of the Encyclopedia Brown books I loved as a kid. All the stories culminate in a larger mystery to solve. The structure of the book is unlike anything I’ve read before and I can’t imagine how tough it must have been to create. This book was certainly value for money - eight stories in one and most of them given alternative endings. It was very cleverly written. Towards the end things start changing all over the place and I’m not sure I liked how it was done. It’s an unusual take on the unreliable narrator, I can say that at the very least. I didn’t feel any satisfaction or surprise, I just thought it was a bit silly. I suppose it was set in the past so that it was easier to accept ignorance of things. Megan paused, her face as pristine and unreadable as it was in her publicity photos. She was an actor, by profession. ‘Do you know what he’s going to say to us?’ Has an intricacy rare in modern crime fiction. Alex Pavesi deserves huge applause for his plot, constructed with all the skill of the old masters Sunday ExpressThe stories themselves are very Christie-esque. They are of a time and style that any Agatha fan would understand and recognise. We have variations on a victim(s) and a detective(s) in various settings. There is even an homage to "Ten Little Indians". The stories themselves are good enough. However it is the extended story about Grant's memories and Julia's interest that is the real story here for me. I have never read a book quite like this. It's original, clever and compelling - and the revelations at the end took me totally by surprise. -- Rachel Abbott Thirty years ago, Grant McCallister wrote a mathematical paper titled “The Permutations of Detective Fiction,” which set out to prove the ingredients* of every murder mystery. As part of demonstrating the paper’s arguments, he wrote seven murder mysteries later published in a collection called The White Murders. Now, Julia Hart meets with Grant on a remote island to review and edit the stories so that the collection can be republished. But Julia keeps finding subtle, deliberate errors in the stories. What do those errors mean? Are they clues showing some connection between the collection—and Grant—and a long ago unsolved murder? Fate seemed to have become a cat, leaving these curious, mangled items at his door. This time it was a dead body.” Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Alex Pavesi), and the publisher (Henry Holt and Company) for a copy of the book.