The Murder Hame by Tom Hindle is published today by Cornerstone (an imprint of Penguin Random House) and you can now buy a copy from your favourite local book shop! This was a great follow-up to A Fatal Crossing, which might have been the better of the two, but The Murder Game is a strong story that sweeps you right up. Most of the characters are unlikable but that did not spoil the story at all if anything it only added more suspects to my list. From the despised to the pitied they are not only well-developed but realistic. But it seems that someone wants to play a different game. There is going to be a real victim and a real murderer with a very real motive. As a lifelong fan of Agatha Christie and any kind of murder mystery set in a hotel or a manor house this book instantly appealed to me. The author is clearly a fan as well, as scattered throughout are subtle nods to the Queen of Crime and her works. The party is thrown by Will, a young man who works in the antiques shop and among the guests are the head of the local tourist board and Damian White, a very rich man who has just bought the local lighthouse. Mr White is universally despised in the town and so when he is found dead in an upstairs room there are no shortages of suspects.

The Murder Game by Tom Hindle - Penguin Books Australia The Murder Game by Tom Hindle - Penguin Books Australia

My chief problem with the book is that it’s all so entirely predictable. There were lots of strangely abrupt endings to chapters that made me think “eh?” before realising that this was meant to be ‘a revelation’ der-der-derrrr! There just were no surprises, the whole plot and all of the ‘twists’ were signposted so early on that there was no reason to keep reading.I love a good closed circle murder mystery so this was right up my street and so well done. There's a small(ish) cast of not especially likeable characters, some secrets from the past, a few grudges and a lot of twists and turns. I loved how the game was constructed and how everything went down hill when a murder happened during the murder mystery party. An Agatha Christie worthy whodunnit for the Midsomer Murders generation (me then!). Murders and hatred abound but there’s an overall cosy, Sunday night feel. This isn’t about hardened psychopaths, it’s all very middle class. There is some authentic-feeling portrayal of PTSD in the story and it was a clever idea to focus the narrative mostly on the viewpoint s of the four younger (early 20s) – all very different – characters: Lily, heiress to and daughter of the murdered man; Will, organiser of the event but struggling with long-term trauma; Theo, actor in the game and aspiring actor outside it; and Justin, local journalist, desperate for a big story to break him out into the big papers.

The Murder Game: A gripping murder mystery from the author of

The pace of the book was okay, it was neither super fast nor agonizingly slow, just perfect. I loved that we get different perspectives throughout the night, to get inside scopes to the different guests' mind and their anxiety through the night.With the wedding guests trapped as they await the police, old secrets come to light and family rivalries threaten to bubble over. Poor plot with a most uninteresting twist. Weak characters with no depth left me not caring what happened to any of them. Terrible prose and narrative. I'm still getting over 'the smile slipped off his face like grease' and 'she felt panic skirting across her face'. There are envelopes on the tables – one for each of the quests, informing them of their roles. Each guest plays a different character such as a maid, a solicitor, a doctor, a daughter, a wife, a murderer and a victim. There are clues, there are red herrings and there are the usual suspects and the ever present motives. The story is told from multiple povs, each with a very different and distinctive voice. I will admit that I struggled a little at the start to get the cast of characters straight and remember the relationships between them but I think that's mostly a me issue. I have a terrible memory for names and generally prefer a book to only have one or two povs. Once I got into the story I had absolutely no problems and found myself enjoying the different perspectives. I enjoyed the claustrophobic atmosphere of this book and the setting of the slightly run down hotel. The coastal location really added to the tension and the feeling of being trapped. I was hoping that the murder mystery aspect of the book would play out more and be more incorporated into the plot as that was what drew me to the book in the first place. While the plot was entertaining, it wasn’t as tightly drawn as I would have liked - there were a few plot holes that I couldn’t bring myself to ignore. I had guessed the killer about halfway through the book and although the final twist was one I didn’t see coming, it stretched my credulity somewhat.