Fair Play by Louise Hegarty

A different type of cosy crime.

The word intriguing is bandied around a lot in book reviews but this really deserves the epithet. I loved the way it plays with genre and form to explore grief and loss. Whatever you are expecting when you start the book, it constantly surprises you.

It starts out as a gentle and straightforward account of a group of friends and family getting together for a murder mystery weekend to celebrate a birthday. Then when the birthday boy Benjamin is found dead in his room it becomes slightly surreal and turns into a pastiche of a country house murder mystery, interspersed with real quotes about the rules of writing in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.

I can’t say much more for fear of spoilers but as other viewpoints are interspersed, you gradually realise what is going on and how nuanced and clever the simple plot really is. It has a whiff of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine about it in the way that an apparently cosy novel is psychologically far more complex. The final section is beautifully crafted and really moving. While you may find yourself a bit flummoxed to start with, as the pieces fall into place, you will find this a satisfying and profound read.

I’d also really recommend the author’s article on the publisher’s website which I found fascinating on the golden age of detective fiction, particularly in the light of Midnight Streets which I reviewed last month.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC.