Welcome to Litsy!

This was a cool concept (murder mystery short stories that follow a mathematical formula and are woven together into a larger narrative)…but it was just too much to keep track of and care about 😂 I think it was trying to accomplish too too much instead of being one solid story, so by the end we didn‘t care as much as we should‘ve? Also the reviews on the book jacket way oversold it. Interesting, though, and I definitely wanted to keep reading!

Starting my Easter crime reading with this book. Join me this Easter, be an honorary Norwegian, do crime (reading)! Tag me in your crime reading and use the #EasterCrime 😄🐣🐇
For info on this Norwegian tradition watch my video here:

https://youtu.be/H8G_88_ufco?si=s-qgCTff9YqjkcyQ

This didn‘t work for me. It succeeds in that it‘s an original take on a murder mystery, with a crime writer & mathematician as a framing device showing the rules of mysteries using maths & Venn diagrams. The eight stories are unsatisfying as we don‘t get to know the characters as with a novel, & they‘re vehicles for the formula. And the framing mystery happens at the end with a twist I didn‘t care about as I hadn‘t engaged with those characters .

#12Booksof2023 @Andrew65

October - @RaeLovesToRead recommended this

Recommended by two #Gladstonerds, it did not disappoint.

I liked the short stories and how they were all connected.

Do I have to point out that Julia was my favourite character?

@RaeLovesToRead @CGalinor3

Definitely blaming my fellow #Gladstonerds @RaeLovesToRead and @CGalinor3 for my current read.

Chapter 2 - there's a character named Julia who sees all the inconsistencies in the story that makes up the first chapter. 😳😳😳 (I noticed all those inconsistencies too)

Thanks for my blind date book @RaeLovesToRead. This was such a fun read. A love letter to the genre.

I loved this book so much.

It's a series of mini murder mysteries tied together with a framing story. Pavesi is obviously a big fan of golden age mysteries and eight detectives is a love letter to all things Agatha Christie.

My expectations were tempered by reviews saying it was too clever, intricate, complicated... I found the devilish complexity to be part of its charm. It's a verified onion of intrigue!

Meta and marvellous!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Blind date with a Book! 🥰🥰🥰
#gladstonerds

Finally, I shall be able to review Eight Detectives... I read it recently but didn't want to spoil the mystery!

My own Blind Date is The Night Always Comes by Willy Vlautin. Looking forward to it 😊

@Leniverse @CGainor3 @scripturient @Susanita @TrishB @rockpools @Oryx @squirrelbrain @julesG @jenniferw88

A mathematician devised a formula to cover all the possible permutations of a detective story and wrote 7 stories illustrating this idea. 20 years later an editor comes to his home to discuss republishing the stories with the formula as an appendix.

Each of the illustrative stories is intriguing and I'll certainly be looking at the crime fiction I read to see how the formula covers each story. A terrific read for all fans of the genre.

Have I done my adventures correctly or incorrectly?

#readingonthetrain

A soft pick for me as I enjoyed the originality - it definitely catches you in the beginning. However, it tried a little too much to be clever for me and I felt at times that I was being "lectured" to. However, there were definitely twists on top of twists.
Read for #amurdermystery for #booked2022
@Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft

This is an amazing story that includes other crime short stories, so you get 8 murder mysteries in one! Highly recommended, I don't want to spoiler any of the content, so I'll just say: This is the most original crime mystery since The Orient Express.

I very much enjoyed this clever and unusual murder mystery that played homage to the rules of the genre but used my own assumptions (and an unreliable narrative) to keep me guessing until the last page. A great pick if you like whodunnits!

After a classical Gothic novel, a murder mystery gifted to me over Christmas.

2 of the 4 books I received for my birthday (the others are epubs) and my new read the female man.
One must admire my partner still giving me books while not knowing what I have read... Luckily our taste are close enough that the city ad the city will still find someone to read it.

Book 27- 2021 As I started listening to this novel I was excited by the premise and where the story was going but it didn‘t really deliver in the end for me. I thought it would tied up in a more satisfying way. But it got me through a night with a tummy bug and for that I am very grateful!

What I did like: The concept of short stories hold together by a big arc. The very analytical approach to murder mysteries. The first - and maybe even the second - plot twist at the end.
What I did not like: Some of the stories were blunt and not surprising. There were too many plot twists at the end.

@TheAromaofBooks

Here is my Bookspin for August (hopefully you can just about read the titles!)

I'm absolutely drowning in books at the moment, so wish me luck.

Not got a Bingo on July's card, but I have managed to get through quite a few books so I'll give myself a pat on the back for that 😄

Today's Shelfie ❤ Some of the gorgeous books I can't wait to read!

Really excited to read this one... should probably finish one or two of the books I'm reading already but I'm looking forward to it!!!

Review from my (grand)Pa - no wonder you kept asking me where I was up to!!! I knew *that character* was shady but I didn‘t guess that!!

Nana didn‘t care for the opening chapter so she declined to read this one.

As I was reading this book I was preparing to give this a hugely positive review. I loved the concept which imbeds seven short stories into a context story. They took golden age mysteries as inspiration but wrote them in a cutting, merciless and modern way.

Then I went from being in total love to hate in the last quarter.

As frustrated as I am I still feel like 3/4 was so entertainting that it, just barely, still deserves to be a pick.

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 69
#BooksToRead #TBRPile #TBRMountain

This book is crazy clever. Almost too clever. It took a lot of getting into and perseverance to get through it, but it is a fascinating concept. I will be thinking about those last few chapters for a while! Messed with your head. I probably wouldn‘t recommend unless you‘re a big murder mystery fan. Glad to be done with it.
#dashingdecember #wintersolstice @Andrew65

A clever idea but didn‘t quite do it for me.
#2020joybooks
@MrsMalaprop

Nearly half way and still enjoying this strange meta look at the crime novel...

This is certainly a different type of crime story. An editor goes out to visit an author on an island. This author wrote 7 short crime stories and they are to be publised. These 7 stories are in the book and are discussed by both people. There are quite a few twists and turns and I didn't have the slightest clue at the ending! #crimebooks

It‘s been awhile since I‘ve read what amounts to a “classic crime” novel - and what a way to spend a lazy Sunday. This book throws around tropes and red herrings with merry abandon - and I was honestly none the wiser - did not see *most* of it coming.

I recently bought this book and hope to get to it this month! #tbr

Which cover do you like more?.

I know everyone else has loved it, but I was just a bit meh. Maybe a case of too much hype?!

Latest read

Thanks for the chance to win @TheSpineView

1. It depends on whether I think I'll re-read it or not.
2. Done

@squirrelbrain @Caroline2 @hufflepuffle

#two4tuesdaygiveaway

@TheSpineView

1. I keep some, some share/ donate. The majority of my books I borrow from library.

2. The tagged book Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi, maybe :)

#two4tuesday

Fantastic. Clever, interesting, and unexpected. Very well written. But was Grant that diabolical? That is my only question. A debut novel from a writer worth following. 4.5/5 and not a five because of that one question. @TheAromaofBooks

Here are my goals. I started Eight Detectives yesterday, so I started there adding in others that I want to read / meet reading goals for this year and the two official numbers. That‘s 10 books. That‘s the goal. What a nifty way to read and meet goals. Raining here today and I am off work. Perfect to curl up on the sofa and begin.

Look at gorgeous end papers from Goldsboro Books edition. What is better than quill pens for a book about a writer?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a very enjoyable book within a book. Julia Hart visits a remote island to collaborate with Grant McAllister, author of ‘The White Murders‘, a book that lays out the rules for a good murder mystery; through the reading of the stories, Julia discovers that there is a bigger mystery to be solved. A different spin to the usual pattern of the genre.

If the paperback doesn't have this lovely cover, I shall 😫

I‘m abandoning my current reads to start this one on publication day, I‘ve been anticipating it for months.

Flew through this over the last 2 days. A great concept with good execution, a quick but enjoyable read all in all, 4🌟 It‘s released in August, would recommend anyone who likes a good crime novel to pick it up if they see it!

Thanks to my neighbour for passing this on, it‘s not out until August so challenging myself to fit this somewhere into my TBR soon so that I can read it before it‘s out! 🔍