Welcome to Litsy!

I thought this was clever. Much of the book was done in different styles. That is, much of the book was told directly from the author to the reader, breaking the “fourth wall". I also thought the atmosphere was done well – I definitely pictured the ‘70s hunting lodge: all brown wood paneling with hunted animal heads on the walls and such. But, I also found it quite “literary” and a bit dry. I certainly didn‘t care about the people. Cont in comnts

Unfortunately, I had to bail on this arc, mainly due to the 'stage directions'/prompts on reading and interpreting the story, which I found incredibly irritating.

#NetGalleyGroup #NGGFallFiction

This book took a minute for me to get into it but when I did boy did I. I liked it a whole lot more than I expected. This was definitely not a traditional murder mystery and the author included the reader in the mystery and I liked that. However saying that, I am mad at this book. This book is living rent free in my head. I will definitely be looking for more from this author. Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

Happy Pub Day

Dann McDorman

Don't care for the writer's writing style. I don't want to be told what I should be thinking about the mystery while I am reading the book.

Tentative Publishing Date October 24, 2023

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the E-ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I thought this was clever. Much of the book was told directly from the author to the reader, breaking the “fourth wall”. We went off on tangents talking about what might happen, traditionally (or not), at various parts of a mystery story. Also, there were tangents that focused on classic mystery authors and stories. Again, I thought clever and very different. Con't in comments...

This is billed as a unique murder mystery, and I would agree with that. It is interspersed with insights and basically nonfiction material relating to the topic of each chapter of the fictional story. A private investigator (Adam McAnnis) insinuates himself into the Bicentennial celebration of members at the West Heart Club in upstate NY. As characters begin to die, the reader follows along as Adam questions and pieces together the sordid 🔻

Interesting mystery that tips it‘s hat and pays homage to the best mystery writers through history. It has an unique 4th wall format going on but it was a bit too cute and pretentious for me, it kept pulling me out of the story. Pretty bold for a debut though so I will definitely read more from him. Releases October 24th. #netgalley #ARC #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

You can't call this mystery ordinary by any stretch and I feel its uniqueness is both its weakness and its strength. I personally enjoyed how meta this mystery is and loved the tidbits about classic mysteries dispersed throughout.
The points I disliked were the the changes in writing styles and the ending didn't impress me.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

The narration style is unique and different. It skips between an unseen narrator and the detective, McAnnis. I prefer the parts following McAnnis, as it is more traditional and easier for me to read. There are a lot of suspects in this rich man's enclave, and sometimes it's difficult for me to remember who's who. Towards the middle, the book became more interesting and fun to read. But the ending was a disappointment and not satisfying.