Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Release Date: 2018
Genre: Mystery, Horror
Somebody’s going to be murdered at the ball tonight. It won’t appear to be a murder and so the murderer won’t be caught. Rectify that injustice and I’ll show you the way out.’
It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed. But Evelyn will not die just once.
Until Aiden – one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party – can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot.
The only way to break this cycle is to identify the killer. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath…
Evelyn Hardcastle, daughter to Lord Peter and Lady Helena Hardcastle, is back from Paris for the Masquerade ball at Blackheath House. Young, vibrant and full of wonder, Evelyn will die. Again, and again. She will die each and every day until Aiden can help her!
In a story full of twists, turns and red herrings, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (The 7 1/2 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle in the US) takes you on a crazy journey. Reminiscent of an Agatha Christie novel, based in a game of Cluedo, Aiden is tasked with finding out who the murderer is in order to save Evelyn and finally bring the day to an end!
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Waking with no memory, not even his name, Aiden finds himself in a forest with but one word on his tongue ‘Anna’. Escaping with barely his life, Aiden soon comes across Blackheath House. The imposing Georgian manor house offers little in the way of sanctuary as no-one can give him a straight answer as to who Anna is, or why he was attacked in the forest.
‘ How did – ‘ I’m cut short by the sight of my own hands. They’re bony, ugly. A stranger’s hands. I don’t recognise them at all.
Turton, S. 2018, P.1 (E-Book)
If Aiden thought the next morning would bring answers he is quickly proven wrong, as he wakes with the same day happening again. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a time travelling murder mystery in which everyone is a suspect.
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In standard murder mystery fashion, the suspect pool is vast, each with their own dark secrets ready to be uncovered. In fact, Blackheath House has been packed full of the most despicable people you can meet, from the corrupt to the morally ambiguous. Whispers follow guests from room to room, whispers that seem to suggest there is too much of a coincidence to the guests that have been invited. 19 years ago to the day Blackheath House played host to the exact same guests for a masquerade ball, one in which one of the Hardcastle children, Thomas did not survive. Perhaps Aiden’s task is not just to solve Evelyn’s murder, but to shed light on events past!
‘The police found the knife he used under the floorboards in his cottage, along with a dozen pilfered bottles of brandy. His accomplice was never caught…’
TURTON, S. 2018, P.10 (E-BOOK)
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Final Thoughts
Clever, Confusing and enticing, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle will keep you thinking it over long after you have put it down. I found it made me wonder what I would do in the same situations, and question my own moral compass. Stuart Turton weaves his characters story lines wonderfully, you can see the passion that was put into the book from start to finish.
No amount of Netflix crime binge will help you work out this mystery 😉
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