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

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It is possibly not the most original but sometimes it's great to just relax and enjoy a story that has a traditional feel to it. To his credit, he has certainly not shied away from a complex murder mystery plot and he has also ensured that the various threads make sense and are neatly interwoven and explained.

The Murder Game by Tom Hindle - Penguin Books Australia

To my knowledge I've never read a good old fashioned murder mystery like this before and now I'm craving more. My hope is that Tom's novels will improve as he acquires greater experience and a more robust style of writing. Tom Hindle hails from Leeds and lives in Oxfordshire with his wife, a cat and two surprisingly cunning tortoises.It is prone to becoming excessively wordy, to the point where it resembles a very descriptive screenplay rather than a novel. 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. Each guest plays a different character such as a maid, a solicitor, a doctor, a daughter, a wife, a murderer and a victim. I found myself feeling that it could have benefitted from some further editing that would have made it more punchy and impactful. I worked out the main murderer and motive within the first half of the book; it seemed quite obvious and perhaps could have been hidden for a little longer.

The Murder Game - Penguin Books UK The Murder Game - Penguin Books UK

There are multiple layers of mystery that overlap as the story unfolds, including the earlier deaths of a young boy in a tragic fall and a previous murder, the discovery of which is the cause of Will’s PTSD. Rounding up a group of interlinked people in a remote location and slowly revealing their connections and secrets is of course a classic starting off point for a whodunnit filled with twists and turns.

A really interesting storyline peppered with characters who interlink in ways that the reader becomes aware of mainly at the end reveal.

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

The owner of Hamlet Hall has organised a murder mystery evening with a 1920s twist, and everyone has their own part to play. Before the game is over, one guest will be dead and the others will be left reeling as long concealed events come to light, threatening to forever shatter the peace. The characters, each with their backstories and motives, were well drawn out and the story flowed well.The author is clearly a fan as well, as scattered throughout are subtle nods to the Queen of Crime and her works.

The Murder Game: A gripping murder mystery from - AbeBooks

Tom Hindle's A Fatal Crossing was one of my favourite new discoveries within the genre last year, and the author's second novel is even better. He has cleverly layered his book in such a way that by the end of the story we're not just trying to uncover one murder mystery, but at the same time we're trying to pick apart tragedies that happened in the small town of Hamlet Wick years, and even decades, ago. This is the 2nd book from the author and I was sooo happy to read this book compared to the first one (A fatal crossing) I read this and felt a lot of emotions, the character development was so much better, I felt like they all had good back stories and I somewhat related to some of them.I must be honest and say, I did predict the murderer and the twists, but it didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying it. We at Penguin Random House Australia acknowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the Traditional Custodians and the first storytellers of the lands on which we live and work. My main reason for DNFing is because the premise is inaccurate, although my knowledge of this only comes from my career. 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.