Read carefully my dears for nothing is as it seems. I’m not usually a fan of short stories, but the author has written a novel of short stories and ties them together. Murders, detectives, thefts; this novel has everything. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader.

Very high concept: a theory of detective stories, illustrated by seven short stories, and explained by the author of the theoretical paper and book, White Murder, on a remote island. But each of the short stories has an inconsistency - ok, several inconsistencies - and the author, Grant, is unwilling, or unable, to explain them to Julia, his interlocuteur and potentially the editor of a reprint of the original book. Is he hiding something? is it old age? Inquisitive minds want to know. Several of the short stories are clearly riffs on more famous mysteries or authors, while the theories are less clearly defined. That one missing piece would have easily bumped this to a five-star.

eARC provided by publisher.

Very, very clever with twist upon twist. Takes the traditional mystery, multiplies it, upends it and yet stays true to tradition. I highly recommend this inventive book!

A set of short murder mysteries that are dissected and analyzed by the authors and his editor. While this may have appeal for lovers of 1930s classic mystery fans, this reviewer found it tedious, uneven and a struggle to get to the end - which yielded no reward.

A brilliant read a book I was so involved innI could not put it down.A book of mysteries in novel form a unique book I will be highly recommending.#netgalley#hebtryholt.

This is FAN-TAS-TIC!

7 different murder stories with Christie-esque vibes, smart mind games, a grotesque, claustrophobic, extremely witty world building and high tension, slow burn mystery with more than one twists and shocking ending(s)

I just say three words: BRAVA! BRAVA! BRAVA!

A murder needs: victim-perpetrator and a detective! Julie Hart is sharp minded, extremely smart editor who can easily read the messages hidden behind the lines and her detail oriented mind helps her to extract the secret essence of the stories and discrepancies as well. When she was volunteered to meet with the author of “White Murders: Grant McAllsiter, professor of mathematics he has been living an isolated life in a remote village of Mediterranean, she wanted to learn about the writing process of the book and the author’s background story which affect him to create them. She was so excited to convince him to republish the book.
But she finds the author a little tight lipped and reluctant to give more clues about the creation process of 7 detective stories and all those stories have inconsistencies which are easily caught by Julie.
Did Grant put them intentionally to test the readers’ focus or does he have a hidden agenda to connect with those stories with real life murder?

Julia realizes she is the 8th detective to dig out another mystery and find out the secrets that Grant kept.
When I read those stories I felt like there were missing pieces about them but I happily got my answers. Especially the last conversation of the characters and two endings startled me!

This is unique, phenomenal, so smart, complex, challenging, mind blowing debut author! I could only clap and raise my glass to Alex Pavesi who is such a brilliant author and I cannot wait to read his upcoming works in near future.

If you like old school detective stories meet complex/twisty/ whodunit plays, this is amazing fit for your needs. Please read it and send me thank you notes and cupcakes for showing your appreciation to my recommendation. It only took my four hours to finish it and even though I cannot feel my legs and I’m starving, it is worth for the pain. I truly enjoyed it!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co. for sharing this incredible ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

"Yes," said Grant. "And that's what differentiates a murder mystery from any other story with a surprise at the end. The possibilities are presented to the reader up front. The ending just comes back and points to one of them."

I have so many mixed feelings about this book.

The structure of this book is interesting. It's basically about an editor who visits a mathematician at a remote island because she wants to publish his collection of short stories. The stories are each about a murder mystery and the chapters of this book alternate between the short story from the manuscript and the two characters discussing each story.

Here's what didn't work for me: there is very very little discussed about each of the two characters. I understand there are reasons for that but I tend to read books for their characters so this was exceptionally hard for me. The short stories themselves weren't all that well-written in my opinion and since they have to be pretty short (so we can have so many of them) they are not all that engaging. For me, there were parts that really felt like a chore to read.

But then if you're patient enough to make it to the end, there are twists upon twists and some clever reveals. You end the novel with quite the smile on how clever it was being. But you only get the reward if you're patient enough.

With gratitude to netgalley and Henry Holt & Company for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi employs a unique format, but was not at all what I expected. The chapters alternate: a short murder mystery story is followed by a discussion explaining the thought process behind writing that short story. The twist comes at the end when the reader hears an alternate ending for each of the short stories, followed by two alternate endings for the book overall.

I'm giving this book a neutral 3 star rating because the idea overall is so unique; unfortunately, it was just not a style I enjoyed. I hope this book makes its way into the hands of the right readers.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Julia Hart travels to see mathematician/writer Grant McAllister to republish a book he wrote many years ago of short detective stories. The key, revealed by Grant is the use of math and certain formulated techniques to solve the crime. The part that intrigued me is each story is revisited, then the next chapter is a discussion of the story between Grant and Julia as to pieces of the puzzles and potential errors and clues Grant put in the book to keep those on their toes. I found this book different and a unique format. Kept me interested.

Just read this book. Confusing, Contradicting. . Continue. A most satisfying conclusion. Read this.

It’s funny, I’ve read this immediately following a read from a well known author that promised via cover quote to be ferociously clever and failed. And then this one, a debut, with quote free cover, actually did turn out to be ferociously clever. Fiendishly clever, even. In fact, it’s one of the best most original mystery thrillers I’ve read in ages and if you knew how much I read, you’d know that it is a high praise indeed. The official description uses a nesting doll comparison. That’s perfect. Only imagine that each doll is increasingly more sinister looking and the last one dissolves before you. It has that sort of…dark magic about it. No formulas (albeit some lovely pastiches), no trickery but that of the highest order. You, the reader, are treated as an active player in the entire enterprise, you’re given the clues, you can follow along and see how your inner Sherlock manages. It’s such a pleasure to read a book where the author takes such an approach, treating the readers with respect, giving the readers a chance to prove their mettle, not just telling them to sit back and be dazzled by formulas decorated with cheap trickery. This book is subtle, smart and challenging in the best possible way. It gives you a chance to play along and then outsmarts you at nearly every turn. It’s such a fun approach. The structure itself is wildly inventive. First chapter…you think you’re reading a mystery story. Second chapter tell you, yes, that’s what it was, a story, just one of eight, in the mysterious volume of mysteries published by a reclusive author long ago, a man who has made a name for himself by establishing the mathematical rules for writing mysteries and then creating a selection of stories to reflect those rules. And now, decades later, that author has been tracked down by an ambitious editor who wants to reprint the stories. She just has some questions first. Chapters continue to alternate between the stories and the interview. And mind you, every story contains some internal trickery, see if you can find it, a puzzle within a puzzle. The tales themselves are very representative of the golden age of mystery, when they were originally written. Clever puzzles with all the facts seemingly on display. Very Agatha Christie like, with one story of a locked island with ten victims being a direct (and excellent) pastiche. Each story with a trick ending to work out. This is a book you have to read actively, it requires a proper intellectual engagement, you have to pay attention. And even still, it tricks you until the very end. Two endings, in fact. So all in all, you have 19 trick endings in one book. Fiendishly clever indeed. I only wish I was smart enough (and awake enough) to do this novel justice by writing an equally clever review, the one it so assuredly deserves, something as twisted as Eschereque staircase. But this is all I came up with for now, just adoration, admiration and awe. Which should be enough to make you want to check this book out, one should hope. Any mystery fan, anyone with appreciation of dark psychology and ingenious plot twists owes it to themselves to check this book out. It’s a fiendishly clever puzzle inside a puzzle inside a puzzle…So good, so very good. Wildly entertaining, original and oodles of fun. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

This is an exquisite masterpiece. It's not a book I will ever forget for its style, its storytelling, its ending. This book will win many awards and is, and will be, the book of the year for many if not all readers. Absolutely brilliant.

Interesting read but tale was not what I expected; however, ending was appropriate to genre. I will give this book a "Neutral" rating because it just wasn't to my taste.

The synopsis for Alex Pavesi’s debut novel caught my attention some time ago, so I jumped at the chance to review it. It’s quite unlike any mystery novel I’ve read before, and with an intriguing premise/structure, it was a pretty good read.

The novel has an interesting structure. It’s a narrative framed around a series of short stories that one of the characters, a mathematician and one-time author, has written based on a paper he wrote. That paper was an examination of the mathematics of murder mysteries. The editor has approached Grant, in the hope of re-issuing The White Murders through the small press she says she works for. Julia has asked Grant to meet with her and go through the stories one by one, in order to gather insights for the new edition’s introduction. So, the story alternates between one of the stories followed by Grant and Julia’s discussion thereof. There is also some interesting discussion of the aforementioned “mathematics of murder mysteries”. The stories were varied, clever, and nicely in line with classic mystery stories and tropes.

The Eighth Detective is an inventive novel with a few interesting twists thrown in there for good measure. It leans heavily into the unreliability of mystery narrators and characters. I’m not sure that it necessarily breaks all the rules, as some of the promotional material suggests, but it did keep me guessing until the end — in part, though, because a number of twists come quite fast at the end.

Pavesi throws some interesting switcheroos at the reader in the final act of the novel, some of which were intriguing. I also wondered, a little bit, if the twists kind of made what came before unnecessary… While the short stories are interesting, I think I would have liked more discussion and story about Grant and Julia — there are some big reveals late in the novel, as I’ve already mentioned, but I nevertheless finished the book wanting to know more about the two protagonists. Because they didn’t feature as much as I’d hoped, the surprise reveals at the end didn’t have quite the impact that I think they were meant to have. I admit that I frequently have difficult with short story collections, in particular difficulty with getting sucked in for the duration. Even though there are connecting chapters, I got a little bit of this with The Eighth Detective.

If you’re looking for a mystery novel with a difference, and are a fan of golden age mystery fiction, then I think The Eighth Detective could suit your interests.

If someone asks you for an example of a dynamic debut novel, you need look no further than The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi. It's a really riveting read. The reader immediately finds themselves engaged by this masterclass book. Pavesi skillfully throws twists and turns at the reader which work wonderfully within the format of the book. Each of the "short stories" contained in this novel are enjoyable in their own right. The premise is brilliant and perfectly executed. Thank you to Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy.

This book reminded me of something Anthony Horowitz might write....a book within a book within a book all surrounded by an incredibly entertaining mystery. Clever with great dialogue and interesting characters. This story is very unique but so very entertaining. I am looking forward to more from this writer.....soon! Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co. for the free arc of this book.

Fans of Agatha Christie and slow burns will love this book. It is written in a format that I have been seeing more and more of: a book within a book. The chapters are set up with a murder mystery being told and then followed by a discussion of the story. This goes back and forth for 14 chapters. It's a good set up because you find out right away the answer to who the killer was and so forth. The ending was everything. I felt very satisfied with how everything ended up. A great first book for Alex Pavesi and I'm excited to see whatever else he has up his sleeve.

This book will be a delight to fans of classic mysteries. The idea of creating a mathematical model for the plots of mysteries is really interesting. It would be fun to have a discussion among these fans to see if they can recognize other stories that fit the patterns described in The White Murders. However, for most mystery readers now, people are looking for more character development. (Think Louise Penny's books.)
Since I read this as a electronic prepub, I found it hard to keep track when I was reading one of the stories in the "book" and when I was reading the real time story. I hope that the print version will have some different typeface or spacing to indicate which was which. This was especially true at the end.