Six friends gather at a country house for a birthday weekend. They decide to play a game.

All six names go in a hat. Choose two, and imagine one murdering the other. Write it down. Type it up. Read it out.

Points are given for making the murders sound convincing.

Of course, when given such a task, it’s only natural to use what you know. Secrets. Grudges. Affairs.

But once you’ve put it in a story, that secret is out.

So with each fictional murder, someone gets a motive for a real one.

Which leads to the most important question:

When a real murder comes, will you be able to spot it in time?

THE BIGGEST MYSTERY CAN BE MURDER TO SOLVE . . . DISCOVER THE YEAR'S MOST ORIGINAL CRIME NOVEL 'One of the year's most entertaining crime novels' SUNDAY TIMES, CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH 'When did you last read a genuinely original thriller? The wait is over' A. J. FINN 'An elegantly structured, intellectually challenging and completely unique thriller that grips like a vice' SOPHIE HANNAH _______ All murder mysteries follow a simple set of rules. In the 1930s, Grant McAllister, a mathematics professor turned author, worked them out, hiding their secrets in a book of crime stories. Then Grant disappeared. Julia Hart has finally tracked him down. She wants to know what happened to him. But she's about to discover that a good mystery can be murder to solve . . . _______ 'One of the most creative detective novels of the year . . . If not of all time' Samantha Downing 'Intelligent and inventive . . . It's the most fun I've had in ages' Cathy Rentzenbrink 'So, so clever . . . Agatha Christie would take her hat off to this one - bravo!' Sarah Pinborough **Winner of the Capital Crimes Reader Award for Debut Book of the Year** SHORTLISTED FOR THE GLASS BELL AWARD AND THE BARRY AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL