"Research" by Philip Kerr

An audio book.

John Houston's wife has been murdered and Houston's disappeared. He's a prolific, rich author living in Monaco - prolific because (until he recently sacked them) he had a team of authors to do the writing for him. Maybe Houston killed his beautiful, unfaithful wife. Maybe the London-based team or his agent took revenge and killed her. She was Irish and her family had enemies. The dogs were killed too.

We first get the PoV of team-member and old friend Don Irvin. He'd started law at Cambridge before becoming a soldier in Northern Island. Many plots are suggested as the team chat and they're interviewed by the Monaco police. Houston calls him and they meet. There are many put-downs of other writers - often Martin Amis.

They were both ad men before John tried his luck with a novel. John was great at writing outlines but didn't like the chore of writing, so he'd taken Don on. He compared it to artists taking on helpers, or to Shakespeare's collaborations. The two of them are well read and cynical about the publishing trade. John thinks of the UK market as "a sideshow with goldfish" compared to US.

We switch to John's PoV. He has a mistress, Colette. He sacked his team of writers because he wanted to write a real novel - maybe win a prize.

We switch back to John. He killed the wife. Colette was an accomplice - he proposes a plan that would put John in debt to her, maybe forcing him to marry her. He tries to get John to fall in with the plan. Then he kills Colette. His plan is to offer John a hiding place in return for him writing outlines that Don and maybe other team members would expand in novels. He then decides he has to kill a team member, Philip, who knows too much, making it look like a suicide, and to make it seem that Philip killed Colette.

Don tries to make John work out the plot that he's contrived. John is sometimes puzzled. Don's honesty goes as far as saying he killed Philip by accident in a tussle. John says he slept with Philip's wife. Don suspects (rightly) that he had sex with his own wife too.

At the end, 2 years after, we get John's PoV. Police found a charred body in woods. Don hasn't been mentioned. Was it him?' The police assumed was John's. He's being paid £30k/year by Don. He's not envious though he did try to hang himself once. He's kept his sense of humour - he thinks a 5th season is needed to describe Cornwall's wet summers.

Then we get Don's PoV. He's ended up with all he ever wanted.

Other reviews

• Samantha Lyon (the book is cram packed with obscure literary references and quotations, which could become tiresome and frustrating. Despite how annoying it might seem, the incessant quoting has a purpose. Kerr uses it to demonstrate the innate differences between these educated, well-read men and the fodder that they produce.)
• Peter Craven ()