"Rules for Perfect Murders" by Peter Swanson

An audio book.

The first-person PoV, Malcolm, has been married (his wife died 5 years ago), is nearly 40, and owns (with Brian, a novelist) a New England bookshop - "Old Devil" - where there's a cat Nero. He's read so many whodunnits that it affects his perceptions. In a blog he listed 8 novels/plays with perfect murders. A detective (agent Gwen Molvy, FBI - young, academic) interviews him. She's noticed that a series of recent murders emulate the methods in his list. They both start re-reading the books. Just how close does a crime have to be to the novel version to count as an imitation?

He knows about unreliable narrators and "The Girl on the train". He admits to knowing more about the murders than he's let on. He points out earlier clues about this in the text. We learn that his late wife Clare had come from a rich family, had left college because of drugs, and had died in a car accident. An Arts sponsor, Atwell, liked Clare's tattoo documentary. They had an affair. He re-introduced her to drugs. She was driving from his home, high, when she had the accident. Matthew decided that Atwell should die. Using the internet he found someone who wanted someone to die. As in Highsmith's "Strangers on a train" they exchanged details. Atwell was killed while Matthew's in Florida. Then Matthew killed as part of the deal. At the murder scene (where he left DNA in a fight) a cat stared mournfully at him. He left with it, and took it to the bookshop.

He feared that his accomplice would track him down. He wonders now whether the accomplice is the serial murderer (codename Charlie). He begins to track down his accomplice. He contacts Marty, a retired cop. He and Gwen search a victim's house and discover the 8 books together on a shelf.

He's told that Gwen Molvy is suspended. The police ask him for alibis for several murders. He meets Gwen secretly after. She knows that her father molested Clare when she was a schoolgirl. He asks Gwen if she thinks he's the murderer. There's another death, of someone Malcolm thought might be the serial killer.

He visits Brian and wife Tess (who's much younger than Brian - a treasure-hunter? He finds in their cellar a brand of Scotch that he saw in a victim's room. He thinks he might be murdered. He leaves, Tess giving him a pre-release version of Brian's next book, dedicated to him. His accomplice phones him, calling him "Malc" and saying he's going to kill again. Malc returns to Brian and Tess's house. Marty's there with a gun. He explains everything. He gives Malc the gun, inviting him to kill Brian or him, Marty. He kills Marty and phones Gwen.

He killed Clare, running her off the road. He thinks readers might believe that he made up Marty. He admits to having trouble after Clare's death trying to work out what was dream and what was real. He decides to kill himself.

I liked the plot, though Malc's rather too cold blooded, and Marty's motivations are hard to believe.

"All the beautiful lies" by Peter Swanson

Harry, a student who's about to graduate, hears that his father Bill has died suddenly - slipped on a steep path? heart attack? His mother had died when he was in his early teens. His father had re-married - Alice, 13 years younger than him.

Bill ran a bookshop. Old John helped him.

We learn about Alice's childhood, - how her single mother found a partner, Jake; how Alice distrusted boys her own age having been tricked into losing her virginity by one; how she fancied Jake; her mother's alcoholism. Alice watched her mother choke to death on her own vomit, then realised that Jake had been watching her. Alice's best friend Gina drowned when the two of them were swimming. Alice might have been able to save her but they'd probably have both gone under.

We learn about Jake's childhood - how a woman of about 50 seduced him in his teens. She died soon after.

A women - Grace - appears in town after the death. Harry is attracted to her, and wonders why she's there. Turns out that she was having an affair with Harry's father. On the night of Bill's funeral, Harry and Alice have sex. Grace is found dead. Her sister Caitlin turns up. Harry and Caitlin want to sleep with each other. But Harry's attacked by someone watching Caitlin. He survives. While in hospital Caitlin's attacked.

We learn that John is Jake. Alice had asked him to check up on Bill, who she's suspected of having an affair. Alice tells Harry about John and says that Bill knew. Harry doesn't believe this and suspects both John and Alice.

Alice visits John, who confesses all. He suggests that Alice kills him, making it look like self-defence. She does. Harry arrives, finds Caitlin knocked out in the boot of John's car.

Gina's mother is soon to die of cancer. She drugs Alice, who she blames for Gina's death, takes her on a boat and sinks the boat.

Other reviews

• crimebythebook (I was shocked and genuinely puzzled by the story’s insistence on coming back, over and over, to the repulsive themes at its core)
• kirkus reviews (he too insistently invokes Lolita, a dangerous point of comparison not only because he can’t match Nabokov’s magisterial prose, but because it’s impossible to take on the notorious psychopathy at that book’s heart without having something of its author’s command of tone and empathy. Swanson’s novel has the twisty plot and page-eating pace one expects from him, but it lacks the finesse and psychological acuity required to make its villains quite believable.)
• fictionophile (Harry’s character which should have been sympathetic – left me feeling quite apathetic. I’m not sure of the reason for this… It seemed that all of the characters in the book were quite narcissistic. The novel contained a few plot twists, but to be brutally honest they were not really unexpected twists. This is a well-paced, though lackluster, psychological thriller )

"The kind worth killing" by Peter Swanson

An audio book

A rich husband, Ted, 38, (his PoV) who for a week has suspected his beautiful wife of infidelity (he saw her with builder Brad) meets someone called Lilly while waiting at Heathrow for a delayed flight to the States. She's beautiful and prepared to help him kill his wife.

Lilly (when 13, her PoV) had bohemian parents. When she thought that the visiting artist, Chet, living in their US house. would rape her she killed him first.

At Lilly's suggestion, Ted has a drinking evening with Brad, to get to know him and work out a good way of killing him.

Lilly's lover at university was Eric. She discovered that he was being unfaithful and killed him while they were in England.

Ted is killed by Brad.

From Lilly's PoV we replay the airport meeting. She has a grudge against Ted's wife, Miranda, who had taken Eric from her.

Miranda doesn't trust Brad to stay cool if the police question him. She doesn't love him. He's just a means to an end.

Lilly's curious about Ted's murder. Was it really a botched burglary like the media say? An eyewitness saw Brad at Ted's place. She goes to the area and uses her looks to pick up on the gossip. She meets Brad and tells him that she knows everything and that Miranda's just using him. She tells him to arrange a meeting between the two woman, and tells him to tell Miranda that Lilly plans to blackmail her. Lilly and Brad plan to kill her at the meeting.

We get Miranda's PoV of the meeting. She's worked most of it out. She wonders if Lilly had killed Eric. Will Brad be on her side? We get Lilly's PoV of the meeting. Brad kills Miranda. Lilly poisons his celebratory drink and kills him, driving his body to where she'd buried Chet's body.

Now we get detective Kimbol's PoV and get a replay of the interviews with the characters. He hadn't believed Lilly, but had played along. He'd begun to suspect Miranda. He fancies Lilly and follows her out of hours. She knifes him. She's arrested. He survives but his behaviour gets him suspended. Lilly hears that the grounds where she buried the bodies (a meadow next to her childhood house) is being dug up the next day.

Other reviews

• goodreads
• A.X. Ahmad (The very qualities that could make it a successful film result in an uneven literary experience. ... But something else happens at end of The Kind Worth Killing, an experience that will be familiar to anyone who has spent much time sitting through a big-budget blockbuster movie. It is a kind of numbness and weariness, a mental whiplash from surviving relentless jolts. Problematic, too, is the way the story relies on character tropes. ... When brought to life on the big screen, skilled actors can give these characters nuance, but that depth does not exist on the page. Film could smooth out other clunky aspects of the novel, too. The new points of view that come late in the story require a certain suspension of disbelief; this would be perfectly acceptable in a movie)
• Kirkus reviews (While there are twists, most of them are so clearly telegraphed that only the most careless of readers won’t see)
• fictionophile (For the first quarter of the book, I wondered if it was just a modern retelling of Patricia Highsmith’s “Strangers on a train” – only this one was “Strangers on a plane“. Then the first twist showed up, then the second, then I realized I had unfairly misjudged it.)