Author Q&A: Peter Swanson
EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS
Crime fiction fans, listen up: Peter Swanson’s latest release is your next must-read. Eight Perfect Murders, which released earlier this month, is a mystery novel built for fans of mystery novels. Following a bookseller-turned-amateur-sleuth, Eight Perfect Murders imagines what would happen if a real-world criminal were inspired by some of the most infallible murders in the crime fiction genre. Protagonist Malcolm Kershaw is a bookseller and crime fiction aficionado working at a mystery-focused bookstore in Boston. Years ago, Malcolm wrote a roundup of “Eight Perfect Murders” in crime novels for the store’s blog. It was published with little fanfare or attention—or so Malcolm thought. Now, in the present, Malcolm’s world is turned upside down when an FBI agent appears on the store’s doorstep, asking Malcolm if he might be willing to provide an expert opinion on a string of unsolved murders that seem to be inspired by the very books Malcolm included in his blog post years ago. Eight Perfect Murders follows bookseller Malcolm as he delves into a complex, twisty mystery, one centered around eight classic crime fiction novels.
I devoured Eight Perfect Murders. Readers who love classic crime fiction or simply want to be swept up in a clever, witty, engaging mystery story will find Peter Swanson’s newest utterly irresistible. I was absolutely thrilled to have the chance to interview Peter Swanson about his excellent new crime novel, and am equally delighted to share the finished product with CBTB readers today! In this blog post, you’ll find more information on Eight Perfect Murders, including a snippet from my review of the book, and my full conversation with Peter Swanson.
Huge thanks to Peter for taking the time to answer my questions, and to his publisher for facilitating this conversation! Eight Perfect Murders is available now at your favorite bookseller. Happy reading!
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About the Book:
From the hugely talented author of Before She Knew Him comes a chilling tale of psychological suspense and an homage to the thriller genre tailor-made for fans: the story of a bookseller who finds himself at the center of an FBI investigation because a very clever killer has started using his list of fiction’s most ingenious murders.
Years ago, bookseller and mystery aficionado Malcolm Kershaw compiled a list of the genre’s most unsolvable murders, those that are almost impossible to crack—which he titled “Eight Perfect Murders”—chosen from among the best of the best including Agatha Christie’s A. B. C. Murders, Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train, Ira Levin’s Death Trap, A. A. Milne's Red House Mystery, Anthony Berkeley Cox's Malice Aforethought, James M. Cain's Double Indemnity, John D. Macdonald's The Drowner, and Donna Tartt's A Secret History.
But no one is more surprised than Mal, now the owner of the Old Devils Bookstore in Boston, when an FBI agent comes knocking on his door one snowy day in February. She’s looking for information about a series of unsolved murders that look eerily similar to the killings on Mal’s old list. And the FBI agent isn’t the only one interested in this bookseller who spends almost every night at home reading. The killer is out there, watching his every move—a diabolical threat who knows way too much about Mal’s personal history, especially the secrets he’s never told anyone, even his recently deceased wife.
To protect himself, Mal begins looking into possible suspects . . . and sees a killer in everyone around him. But Mal doesn’t count on the investigation leaving a trail of death in its wake. Suddenly, a series of shocking twists leaves more victims dead—and the noose around Mal’s neck grows so tight he might never escape.
From CBTB’s Review:
What makes for the perfect murder? If you’re as crime fiction obsessed as I am, it’s probably a question that’s popped into your head once or twice in the context of the murder mysteries you are devouring. I’ve been a mystery reader since I was a little kid (I owe a debt of gratitude to Carolyn Keene and Nancy Drew for that!), and over the years certain books - and certain murders found in the pages of those books - have stuck out as “perfect.” In Peter Swanson’s EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS, fictional crimes become a blueprint for real-life violence. Following the owner of a mystery-dedicated bookstore in Boston, EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS imagines what happens when a person with a desire to do harm gets his or her hands on a guide to some of the most infallible murders in the crime fiction genre. Will these crimes prove as impossible to solve in the real world as they are on the page? In his newest release, Swanson delivers a shocking, addictive mystery with a classic crime twist. EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS is a love letter to the crime fiction genre. It’s a story steeped in genre history and present-day in-jokes, and it’s one that no crime fiction reader will want to miss. I haven’t had this much fun reading a crime novel in ages. Put on your amateur sleuth hat and join Peter Swanson on this delightfully nostalgic, utterly clever journey through the greatest murders in crime fiction. | Continue Reading
Author Q&A: Peter Swanson
Eight Perfect Murders
Crime by the Book: I have to kick this Q&A off by saying how much I loved this book. I am personally obsessed with books about books, and Eight Perfect Murders is my favorite book in this category that I’ve read in ages. In your own words, what is Eight Perfect Murders about?
Peter Swanson: It is, just as you said, first and foremost a book about books. Malcolm Kershaw, an introverted bookseller and book-blogger, writes and publishes a list of eight mystery novels with particularly clever murders. He then finds out, through an FBI agent named Gwen Mulvey, that someone is using this list as a how-to guide for some very real murders across New England.
CBTB: It struck me while reading this book that only someone with a true passion for classic crime novels could ever craft a story this delightfully steeped in the genre. Can you tell us a little bit about your personal history as a crime reader?
PS: If you count Encyclopedia Brown, then I am as close to a lifelong fan of the genre as you can get. I’ve said it before, but these days, I am very skeptical of any book that doesn’t provide a corpse in its first thirty pages. And I’ve always been that way. I went directly from Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew to adult mystery novels and thrillers, picking up the paperbacks that my parents had left around the house. In particular, I remember reading Robin Cook’s first thriller, Coma. It terrified me, but that terror was also what hooked me.
CBTB: How did the idea for Eight Perfect Murders come about? Can you identify one particular moment that inspired this story, or did it grow and develop over time?
PS: I know exactly when and where I got this idea. I was out walking in the woods (a cliché, I know!), and was thinking about a short story I was working on, trying to come up with a clever method of murder. And suddenly I had this thought: What if someone wrote a list of the best fictional murders, published this list, and someone else started using it to commit real crimes. By the end of the walk I’d almost entirely plotted the whole book. This had never happened to me before, and it was both exciting and overwhelming, because having the book in your head is a long way from having it on the page.
CBTB: At the heart of any great crime novel is a compelling protagonist, and I absolutely loved spending time with Malcolm, the protagonist of your newest release. Who is Malcolm, and how would you describe him to someone meeting him for the first time?
PS: Malcolm is an introvert, someone who wants to slide through life without conflict or excitement. He wants to run his bookstore, then go home at night and read. But he also has a lot of darkness in him, brought about mostly by the loss of his wife. As a narrator, Malcolm is a bit like an iceberg. He shows you just a little bit above the surface, but there’s a whole lot going on underneath that you don’t see.
CBTB: In Eight Perfect Murders, a killer is using a list Malcolm wrote of “Eight Perfect Murders” (“perfect” murders in mystery novels) as a blueprint for real-world crimes. You actually use real books as the basis for Malcolm’s fictional list, which I loved! Tell us a little bit about this list. How did you narrow down the contenders? Did you have to do any bookish research to build out this list, or were these all books you had personal familiarity with from the outset?
PS: They are primarily books that I already loved, although I did do some research. Malice Aforethought by Anthony Berkeley Cox, which is basically a how-to guide for murdering your spouse, was a book I hadn’t read before. Of course, doing research meant reading books, and re-reading favorites, so that is the absolute best kind of research.
CBTB: Eight Perfect Murders is nothing if not twisty and surprising. When you set out to write this story, did you know from the beginning how you wanted it to end? How closely did you stick to your original plan while writing the book?
PS: I knew where I was going but didn’t know exactly how I was going to get there. That’s my basic method for every book I write. As I said before, I did have a much greater grasp of this particular story and how it would unfold, but I always try to keep myself open to surprise. It’s the most important element in a mystery novel. It’s not easy to do with all the savvy readers out there (including yourself) but there is nothing more satisfying than hearing from a mystery fan that I’ve fooled them with a twist.
CBTB: Perhaps counterintuitively, I found Eight Perfect Murders such a refreshing read because it feels old-school. What do you think makes classic “whodunits” so perennially appealing?
PS: I think there are many reasons, but I’ll focus on one because I’ve been thinking of it lately. For a lot of us who read mysteries, our love for the genre began when we were young. And for a lot of us the books we first read were classic whodunits, books by Agatha Christie or books similar to her’s. Because of this, there’s something comforting in an old-fashioned mystery novel, one that includes all the classic elements of red herrings, multiple suspects, and a big reveal at the end. I think it’s one of the reasons that Knives Out did so well this year at the movies. It’s nostalgia.
CBTB: Protagonist Malcolm is the owner of a mystery and crime fiction-dedicated bookstore in Boston. I have to ask, do you have a personal favorite bookstore to go crime novel shopping?
PS: Sadly, Boston does not currently have a mystery bookstore. We used to have Kate’s, a great store in Cambridge, but it’s no longer there. I love to visit the Mysterious Bookshop in New York City when I visit, and I love a bookstore called Goldsboro’s in London. Both stores are filled with vintage crime.
CBTB: What are you working on next? Any sneak peeks you can share with us?
PS: All I will tell you is that it’s a thriller that is somewhat Ira Levin-esque. There’s nothing supernatural about it, but it does have similar elements, and a similar vibe (I hope), to both The Stepford Wives and Rosemary’s Baby.
Book Details:
Series: Malcolm Kershaw
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: William Morrow (March 3, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0062838202
ISBN-13: 978-0062838209
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