Fair Play | Louise Hegarty

What a fun read! It's both an homage to the genre of murder mystery and a murder mystery all rolled into one, and a story of relationships, and loneliness and loss and grief. Abigail rents an AirBnB and hosts a murder mystery party to celebrate her brother Matthew's birthday. Their whole gang of friends arrive and partying ensues. So imagine how surprised everyone is to discover that Matthew is dead in the morning, inside his locked room.

This is where the genre-bending begins (although there are hints earlier on) and a world-famous detective shows up on the scene and conducts an investigation (following all the rules of murder mystery stories which are conveniently included in the book). It's very funny. The story gets more serious in the current day when friends and Abigail deal with grief. It's one of the most creative formats I've seen in a while and it's a fun (and not just in a light, fluffy way) read.