I've liked all of Janice Hallett's books, but I think The Killer Question is my new favourite. (The Twyford Code takes second place.)
Like all Janice's books, the story is told through "documentary evidence" - emails, text messages, WhatsApp group chats, transcripts of recordings, pub quiz results (in this case), etc. It centres around Sue and Mal Eastwood, landlords of The Case is Altered. (It seemed an unusual name for a pub, but apparently there are indeed pubs called this.) And, more specifically, their weekly quiz, which some people take very, VERY seriously. When a new team, the mysterious Shadow Knights, turn up and start winning everything, people are not happy. Surely they're cheating, but how?
We know something's gone badly amiss, because there's a framing device of Sue and Mal's nephew Dominic Eastwood approaching first Netflix, then a production company, proposing a true crime documentary about them.
This was a super fun, satisfyingly clever read. The interplay between the quiz teams, the various pub landlords and their responses to one-star reviews, the glimpses of Mal and Sue's past profession, are all highly entertaining and, in some cases, intriguingly baffling. There are lots of surprises - large and small - along the way, and they're all fully justified. (I'm quite proud of myself for picking up on a few clues, though I'm sure there were many I missed.)
All the many characters emerge so clearly through their communications. Andrew, whose existential despair about his job is politely ignored by all; homeless young Fiona, whose messages eschew capital letters or, mostly, actual words; the landlords of other pubs in the group, who all have their quirks (the AGM must have been fun); Cloud and Wind, who live on a houseboat called The Whittling Vegan and make decisions based on the advice of a spirit guide; and so on.
Highly recommended!
No comments:
Post a Comment