What an interesting idea for a thriller! A murder mystery based on other murder mysteries in famous books – how has this not been done before?!?!

As I would expect from Peter Swanson it was a well written, well-paced and the characters were all flawed, dark and brooding. For me, it was a quick read and I flew through the pages, but the story did not feel rushed. It was all very well done. Did I guess the plot twists? Some of them. But not quite all of them and even if I had I doubt it would have made reading it any less fun. I will take a solid, well plotted ending any day over a shock final twist.

What really stood out for me in Rules for perfect murders was Peter Swanson’s genuine love of the mystery/thriller genre – he is an incredible author but also a clear fan. But be prepared and warned the book does contain spoilers for all the books mentioned – If they are still sitting on your TBR pile maybe pick them up first. From my notes I believe that the story revolves around –The A.B.C Murders, The Drowner, Strangers on a Train, Red House Mystery, Malice Aforethought, Double Indemnity, Deathtrap and The Secret History. A great selection right – although I have only read a couple.

I absolutely love literary references in my fiction, who doesn’t?!?!

I would happily recommend Rules for perfect murders to anyone and everyone – a great read from beginning to end. GREAT.

I admit I really enjoyed this from beginning to end; I was fascinated by the premise and the way Swanson drew it out was nothing short of splendid. When Malcolm Kershaw gets a call from the FBI asking if he wouldn’t mind answering some questions, his mind obviously flies to all kinds of places. It doesn’t however immediately fly to a blog post he wrote well over a decade ago describing eight perfect fictional murders. But someone seems to be recreating murders from novels and it ties in with the list that he wrote all that time ago and with The A.B.C. Murders and Double Indemnity already down, the body count may become far higher yet. But is any murder truly perfect? Or is there a way Malcolm can figure out the truth to the puzzle before the truth finds him?

Swanson taunts and teases you by revealing layers of the truth slowly throughout the novel and I must admit, it twists and turns in entirely unexpected ways. Malcolm, an unassuming old school bookshop owner has secrets that he doesn’t want the world to know, but don’t we all. He has memories that are painful to revisit, his wife’s tragic death in a car accident when under the influence being understandably raw for him, even five years on. You are kept in a frustrating yet enthralling dusk like haze of information, unable to separate the full truth from the murky disinformation. The novel explores these perfect murders in significant detail, using them to try and pin down some elusive aspect of the real killers mindset and motivations. This is a book that delves deeply into the hidden psyche and the power of secrets and it is a fascinating read for it.

That is however a reason for the missing star here. Whilst I understand that Swanson likely deliberately picked old classics to base his thriller off, it can’t be ignored that there are a huge amount of spoilers here for anyone - like me - who hasn’t read these works. The original list of eight murder mysteries are almost given away in their entirety and there are one or two additional novels mentioned as well. Many of them date back to the 50’s or before, so a lot of people will have naturally already read them. For me, I have gained a significant number of new books for my to read pile - which if was a physical mass, would likely be as high as an average sized tower block - but I will have to wait awhile, as many crucial elements have already been divulged to me and there would be little mystery reading them right now. I get that the books are a central tenant of this novel, so I haven’t marked more harshly for spoilers, but it is a definite drawback to the finished article. I almost wish I had read them first.

What I did enjoy was Swanson’s obvious love of the thriller/mystery genre in particular and books in general. His enthusiasm and delight shines off the page and it is somehow addictive. Despite having not read the classics at the heart of this tale, I found myself enthralled by the energy of the words. This mixed with an engaging and twisting narrative filled with interesting characters with complex motivations and back-stories had me hooked and I flew through the novel in less than a day. I am certain that I will come back to it when I have read the novels that Swanson extols in such detail. This is dark, funny and exquisitely well written, delving into the motivations and the aftermath of murder, both real and fictional.

For those interested however, the books with key spoilers include The A.B.C Murders, The Drowner, Strangers on a Train, Red House Mystery, Malice Aforethought, Double Indemnity, Deathtrap, The Secret History and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. There may be a few others.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my free review copy of this title.

This book was irresistible to me when I heard what it was about. It’s a crime thriller where all the murders committed are copycats of murders from famous works of fiction! (I actually looked up what the books were before I started reading so I could make sure I’d read them so as not to get any spoilers!). Bookshop owner Malcom posted a blog post a few years ago entitled Eight Perfect Murders and now it seems someone is using that post as a blueprint for serial murder. The FBI are soon knocking on Malcom’s door wanting to know what he knows and he is shocked at the thought someone could do this. He soon finds himself embroiled in the investigation and what follows is a rollercoaster ride as we slowly learn the truth about the murders! I’m a huge Peter Swanson fan and this book met all my expectations for it. I recommend this one!

A killer is killing people based on a bookshop owner's old blog list of favourite murders. So Malcom teams up with a FBI agent who has noticed a link and they have to solve the case before Malcolm gets possibly killed.
I enjoyed this book as it had a good mystery element about it.

This was a spectacular and suspenseful read that completely lived up to the hype for me!

I absolutely devoured this twisty masterpiece and wish I could go back and discover it again for the first time. I can honestly say that I’ve never read another book like it and loved that it was written as if it was the protagonist’s memoir. Throughout the novel’s entirety, I felt like I was taking on the role of a detective, which lent a fascinating and interactive element to this read.

If you are a murder mystery lover, I can only imagine that you will appreciate this ingenious novel to no-end. The literary tie-ins and the way the connections were woven together to form the plot of Rules for Perfect Murders / Eight Perfect Murders was exceptionally clever, although be warned that there are detailed spoilers about the plots and outcomes of the 8 novels included on the list of murders. I’ve already read the ones I’m interested in, so this didn’t bother me and in fact sparked some fond memories of my own reading experience.

This was my first Peter Swanson read and I’m already itching to delve into another one!

I really liked the beginning of this book. Intriguing premise, cozy feels... unfortunately I wasn't a fan of the ending.

Personally it was a let down but I'll keep raving about The Kind Worth Killing!

This modern murder mystery pays homage to the genre and references many famous murder mysteries with its twists and red herrings.
Years ago Malcolm Kershaw wrote a blog post about the '8 perfect murders' in his favourite murder mysteries for his Boston bookstore, the Old Devil. Now it seems that someone is committing brutal murders trying to mirror the plots of the books in Mal's blog post. FBI agent Gwen notices the connection, contacts Mal and together they try to figure out whether and which recent unsolved murders mirror the plot of the books, hoping to prevent the next murders. When it turns out that one of the victims was a regular patron at the Old Devil’s bookstore, the connection to Mal becomes undeniable. Soon Mal starts investigating on his own, suspecting everyone from the co-owner of his bookstore and his wife, to patrons at the bookstore. But it turns out Mal is somewhat of an unreliable narrator and has had an interesting past in which he has not shied away from violence himself.

At the beginning the plot is a bit slow, as several other reviews have pointed out, but it did pick up and get more interesting and more complex. I enjoyed the mostly unexpected twists. The reveal of the murderer, as well as the ending were completely unexpected, mostly due to a very well-placed red herring. Obviously the cat, Nero, sounds adorable!

This was a disappointing read. The main character was not interesting or intriguing at all. Same with the supporting FBI investigator. The plot was predictable. This was not up to par with the Kind Worth Killing by the same author, which I highly recommend.

This is my first book that I have ever read by Peter Swanson. For sure it won't be the last as I highly enjoyed his writing pace and the plot of this murder book

series of unsolved murders with one thing in common: each of the deaths bears an eerie resemblance to the crimes depicted in classic mystery novels. The deaths lead FBI Agent Gwen Mulvey to Malcolm Kershaw after she discovers an article he wrote titled 'My Eight Favourite Murders', all of which bearing distinct similarities to the murders. Can the killer be stopped before all eight of these perfect murders have been re-enacted?

This novel was a lot of fun, filled with twists and turns galore which will keep you reading into the wee hours. This novel will be engrossing for book lovers, as Malcolm reverts back to his favourite list of murder mysteries to help him solve the mystery. As a note of warning, stay clear if you are worried about potentially being spoiled for some of the giants of this genre - there are certainly lots.

Malcolm is a great protagonist - witty with more than a hint of unreliable narration. I was gripped by his perspective throughout with each page gradually revealing another facet to the mystery. This read like a classic in the genre and a true crowd-pleaser.

Thanks to NetGalley and Faber and Faber for the ARC of this book.

I think Peter Swanson must be one of the best crime/thriller writers currently writing. I have thoroughly enjoyed all three of his books that I have read.

This book is the story of man who owns a bookshop which specialises in crime books. He is visited by the FBI when it seems a murderer is killing people based on a blog list he wrote about the best murders in crime fiction. It is fun and twisty with a classic unreliable narrator. I also really enjoyed the celebration of books within the book.

I sped through this book and found it compelling and unpredictable. I highly recommend it and ‘The Kind Worth Killing’ and ‘The Girl with a Clock for her Heart’ if you haven’t read them.

I'm not really sure I have the words to do this book justice!

Having not read a book by the author before, I didn't have any preconceptions of what to expect but this book was what every thriller should be, pacy, addictive with twists galore.

I felt myself pulled in all sorts of directions as I tried to follow and second guess where I was heading but the author was clearly 10 steps ahead at all times.

Very enjoyable!

A crime fiction lover's crime novel, with references to well-known classic crime books (some readers have complained about spoilers - but really, those books are so well known that any reader of crime fiction will be familiar with their plots). Really enjoyed the gradual reveal of yet another layer of unreliability about the narrator or the situation. Tremendous fun to read, a quick and pleasant diversion especially at a time like the present!

Peter Swanson is my favorite author and this book was no exception!! I love the throwbacks to all the old Murder mysteries of the past. I thought it was so clever! In true Swanson fashion his twists were truly A+

I got about halfway through this book and had to call it quits. As a huge fan of Swanson's The Kind Worth Killing, and the thriller genre, I felt like this book was more in the mystery genre, and it just wasn't for me. Also worth mentioning, during this time of quarantine from Covid-19, I have been very distracted and I'm having a difficult time concentrating on books. I may go back to it at some point because I am curious as to how it ends. If you like mysteries, and books that have a slower build-up, you may like this one.

The owner of a bookshop specialising in mysteries writes a blog identifying his eight perfect murder stories; selected because the murders are never solved. Several years later an FBI agent tells him she suspects that someone is carrying out murders based on the blog. These victims also have links, sometimes tenuous, to him. The story is told first person by the blogger and explores these two aspects. Are the suspicions true? Is there only one killer, or several? Is the blogger complicit? Is he deluded or amnesiac? The pace is quite fast, flashbacks are necessary but don’t slow it down. The characters are believable although the narrator is a bit fuzzy – perhaps for the story to unfold completely he has to be. The ending is more ‘fade to black’ rather than ‘go out with a bang’, but all is revealed satisfactorily if somewhat predictably.

Rather different to my usual read. Was intrigued from the outset. Loved the way the author made me sympathise with the protagonist to a point. Would like to of heard more of Claire’s story, I finished in two days, was a good read, kept my interest and gave me a thrill in a classic way.

Thank you to the author by Peter Swanson and the publisher Faber and Faber Ltd for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was very excited to read this one by Peter Swanson - an author relatively new to me, but I have loved his books! This one was very enjoyable!

I have to admit, I requested this on a whim. Mostly because I found the cover intriguing, murder mystery novels aren't my normal go to, however this left me pleasantly surprised! The narrative voice has a wonderfully witty tone and the mystery elements were well constructed. It's a real book lovers tale with loads of overt and covert references to the genre that I think make it even more enjoyable to read. Almost like you are hunting for your own literary clues!
I wouldn't call it the most original or groundbreaking novel but it is exactly as advertised, really good (grizzly) fun.

Rules for Perfect Murders is a fast paced, cleverly plotted murder mystery. I am a huge fan of Peter Swanson and his latest novel met all my expectations of a riveting read.