The first part of a playful whodunnit that bends and plays with the genre's clichés. The story revolves around the mystery/detective story writers who are invited to an island in Cornwall by an eccentric millionaire with a robot that can guess the culprit in detective stories after hearing the main details.

It was an overall interesting read with funny characters that are based on actual authors with an illustration style I found fitting to the story. In addition, it made me think of one of my favorite web series, Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party, so if you liked it, I am sure this graphic novel will interest you!

The first half of a quirky whodunnit, featuring a set of well- and lesser known crime authors.

The Detection Club of the title consists of real-life crime writers G.K. Chesterton (of Father Brown fame), Agatha Christie (Poirot/Ms Marple), John Dickson Carr (author of locked room mysteries and an American..!), Dorothy L. Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey), A.E.W. Mason (adventure novelist), baroness Emma Orczy (Hungarian playwright) and Monsignor Ronald Knox (priest and Sherlock Holmes enthousiast). Knox has also compiled a list of 10 rules every newly written crime novel should adhere to - rules such as that the criminal must be someone mentioned in the first part of the story, another rule says no person of Chinese descent may figure in the story. The Club promises to follow these rules (mostly).

Our club of crime novelists is invited via mechanical talking bird (yes, really) by Roderick Ghyll to visit him on his island off the Cornish coast. When there, Mr Ghyll presents them with a robot called Eric (yes, a robot - keep up!) who can deduce the murderer in any crime story when fed the components of that story.

And then, not much later, Ghyll falls out of a window to his death. The Detection Club gets to work. Well, not so much the Club, more Chesterton and Christie.

The book ends on a cliffhanger, so I can't really comment much on the plot until I've read the second part. It does look like a major component of these books will be the breaking of the 10 commandments of crime writing, as presented earlier - Ghyll's butler is a Chinaman called Fu.

I had a lot of fun reading this - it's very light and silly, much helped by the cartoonish style of the art. It is true that the most well defined characters are Christie and Chesterton, but I was fine with that - the other Club members are there more for comic relief (maybe that changes in the second book).

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love the premise of this book - real life mystery writers finding themselves on an isolated island and a crime happens. I do love a fair share of murder mystery novels although I admit I don't read the classics; I only read the modern young adults. Plus, I only know Agatha Christie and I am not familiar with her personal life so I don't know if all things mentioned in this is accurate - maybe it is.

Anyway, I love the premise but reading it did not excite me at all. I was expecting a mystery and all the details are not very easy to follow. (To be fair, I also don't read historical novels - or those that are set years before I was born.) I guess I'm just not part of the target market?

The idea of the robot was off to me - I would rather be it a cliched "the butler did it" story that it involving "robots know the answer to all mystery novels" type of thing. I would've expected the real life authors to go gaga over a real life murder mystery happening in front of them. I would much rather read their POVs on how they "solve" a murder. It was lacking in that sense for me. Anyway, I'm still considering picking up the second volume to see where it goes from here.

The Detection Club is quite a cute comic about a selection of famous detectives, I really liked the illustration style of the comic, although I didn't really like the font in which the characters speech was in as I found it quite difficult to read. Other portions of text were fine though.

1930s. It's the era of mystery books, and the best writers come together to form the Detection Club. But is there something that can beat even the elite mystery writers in solving a crime?

When billionaire Roderick Ghyll invites the club to an isolated island off the coast of Cornwall, the club is in for a big surprise. Ghyll is hard-set on believing his scientist's new robot can solve a crime just by reading a summary of the mystery. Can this be true?

Adventure awaits, as a true crime is bound to take place on the tiny island. What's going to happen to the brilliant authors?

Atmospheric and enjoyable, The Detection Club takes the readers back to the golden era of mystery stories, while at the same time maintaining a good balance between mystery and humor. A recommended read for the fans of the genre.

The story begins with John Dickson Carr taking oath to the club following the full disclosure of rules and Ten Commandments of Detective Novels (yes, you read it right)! And just then a mysterious invitation promising 'challenges and enchantments' from Mr. Ghyll arrives for the club to visit his island. When the club visits the island, they are introduced to a robot who can predict the culprit any mystery presented or proposed. Will the members of the club defeat the robot in a game of wits while an actual murder occurs?
It gives me jitters to think that seven real-life writers, of mystery novels, at their prime had actually formed this club. Writer-artist Jean Harambat has created an unique tale about the very best story-tellers of all time. What I like most is that the story really compliments the reader, lets the reader think and deduce on his/her own. For example, one of the Commandments state that, "No person of Chinese descent may figure in the story" just before a suspicious person of Chinese descent is introduced. It brings back the old school subtle comedy with a very very self-conscious keen sense of humor. The pages are a bit dialogue-heavy but every word has its own reason for being there. The artwork is eye-soothing and the story feels such a wonderful homage. Mr. Harambat has studied head over heels for the script and it shows in every conversations. 
It is a gem to read and a treasure to keep for any mystery lover. 
This is a joint review of both the parts.
Disclaimer: I received these books through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I say that I read both of the parts in one sitting, but that makes it sound like the herculean task it was not. These are bite-sized stories with the famous detective writers that most people (if not all) are familiar with. Since I only recently started acclimatizing myself with the other names mentioned in this book, I had at least the smallest knowledge of them or their methods. That added to the comic nature of the narrative. 

In the first book, we have the detection club being issued a strange invitation to a remote island. Intrigued by the odd delivery method, they all set forth. Once on the island, they come face to face with an extremely wealthy man and out to make a mark for himself. In the first instalment, when we are given the commandments which they sometimes worked with, it was not surprising to see how times have changed. The unreliable narrator being the top contender for thrillers and mysteries now. The banter and constant commentary among the characters was light as well as intelligent making it a treat to read. The first tails off abruptly after a minimal discussion into the sudden disappearance of their host. However, I was lucky to have the second at hand.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based solely on my reading experience

A very fun comic mystery from the detection club in two parts. The first, this book, sets up the scene and the mystery - the comic adaptation of the characters are wonderful and tongue in check, the artwork if easy to follow and just when one gets to unravel the mess of "facts" we need to go to book two.

In England in the 1930s the best mystery writers, including the likes of Agatha Christie and G.K. Chesterton, have formed the Detection Club, which is mainly an excuse to eat and drink and challenge each other. They get invited to the private island of Roderick Ghyll, an eccentric billionaire who has created a robot that can predict the culprit in every mystery novel. And then someone gets murdered. Of course.

I like the art style, but the font of the text was horrible to read. Since this is only part one, the story does end with an abrupt cliffhanger. There's a lot of exposition, endlessly dragged out, but it is nice to see all the different ways in which these mystery writers try to solve the murder mystery. This seems like a fun homage to the classic mystery novel. I look forward to reading part two.

I find this type of humour ("she was the type of woman that had men braying like sea lions") to be anything but actually funny.
As a huge Christie fan I was intrigued by the premise of this graphic novel. Sadly, the story and characters are not really inspiring. There is also some info-dumping which slows the narrative down.
The illustrations are fine, the writing is at best mediocre.

A fun and entertaining read, I highly recommend this book (and Part II) to all the GAD fans out there. The characterizations are cute - I liked Baroness Orczy the best.
This book reminds you of a tad of And Then There were None.
Funny, witty and super interesting, I enjoyed reading this book.

Cute little graphic novel filled with lots of great characters and full of British wit. Can't wait to pick up vol 2!

A whimsical homage to the ‘golden age of mystery’ with charm dripping from every page. The knowing nods to the tropes of the genre that were sprinkled throughout were delightful. I thought the illustrations were beautiful, in particular the representations of the famous authors.

This was a wonderful discovery that I would never had found had it not been for NetGalley.

The Detection Club: Part 1 by Jean Harambat

2 stars

In this graphic novel, we follow famous mystery writers like Agatha Christie, G..K. Chesterton, and other classicists as they are invited to a private island where a man creates a robot named Eric who can solve any crime. But can the robot Eric solve the murder of his creator? This was a super quick graphic novel and it is the first part, so keep that in mind while reading. There is no conclusion, but an abrupt cliff hanger. I personally was not a fan of the art style. I found the pen strokes to be messy and I hated the font of the text. It made reading the galley on my computer difficult. I was not a fan of this graphic novel. It’s not a bad story. In fact, I kind of like following famous classic mystery writers solve a crime, but the exposition of the story takes forever and feels so drawn out. The pacing is off and the intrigue was not enough for me to want to always keep reading. This is an ode to the best in the business which is now a powerhouse genre today and people eat mystery, thriller, and suspense novels up like they are candy (Hi, I am one of them.), but this interpretation while good in meaning lacks in all of the great ways that the genre keeps the reader intrigued. The first part was not a hit for me, but it wasn’t a complete miss because I did read part 2. Overall, I would only recommend this graphic novel for die hard mystery fans who want to see their favorite authors commemorated on a page.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 2

Art Scale: 1.5

Plotastic Scale: 2

Cover Thoughts: I love the cover and think it’s fun, but the artwork does not really look as enhanced and pronounced as the cover does.

Thank you, Netgalley and Europe Comics, for providing me with a copy of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

Entertaining! The art is bright and detailed. And, I love the premise of the story. Looking forward to immediately picking up part two.

The premise of this book is quite lovely. Six authors from the Golden Age of Detection form a club and create rules of mystery stories - this is something that happened. Then, they are all invited to an island and a murder occurs.
I almost requested both the first and second volumes at the same time but am glad that I didn't. This was a quick read but was flattering to none of the authors with the three women getting the brunt the bad characterizations. I finished the book but just barely. The text is hard to read on my e-reader and there is a LOT of exposition from the narrator that slows down the story.

Two stars
This book came out January 12th
ARC kindly provided by Europe Comics and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

This is a humorous comic book that delights in the golden age of crime fiction and is set in the 1930s.
Some of the best authors in this genre have got together to form the Detection Club with ten commandments for its writers to follow. Seven are invited to a private island where a crazy and eccentric inventor, Roderick Ghyll has a surprise for them. The purpose of the story is both a homage and a challenge to this type of mystery writing as Ghyll introduces a future vision of a world influenced and controlled by machines. He has a robot that is programmed to unpack a crime novel by its salient points of reference and disclose to culprit every time.
While they are still pondering this demonstration their host disappears from a locked room set up. Is it suicide or a murder mystery. They ask the machine who announces he did it and promptly escapes.
The book has each crime writer putting forward various scenarios in keeping with their fiction works. Some great interaction and in-house jokes between these literary heroes especially Agatha Christie and Gilbert, GK Chesterton. I loved this interplay and clever word exchanges; the island location and the delay in getting police to the crime scenes.
Is it one more illustration of Ghyll’s newer thinking to beat them in this ultimate challenge or is a deeper mystery and force of evil at work?
This is just the first instalment - to be continued ....

This was really good. I didn’t know what to expect, but found the characters familiar yet comical and the basic plot worth ready more of. Graphic novels aren’t normally my thing, but I really enjoyed this one.

Between the wars, in the 1930s, there really was a detection club in England.  Its members included some of the best and most well-known mystery writers of the time including, Chesterton, Christie, Carr, Sayers, Orczy and more.  The group reportedly posited a number of rules for the writing of their novels.  For instance, "Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them" and "Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable." 


These real writers and members of the club become characters in a fictional mystery set at the island home of Roderick Ghyll, an eccentric millionaire.  Mr. Ghyll proceeds to tell the authors that his robot, Erick, will be able to solve any mystery.


From that point the comic shows all of the authors with their own personalities and foibles.  There are also a number of authorial asides and jokes, along with a tongue in cheek style. 

The mystery writers are challenged by the (seeming?) death of their host.  Will Eric solve the case?  Was Eric the murderer?  What other secrets are there?  I will not know until I read volume 2.


This comic may well be enjoyed by those who like the Golden Age of mystery. The drawings, the sense of animation and the colors are excellent.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.

The art style is really beautiful it is the number one reason I decided to pick this up.
Other than the beautiful art style I find the plot to be interesting but a bit slower and I love the humor and Chersterton. If you like at least one of the authors in The Detection Club there is a good chance you might like this.

The only thing that bothered me was the side text coming from the narrator. At some parts it was more like an author's note than a part of the narration and I think those should've been written in some other way, maybe at the end pages or at the bottom. It's just that some parts seemed more like a "did you know" instead of something the narrator would say at that point. Plus the narration bothered me because I did not know who the narrator was and it really confused me.

But overall I was interested enough to pick up the sequel right away and I think it was better. The conclusion is really good.
I preferred Part 2 over this one so I would recommend it.