by Gay Marris
SYNOPSIS
Set in London in 1968, A CURTAIN TWITCHER’S BOOK OF MURDER follows the lives of the inhabitants of a suburban London street. But this is no ordinary road.
“Ask anyone on Atbara Avenue how well they know their neighbours, and they’ll answer ‘well’. After all, they see each other across the vast distance afforded by close proximity, and that is probably for the best...”
For the best, because Atbara Avenue is a street where, all too often, murder feels like the solution.
With a delicious cast of characters, dazzling plotting, and an utterly unique voice, Gay Marris’ first book is remarkably accomplished. If you’ve been longing for a fresh and compelling new voice in the world of crime fiction, your wait is over.
REVIEW
A Curtain Twitcher's Book of Murder was a really surprising book for me. I had no idea before I started reading that each chapter was its own self-contained story, and each story was based around the different residents of Atbara Avenue. I thought that this was a fantastic way to introduce lots of characters but not confuse the reader too much with a large cast. Also, as each chapter has a slightly different vibe, it means that there will definitely be something for everyone - I know that I certainly had a favourite story and characters - but the whole book was linked very cleverly with overlapping parts and main characters from one section making cameos in other stories.
It's a strange book to review because the impression I had before I started reading was that this would be quite a typical 'cosy crime' novel. What I found was that it was actually much darker than I expected, and despite it having a lot of humour, the overriding feeling was that it was more of a wickedly dark comedy, scathing and had an unpredictable style. The closest thing I can compare it to is if Will Carver wrote cosy crime! As I was reading, the anthology format also reminded me a little of the 1973 Vincent Price horror film, Theatre of Blood and the 1990's Dawn French black comedy TV series Murder Most Horrid. I loved both of these so the style of the book was a perfect fit for me.
My favourite of the chapters was Soul Mates because it was so unique and took the book from being just a crime novel and extended the genre to include a little bit of a paranormal element, or even sci-fi too. A Curtain Twitcher's Book of Murder is a fantastic debut, the perfect choice if you want a crime novel to dip in and out of and, because of it's cross-genre stories, it's also a book that will appeal to crime fiction fans across the board.
Thanks to Anne Cater - @RandomTTours, Gay Marris - @gaymarrisauthor and Bedford Square Publishers - @bedsqpublishers for the opportunity to read and review.
Publisher: Bedford Square Publishers Genre: Cosy Crime / Crime Anthology
ISBN: 978-1835010099
Pages: 320pp
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