"Groundhog Day" Meets Murder Mystery Dinner Party

What if you woke up with no memories and were told that Evelyn Hardcastle was going to die that night at 11 PM and you have 8 tries, from alternating witnesses' perspective, to solve it?

That's the nearly impenetrable web that Stuart Turton wove in "The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle".

Set outside of London, Turton takes us on a journey to the crumbling Blackheath Estate, to attend a masquerade ball, where Evelyn Hardcastle is supposed to die. Each of Turton's characters at the estate prove to be more than what meets the eye. He keeps you on the edge of your seat by not only alternating from the present to the past, but as soon as you think you're making progress, you reset in a new witness. The characters are complex and riddled with secrets spanning the last 19 years, and revealing one secret starts to unravel so many more.

The most unique aspect of "The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" is that you find yourself feeling just as jarred as the protagonist because you both start from the exact same spot - knowing nothing - and are navigating your way through Blackheath and it's dark history together.

"The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" was a fresh take on the traditional whodunit murder mystery. As soon as I had finished it, I wanted to go back and re-read this novel to figure out how the author was able to achieve it. However, if you struggle to keep a high volume of characters straight, this novel will have your head spinning.