I finished this book less than 12-hours ago so it’s pretty fresh in my mind and will remain there for a long time as I loved it.

It tells the story of an academic who wrote a paper in the 1940s explaining the key features of a crime novel and what you need to create a great tale. Each of his descriptions is accompanied by a short story he wrote illustrating the point.

However, there’s a lot more to it than that as he discusses his craft with a publisher wanting to relaunch the book decades later. The revelations come thick and fast.

The individual short stories are varied and interesting and the way they are linked to the main narrative is incredibly detailed but never overly-complex.

It’s a very different type of detective story and I really enjoyed it.

By Jonathan, Library and Learning Adviser