This was an ok read. I don't like leaving bad reviews, but my reviews are always honest. I had to skip some pages, because I don't think they were necessary, they made the book long winded. An example is when the protagonist is lying in bed and it takes you through her facial routine, it's just not needed. It's also quite repetitive, which I found annoying. At the beginning, there was a chunk missing. Protagonist was driving, then it went onto a conversation inside the house. It has promised, but unfortunately it's just not for me.

I quite enjoyed this read: I love a good whodunnit, and this sounded like a more modern version, who would have thought to set it in an Airbnb? That was brilliant. I also did enjoy the break of the fourth wall with some characters referring to the audience with inputs such as "you'll find more about it in chapter 22".
However what was extremely confusing and frankly ridiculous and pointless was the sudden change of setting! I literally had to go back and read it again: the murder takes place in the airbnb, with a specific set of characters who have specific jobs, and all of a sudden two pages later we have a new location, new characters and a different background for some characters. This was pointless and unsettling.

I was really excited to read this - I love mystery murders!

It started off well enough and kept me engaged for the first few chapters, but the further I read, the more I lost track of the story. It was confusing switching between the time lines, some facts changed throughout the book which annoyed me, and none of the characters appealed to me. I didn't like the manner in which the "rules" was explored (although this could have been done magnificently!) and I didn't enjoy the banter between the detective and his sidekick.

However, I do think that the author had an intriguing idea and her fledgling talent is evident. She will grow as a writer.

A well written debut that references back to the golden age of mysteries. Everything is however not what it seems like is all what I shall say.

It is well written and told in two parts. Would love to read more by this author. Thank you Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange of my unbiased review.

An interesting book that examines how we deal with grief and how we seek answers to the inexplicable. Sometimes things just happen, and no matter how much we look for patterns or motives, how much we try to impose order according to arbitrary rules, they can’t be found. The crime genre is an obvious candidate for this sort of structure seeking, and Hegarty largely pulls it off. If I sound a little under enthused, it’s because this was literally the second book in a row I read that uses the scaffolding of cosy crime to interrogate something else, and so it wasn’t as fresh for me as it might have been. It’s a good one, though.

A fascinating book that is tough to talk about without spoilers, but - I was in a flood of tears at the end. A must for lovers of mystery and family stories alike.

Not one for me, I found it overly complicated and lacking in pace. Promised so much yet for me it just did not deliver. Thanks anyway netgalley.

What I enjoyed about this book is the author's refreshing attempt at weaving in the Golden Age detective mystery style with the modern grieving of the characters at Benjamin's passing. I interpret the back and forth - confusing it may be - as a psychological form of Abigail grieving. Her feelings are all over the place and in order to cope, she needs people to put the blame on for the tragedy emotionally and it is everyone.

Downside is, I wish everything makes more sense. Part One of the story had something going, before it transformed into Part Two where suddenly the AirBnb is not an AirBnB - it is now where Abigail and Benjamin's residence? There were zero mention of any butler, housemaids, and gardeners - and then they all suddenly exist. Did Abigail secretly transported them there?? Though I tried my best to justify the changes to the Golden Age detective mystery troupe... I felt lost with every inconsistency and they made me question what I was reading.

I also found it hard to fully relate to and enjoy all the characters as they were a little one dimensional that could have benefitted with more depth. I wish they made me feel more.

Finally, having been set as a mystery and thriller novel, my interpretation doesn't really make sense in a way. Was going into this thinking it would be a good mystery solving story with Abigail and friends but I was forced to accept new random characters - yes, even Auguste Bell - and even the writing style changed. If this was book was promoted as a psychological state of Abigail I would have understood it better - but it's not?


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Thanks to the publisher Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for the arc! This review is my own and completely honest.

A murder mystery party takes place on New Year’s Eve to celebrate Benjamin’s birthday. Present are his sister, friends and a co-worker, but in the morning one of them is absent. Benjamin is dead and his sister Abigail is distraught, as the police believes he died by suicide. But then a famous detective arrives at the house, and starts the investigation, according to strict rules of the detective fiction. He gets a sidekick, he talks to witnesses, he looks for clues. Because Benjamin’s death needs to be explained, somehow.

I have never read a book like Fair Play - clever, well written, original and gender bending novel which plays with the tropes from the Golden Age of crime fiction in a truly unusual way. If you enjoy the meta fiction crime genre, this is a book for you. There are numerous nods towards the rules in which the detective fiction works, mentions of other fiction works, and even some names are being dropped into the story. But it is up to the reader to decide what in the story is fiction and what is reality, as Abigail tries to piece her life together after her brother’s departure.
As the reader gets sucked into the investigation, there comes the realisation that the book might not be actually what it seems to be, that we are all duped into believing the tropes and expectations instead of focusing on the more important part of the book - who Benjamin really was.

The first chapters of this murder mystery set in an Air BnB amongst old friends who have coincedentally met up to enjoy an annual murder role play weekend wre intriguing. However, the narrative descended into lots of boring, intricate and irrelevant descriptions. After the murder it then became very disjointed and kind of fizzled out. I think the book had good bones and a fun premise.

The main “rules” for a Murder mystery are: someone dies, someone investigates the murder, someone is found guilty, and motive is explained (the author here helpfully provides the three best known sets of rules at the start of Part Two). But first we have Part One. Its New Year’s Day (2023 – 4?) and Benjamin’s birthday. Which he never sees because he has died, in his sleep; which is initially ruled as suicide. On New Year’s Eve he and his sister Abigail had held their traditional Murder Mystery party in a rented Airbnb mansion, with a bunch, mainly of his, friends: Stephen (an old school friend), Declan (a childhood friend), Cormac (a University friend), Olivia (Cormac’s newish girlfriend), Margaret (his ex-fiancée) and Barbara (his PA but maybe something more). No one can believe it is suicide, but equally they can’t believe it is murder, since that would mean one of them is the killer.
Logically, Part Two should be the investigation and so it is; or, rather, so it isn’t! Suddenly we have the same cast of suspects and the same corpse, only it’s now sometime in the past (feels like 1950s), the Part One events happened in Benjamin and Abigail’s ancestral mansion, and a famous detective, Auguste Bell, (basically Poirot without the accent) has been called in to investigate. He does this in the time honoured way, spotting clues, making deductions, finding someone guilty and explaining the motive. Or did he . . . time for a rethink, perhaps. This is written in a Meta format, with Bell knowing he is in a book explaining the workings of the story. Interspersed with this we have Abigail, in the present, imbued in grief but struggling to understand the suicide and get on with her life. And eventually we have Part Three, which probably means different thing to every reader.
This is an experimental novel, a piece of speculative fiction, playing with detective fiction tropes, possibly playing with Space-Time, possibly exemplifying how a bereaved person shapes and controls the experience of death. Or all of these, or none of these. More than most stories, it requires the reader to impose their personal experience on the interpretation. I suspect it will thrill some, frustrate many, puzzle everyone. It deserves applause for taking the risk. The writing is very good, albeit that Bell is pastiche. As for the plot, I’m still not clear how many there are, probably one per character. Star ratings attempt to provide a comparison with other books, which is tricky if you can’t think of a comparator. My feeling is 3.5 rounded to 4.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

This is a beautifully written, intricate puzzle of a novel, it felt unique and very accomplished, an intriguing setting and premise.

Thank you to the publishers and Net Galley for my advanced copy in exchange for a review. I didn't enjoy the constant restating of the rules around writing a murder mystery and I soon became very confused and lost interest. I stuck with it and the end was OK, just a shame the middle wasn't great.

Thank you to the author, publishers Picador and NetGalley UK for access to this as an advance reader’s ebook. This is an honest and voluntary review.

When Abigail’s murder mystery birthday party for her brother Benjamin ends in tragedy she wants to find out why he died. But some mysteries may never be solved.

This is an interesting attempt to really cleverly deal with telling a story about the aftermath of an unexpected death. I can see where the author was going, but I feel like it just misses the mark by trying too hard.

I know it won’t have helped that I was reading a digital proof. I imagine there’ll be font choices and markers in the final print copy that will make it easier to follow the switches between Abigail’s perspective in the weeks and months after her brother’s death and the ‘locked room mystery’ detective story version of the immediate aftermath. But, that assumption may be wrong. It may be intended to throw the reader off balance as much as I felt.

I can’t really say whether I liked the characters. Between the three different perspectives - pre-death, mystery, and grieving Abigail - it was difficult to get a real sense of any of the characters. Which version of any of them was real? This again made it difficult to follow the plot. And to not end up thoroughly confused you have to be paying attention.

Please also be aware that there is no final reveal of what happened to Benjamin. It’s strongly implied, but never stated clearly. Which is apt for the subject matter. But, if you’re looking for a cosy mystery, or a fun read, this isn’t where you’ll find it.

This was, well, interesting. I went into this without any expectations and found it an enjoyable, though unconventional read. It's really two stories in one, an attempt to explain one through the other though a solution is never clearly stated in the main story, only alluded to. I liked all the references to classic crime, so that'a an extra bonus if you are a classic crime fan. It's well written and has a nice atmosphere. Good for a couple of hours of entertainment but it may leave you wondering.

This book was really well done! I have never read a book quite like this, I loved the mix of genre and the fourth wall breaking in part 2. It was a really sensitive look at how grief can affect and how desperate the grieving are to find a reason. As someone who doesn’t read much in the way of murder mystery style books, it was fun to unexpectedly dip my toe into the genre and the explanations of the different rules of the genre was a bonus. I really enjoyed this book and would love to read more from this author. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

rattled through this!! this is a spin on a detective murder mystery, centring on abi, who throws an annual murder mystery birthday party for her brother ben. i can't really say anything about this book because there is a fab and genuinely moving trick in how it is constructed that i don't want to spoil! there is a huge amount of love for murder mysteries and what makes them work, how they function as stories but also what function they serve for readers - i think hegarty understands something very real about the psychological impulse to think about death in this campy and jovial way. lost steam for me in the final third once all the cards had been played so to speak, but still really recommend. would take this over "cosy crime" any day

I loved the start of this. I was intrigued by the premise and totally absorbed in Abigail’s preparations for the New Year/ birthday celebration. However, after the murder the setting changes with no explanation. This felt like two versions of the story hacked together with no editing. I got more confused as characters emerged and found this a difficult read.

Maybe I have a corrupt or draft version? This not a title for me!

Fair Play has an interesting concept but I don't think the execution lived up to the idea entirely.

The first part was very good, like reading an old school classic murder mystery- the old house, the group of friends, a murder and the arrival of a Poirot styled detective character.

After that I found it far too chaotic. Changes of setting, asides that lead nowhere and then a selection of resolutions, the last of which just irritated me. I could see what the author was trying to do but despite the writing being great, the story kind of fizzled out, going wherever it is great idea's go to die.

Despite that it was intriguing. I didn't hate it and indeed I'd read more from this author, it felt like a first attempt at something that will eventually be genius. Will wait to see what's next.

Abigail's brother Benjamin's birthday is on New Year's Day and so, to make it special they started a tradition of booking an AirBnB stay with a group of old friends and Abigail meticulously plans a murder mystery evening, loosely based around a theme. This year things are a bit tense, Benjamin has invited his PA Barbara of all people to join them, which won't go down well with his ex-fiance Margaret. Abigail is glad that Benjamin's school friend Stephen is coming alone, his girlfriend has gone home to Poland for Christmas, because she's always harboured a bit of a crush on him. Then there's another of Benjamin's old friends Cormac, and his newish girlfriend Olivia, and finally Declan, he grew up with Abigail and Benjamin but hasn't really grown-up, Abigail understands Benjamin has had to bail him out with money more than once. So they all meet up in this big old Irish house and drink champagne and play their murder mystery, but in the morning Benjamin is found dead, locked in his room. The police believe it's suicide but Abigail is sure its murder so she hires the renowned detective Augustus Bell to discover the truth. As another reader said, so far so good, although I found the writing style of the omnipotent narrator a bit irritating.

But then, the story changes, new characters are added, the house is no longer an AirBnB but Benjamin and Abigail's family home. New information is given about each of the characters (just like in a murder mystery game). The reader gets 'treated' to tracts of rules about classical murder mysteries (many of which have been flagrantly broken time and time again). Augustus Bell himself seems to know he is a character in a book as he often informs people that something will happen later ie in chapter sixteen I will ask three of the guests to try to climb into Benjamin's window, he also refers to previous cases by the sort of name they would be given in a Golden Age mystery. I also noted a fair few references to other detectives of the Golden Age eg (Lord Peter) Wimsey and Tommy and Tuppence.

So we now have two stories running in parallel, one an homage/send-up of a Golden Age mystery with overlapping characters but different stories (eg in one story Benjamin runs the family business whereas in the other he is merely an employee at a company). The formatting of the ARC didn't help as there were asterisks cross-referencing to footnotes relating actions/characters to mystery theories but sometimes they were several pages apart.

There were also some random passages where things were repeated but altered slightly five or six times on the trot, eg Abigail's recounting of how she and Benjamin spent Christmas.

(view spoiler)And then it just abruptly ends. No resolution of any description, people confess and then it seems Bell dismisses their confessions and accuses someone else.
This to me was just a hot mess. Some reviewers have raved about this as a study in coming to terms with loss, well I'm impressed that they found that from this hotchpotch of tales that go nowhere.

Also, what on earth does either the title or the cover have to do with the plot?

I received an ARC from the Publisher via NetGalley.