‘The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle’ by Stuart Turton

Agatha Christie meets Groundhog Day meets Downton Abbey…what a unique and original murder mystery! Evelyn Hardcastle will die, and will keep on dying every day, until Aiden Bishop can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different witness, all guests at Blackheath House. It reminded me a little of Kate Atkinson’s Life after Life because it plays around with time.

I really wanted to liked this novel and I did enjoy the  concept of it, until three quarters of the way in. Then I lost the thread and got confused which is too bad because I was hoping to recommend it. The writing is elegantly atmospheric and surprisingly easy to read and follow along with (at least in the first half) considering the complexity of the plot. Even though I often didn’t have a clue what was going on, I was engaged and intrigued enough to keep turning pages and just go along for the ride. The author did a good job of offering plenty of reminders and breadcrumbs along the way and developed the characters well. But the ending fell flat and left too many loose ends for me. I’m probably not smart enough since this book does have many glowing reviews.