In a predictable genre, this murder mystery I found original and interesting.

Eight Perfect Murders follows Malcolm “Mal” Kershaw, the owner of a mystery-focused bookstore in Boston called Old Devils Bookstore.

Years prior, Mal wrote a blog post titled “Eight Perfect Murders,” detailing eight fictional crimes from literature that he believed were truly unsolvable.

His life is upended when FBI agent Gwen Mulvey informs him that a serial killer appears to be using his list as a blueprint for real-life murders.

The novel deconstructs and often spoils the endings of these eight classic works: 

• The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie
• Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
• The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne
• Malice Aforethought by Anthony Berkeley Cox
• Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
• Deathtrap by Ira Levin
• The Drowner by John D. MacDonald
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt