Those who love a traditional mystery will probably find much to entertain them in this “whodunnit” which combines the “everyone has a motive” theme with the new device of a podcast and a reality show acting as the detective(s). Kind of like “Murder on the Orient Express” meets “Survivor” and the podcast “True Crime.” (The Orient Express" reference is not to suggest that everyone did it, only that everyone's suspected. As to who did it? I have no idea since I haven't yet gotten to the answer)
Some twenty years ago, five English university students attended and lived together at Exeter University: Georgie, Dan, Maddie, Lauren, Alex, and Daisy. One night, Daisy disappeared and was later found murdered. Professor David Montgomery, a married man with two children who was in a relationship with Daisy, was convicted of her murder.
Now, the podcast “The Killer Question” is reinvestigating the case, claiming that Montgomery—who has just committed suicide in prison—was wrongly convicted. Wanting to resolve the murder, the podcast has invited all the housemates back to Exeter to spend the weekend in their old rooms and celebrate Daisy’s birthday while it records everything that goes on. Should anyone choose not to attend, they face two possible penalties: 1) they’ll look guilty of the murder; and 2) the podcast will publicly reveal a secret it claims to know about each one of them.
The story is told through four alternating first-person points of view: Georgie’s, Dan’s, Maddie’s, and Lauren’s, and also from the transcripts of the podcast. It's a little confusing and a little repetitive in the beginning, but soon becomes absorbing.
There’s a ton of mystery here, lots of questions to hook readers and keep them turning the pages. Each character has his or her own secret. And there are all sorts of relationship cross-currents and questions, arising both from their college years and in the present. And of course, there’s the big mystery: Who Killed Daisy?
The characters aren't all that likable. But the story and the treatment are intriguing. A solid entertainment for mystery lovers.