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The Prediction: A Murder Mystery
A guest's death is predicted in a locked box on Monday. By Wednesday, it has come true. One unlikely mentalist is going to have to work out how somebody fakes the future.
When Barry Holt, short, balding, and convincing rich strangers he can read their futures in a plastic crystal ball, arrives at Cairnmore House, a five-star golf resort in the Perthshire hills, the closest thing to drama he expects is a poor turnout for his Monday cabaret. Then Rory Atherton, the club's richest and least missed member, turns up dead on the 14th hole, in almost exactly the way the resort's Predictions Box said he would.
The local police cannot get past one impossible question. How could anyone have known a man's death before it happened? Barry, who spends his evenings faking exactly that kind of foreknowledge, sees a trick. His wife Helena, hired to judge whether Cairnmore should sell its future to Atherton's money, keeps finding people relieved the deal died with him.
As Barry works back through the locked box, a club tradition, and a guest list with more grudges than alibis, the tartan-and-peat calm of Cairnmore begins to come apart at the seams. When Barry sets a trap to catch the killer, he becomes its target instead. Somebody wrote a murder down in advance and followed it to the letter. They are not about to let a tubby mentalist from the Midlands spoil the ending.
When Barry Holt, short, balding, and convincing rich strangers he can read their futures in a plastic crystal ball, arrives at Cairnmore House, a five-star golf resort in the Perthshire hills, the closest thing to drama he expects is a poor turnout for his Monday cabaret. Then Rory Atherton, the club's richest and least missed member, turns up dead on the 14th hole, in almost exactly the way the resort's Predictions Box said he would.
The local police cannot get past one impossible question. How could anyone have known a man's death before it happened? Barry, who spends his evenings faking exactly that kind of foreknowledge, sees a trick. His wife Helena, hired to judge whether Cairnmore should sell its future to Atherton's money, keeps finding people relieved the deal died with him.
As Barry works back through the locked box, a club tradition, and a guest list with more grudges than alibis, the tartan-and-peat calm of Cairnmore begins to come apart at the seams. When Barry sets a trap to catch the killer, he becomes its target instead. Somebody wrote a murder down in advance and followed it to the letter. They are not about to let a tubby mentalist from the Midlands spoil the ending.
213 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 11, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 15, 2026
This time is serious.
The fun I've had with the first two novels is almost lose in this one. But what a great way to finish the trilogy!
The mystery and the protagonists made me want to cover myself under the bed!
Thank you AG Barnett for this adorable novel.
Monica Beltrami, Montevideo, Uruguay.
The fun I've had with the first two novels is almost lose in this one. But what a great way to finish the trilogy!
The mystery and the protagonists made me want to cover myself under the bed!
Thank you AG Barnett for this adorable novel.
Monica Beltrami, Montevideo, Uruguay.
August 6, 2026
Cairngorm House Golf Resort. How does a prediction placed in a locked box become true. DI Munro investigates while magician Barry Holt asks questions.
An enjoyable modern mystery
An enjoyable modern mystery
August 3, 2026
I like this author and I will be reading more of his books. Sadly, this is the last with these two married sleuths. Ah, well, more to be discovered...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews