The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

A Book Review by Dominick M Maino

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: A Book Review by Dominick M Maino

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, Stuart Turton, 2018, Sourcebooks Landmark, 480 pages, ISBN 978-1492657965

You awaken in a broken down but once stately home on a lake that is in the midst of a half-hearted rehabilitation effort. Murders have occurred here decades before and others will soon happen again.

And Evelyn Hardcastle will die at 11PM. Only you can prevent this.

Your pathway to solve this murder and stopping this crime is by inhabiting the bodies of several other guests for a day. Those bodies include those of a gambler, doctor, grounds keeper, killer, Evelyn’s brother, and others you would not want to necessarily be associate with. You have to overcome their bad and sometimes evil proclivities and use their good attributes and talents to solve this crime so that you (and perhaps others) can be freed from this repetitive hell.

Each day you awaken in a new body. Your guide is a demon-like individual dressed as a Medieval plague doctor who is sometimes, but not often, helpful. Oh, by the way, there’s also a footman out to kill you.

And one more thing, every time you fail to solve this murder, you must start over again.

Do you like murder mysteries? Do you like a touch of the supernatural in the telling of the story? Are you a fan of puzzles and of books that offer many twists, turns and surprises?

If so, you will love reading this book. It is a gripping, imaginative tale of suspense and surprise.

I have only one caveat. There are many characters that you must pay attention to and that you must keep straight within your mind as you read. This may take a bit of effort on your part. I even found myself going over pages I had previously read so I could understand which character was doing what. You will soon realize that the who in this murder mystery is as important as the what, where, how and why.

Overall, I can highly recommend this book to you.

Putting it down will not be easy. Picking it up once again will be a delight.