West Heart Kill

Thursday

This murder mystery, like all murder mysteries, begins with the evocation of what the reader understands to be its atmosphere, the accumulation of small, curated details to create a shared myth of mood, time, and place though not all at once, of course, that is important. The writer of murder, like all writers, must be a miser, conceding revelations bit by bit; for every novel is a puzzle, and every reader a sleuth.

Not all mysteries begin with the protagonist, but this one does. He is riding in the passenger seat of a car; these opening sentences don t reveal the year, model, and make, that would be too simple, but you do see the protagonist pushing an 8-track into the dashboard, Wings at the Speed of Sound, music bounces out Let Em In. The protagonist is smoking something, a joint, passing it back to a new character, the driver, whose presence was implied at the start of this paragraph but never explicitly stated . . . The two men yes, both men are dressed similarly, in clothes of an era that is not your own but that you recognize from film and television: the clues accumulate . . .

And now a crucial moment, the first bit of dialogue:

What do they hunt at this hunting club?

Deer, mostly. Pheasant. A bear, once in a while.

People?

Only each other.

They laugh, but you are thrilled; you think, perhaps, of the plot of The Most Dangerous Game, in which a rich eccentric lures unsuspecting men to his island, to hunt for sport . . . Is this to be that kind of story? But listen, they are speaking again:

My family is one of the poorest here. We re really only allowed to stay because we were originals, founding members.

How many families?

Maybe three dozen? More? They all have their own cabins, all over the property. Every few years, a member leaves, a new one is added. The dues are steep.

And what does all that money get you?

Hunting grounds. A lake stocked

Dann McDorman

Potent. . . . McDorman's knowledge is abundant, as is his cleverness.
Sarah Weinman, The New York Times Book Review

Fun, clever, and innovative. A remarkable novel by a major talent, who has created a crime novel that feels entirely unique.
Stuart Turton, international best-selling author of The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

"West Heart Kill is a true unicorn: a thoroughly original suspense novel that hops across elements of the genre spot-on historical fiction and a diabolical locked-room mystery interspersed with a fascinating primer on the history of the form while always being tremendous fun to read."
Chris Pavone, New York Times best-selling author of Two Nights in Lisbon

A crime novel that unpicks traditional storytelling engrossing, surprising, clever, genre-bending.
New York Times best-selling author Val McDermid

A brain-teaser and a crowd-pleaser. I loved it.
Benjamin Stevenson, author of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

  Phenomenal totally unique . . . a treat for every murder mystery fan.
Janice Hallett, author of The Appeal

McDorman simultaneously revels in and comments on the multi-faceted plot as the narrator directly addresses the reader with the assumption that she is equally knowledgeable and ardent about mysteries, decanting intriguing insights into the genre and its luminaries . . . McDorman is funny, canny, and nimble in this clever, unusual, and enormously entertaining mix of criticism and suspense, this mystery propelled by witty banter, hidden trauma, messy affairs, and vicious schemes.
Donna Seaman, Booklist

Entertaining.
Kirkus Reviews

West Heart Kill is definitely ambitious and absolutely entertaining . McDorman does an excellent job of peeling the onion-like layers of his detective tale, carefully doling out surprises as the pages turn . Sure to