The Murder Box – Olivia Kiernan
At first, Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan believes the murder mystery game sent to her office is a birthday gift from one of her colleagues. But when Frankie studies the game’s contents, she notices a striking resemblance between the ‘murder victim’ and missing twenty-two-year-old Lydia Callin.
As Frankie and her team investigate, a series of grisly crimes connected to the game are discovered across Dublin city and Lydia’s involvement with a shadowy network of murder mystery players becomes clear.
On the hunt for Lydia’s murderer, Frankie is drawn more deeply into the game. Every successful move brings her closer to the killer. But the real question is not what happens should she lose — but what happens if she wins.
I received a review copy from the publishers via Netgalley
I haven’t read any of Olivia Kiernan’s previous novels but the blurb for The Murder Box drew me in so I jumped at the chance to read it. Best decision I could have made – it’s a cracker! This is also me exploring a new way to say “you don’t need to have read any of the previous books in the series to enjoy The Murder Box”.
Yes, this is the fourth book to feature Frankie Sheehan but (honestly) let me assure you that not having read the first three will not hinder your enjoyment one iota. I do now face the problem of having to find time to go back and read the first three books now that I know about them, but that is a nice problem to have – I always think that discovering a new (to me) author is one of the outcomes at the end of any book.
In The Murder Box Sheehan takes delivery of a murder game. It arrives for her birthday but she doesn’t know who may have sent it. Sheehan and her colleagues have been overwhelmed with the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of a local celebrity and Frankie hasn’t had much time to consider her birthday and it seems she doesn’t have many friends she would be sharing her day with anyway.
When Sheehan and her partner open the gift box and examine the murder game inside they are initially taken with the idea and, as detectives, they spend a little time contemplating the murder at the heart of the game. There are “clues” in the game which include an earing from the victim, a pathology slide with what appears to be human tissue under the slide and background reading on the “victim” and her last movements before she met her end.
Sheehan is impressed with the detail of the game which arrived in her Murder Box but is too busy to linger on it for long – that is until a woman arrives at the police station to report the disappearance of her flatmate and Frankie thinks she recognises the name of the missing woman. Lydia Callan isn’t just a character created for a role-play game, she seems to be a resident of Dublin and her current whereabouts are unknown.
The Murder Box is a police procedural and a race against time read. I really enjoyed this one and not just beacuse I love reading good murder stories and enjoy gaming too (a happy coincidence). The story is brilliantly paced, the frustration of the police is evident and they are already swamped with work as they try to find their missing celeb while cautiously trying to establish if they have been handed a murder investigation in a gift-wrapped box.
Fun, thrilling and very cleverly constructed. I had several guesses at identifying a murderer and I was wrong each time. It’s great when books do that to me – draw me in, keep me guessing and cleverly fool me. Highly recommended and I want to read more Frankie Sheehan stories now.
The Murder Box is available in hardcover, digital and audiobook format and is published by riverrun. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0875RYCVX/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1
