Publication Date: April 22, 2025
For fans of Anthony Horowitz and Lucy Foley, a wonderfully original, genre-breaking literary debut from Ireland that’s an homage to the brilliant detective novels of the early twentieth century, a twisty modern murder mystery, and a searing exploration of grief and loss.
A group of friends gather at an Airbnb on New Year’s Eve. It is Benjamin’s birthday, and his sister Abigail is throwing him a jazz-age Murder Mystery themed party. As the night plays out, champagne is drunk, hors d’oeuvres consumed, and relationships forged, consolidated or frayed. Someone kisses the wrong person; someone else’s heart is broken.
In the morning, all of them wake up—except Benjamin.
As Abigail attempts to wrap her mind around her brother’s death, an eminent detective arrives determined to find Benjamin’s killer. In this mansion, suddenly complete with a butler, gardener and housekeeper, everyone is a suspect, and nothing is quite as it seems.
Will the culprit be revealed? And how can Abigail, now alone, piece herself back together in the wake of this loss?
Gripping and playful, sharp and profoundly moving, Fair Play plumbs the depths of the human heart while subverting one of our most popular genres.
Imagine the game of Clue delivered in book fashion.
That’s the premise in Louise Hegarty’s novel Fair Play. Abigail uses New Year’s Eve as an opportunity for a murder mystery night in conjunction with celebrating her brother’s birthday.
From the beginning, the author weaves tension among the characters. When one of the partygoers ends up dead, a real murder mystery begins.
Up to that point, I would have rated the book at least a 4.5 because of good character building and suspense. However, the book shifts into a second part with an unexpected tone. Rather than the psychological thriller theme from the beginning, it jumps genres to showcase a famous detective coming in to investigate.
I could have adapted to the shift, but one glaring inconsistency drew my attention. One of the significant details about the story is the party takes place in an amazing Airbnb. However, the second part ignores any mention of that locale, making it seem as if the murder occurred in the family home.
The conclusion comes in the form of six different possibilities. While each one sounds plausible, there’s no way to tell which one is real. The third part, where I expected to find that information, is merely a childhood flashback featuring two characters.
Fair Play accomplishes the goal of offering a murder mystery, but it gets lost in the details.
Louise Hegarty’s work has appeared in Banshee, the Tangerine, the Stinging Fly, and the Dublin Review, and has been featured on BBC Radio 4’s Short Works. She was the inaugural winner of the Sunday Business Post/Penguin Ireland Short Story Prize. Her short story “Getting the Electric” has been optioned by Fíbín Media. She lives in Cork, Ireland.
