English teacher Dr. Bonnie Stanford looked at her extensive bookshelf and decided on “The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” by Stuart Turton. She wanted something different than the average mystery murder, and from what she described it blew away my expectations and hers as well. 

“It’s a mystery, but instead of just your typical ‘who dun it,’ the main character wakes up every day in the body of another person at a party,” Stanford said. “They relive the same day over and over until he figures out who the murderer is.”

The book follows Evelyn Hardcastle and her constant reanimation in Blackheath Manor. Attempting to solve a murder from just partygoers’ memories alone proves challenging for protagonist Aiden Bishop. 

“I don’t typically read mysteries, so this one was intriguing,” Stanford said. “[It] definitely fit the bill and was worth my time for sure.”

The book has won many awards including the First Novel Award at the 2018 Costa Book Awards. Turton is a relatively new author with “7 ½ deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” coming out in 2018 and his more recent book “The Devil and the Dark Water,” another mystery with a spin on it. This one follows two detectives on a boat, solving a case that could have been caused by a demon.

If you are into mysteries this is a curveball of a story. If you are like Dr. Stanford and do not typically read secrets, novels by Turton are something worth taking a look at.