“Louise Hegarty’s genre-splicing debut is a treat—clever confident and always surprising a
mystery story that ingeniously escapes the locked room of the genre to take on the biggest
questions of life and death.”—Paul Murray author of The Bee Sting 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.
