The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
Aiden Bishop wakes up in a body that is not his own, in a forest outside a crumbling English country house called Blackheath, with the name Anna in his mouth and no memory of how he got there. At Blackheath that evening the heiress Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at the stroke of eleven, as she has been at the stroke of eleven on this same day for reasons nobody in the house can remember. Aiden has eight chances, eight hosts, eight bodies, to identify her killer before the day resets. Each host brings a new vantage, a new skill, and a new set of prejudices, and a tall Plague Doctor moves between the rooms to remind Aiden of the rules. Stuart Turton's 2018 debut is an Agatha Christie country-house mystery crossed with a Groundhog Day loop, structurally audacious and remarkably coherent by the final reveal.
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A man wakes at a 1920s English country estate with no memory and is told a young heiress will be killed at midnight. He must solve the murder, but he will live the day eight times in eight different bodies.
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was written by Stuart Turton and published in 2018. It is also published in some markets as The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. Turton later wrote The Devil and the Dark Water and The Last Murder at the End of the World.
Yes. The novel structures itself as eight host bodies through which the protagonist relives the same day, all while solving a murder. The structure rewards attentive reading. Most readers find the puzzle propulsive once it clicks.
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a standalone novel by an unknown author, not part of a series.
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
