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THE BEAUTY OF MURDER
by A.K. Benedict
Orion, March 2013
400 pages
16.99 GBP
ISBN: 1409144518


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

This chilling and beautifully told story almost defies classification – crime novel meets sci-fi is probably the best fit – and not just any old sci-fi, AK Benedict has settled on time travel and presents a serial killer for all ages.

Junior lecturer in metaphysics Stephen Killigan has felt uncomfortable since he left sunny California to take up his appointment at a venerable Cambridge college. He appears to be feeling the pressure of seven hundred years of history, as well as that of his own troubled childhood and possibly something even further out on the very edge of reason. When he stumbles on the body of a missing beauty queen – which disappears before the police arrive – Killigan is unwittingly and unwillingly thrown into a sinister world that appears beyond reason as he teeters on the edge of madness or a completely amazing discovery which will change the rest of his life.

A simple but breakneck crime plot has him racing between both the present and the seventeenth centuries as he pursues a time travelling serial killer out to prove that violent death can in itself be a thing of beauty. He is aided in his search by some bizarre and unlikely allies and hampered, at least in the present, by sceptical woman detective who initially finds his story unbelievable and suspects his own connections to two murders.

But it is not so much the plot, although having half the story told by the killer adds an unexpected twist, it is the brilliant construction of the book that makes this such a compelling read. Her characters are real people. The situations in which her hero finds himself are both frightening and believable. The conversation is both clever and sparkling. Benedict clearly enjoys playing with words. Her insightful descriptions of the hothouse college society of both modern and 17th century Cambridge are thankfully offset by flashes of humour, particularly in the present day scenes, which not only serve to lighten what could be a grim tale, but also show a writer very much in touch with the 21st century, her own eccentricities – she writes in a room full of teapots and the severed head of a ventriloquist's dummy – reflected in Killigan's junk filled rooms and apparently chaotic lifestyle.

Her debut novel is no airport read. You will need time and concentration to follow the macabre and often shocking twists and turns. But once you, like Killigan, are sucked into this strange, but beautifully crafted book, you will not want to put it down before its surprising and dramatic end.

§John Cleal is a former soldier and journalist with an interest in medieval history. He divides his time between France and England.

Reviewed by John Cleal, March 2013

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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