(Not to be confused with The 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo)
My local library recently did a “blind date with a book” event for Valentine’s Day. I’ve seen this sort of thing before at bookstores, but this was free (and yet I got to keep the book). I wasn’t initially interested; though I quite enjoy reading, my backlog is enough that I’m not generally looking to add to it. But my car was out of commission due to extreme cold, and that meant sharing after-work stops as I carpooled with my wife. She wanted a book, so I went with her.
Just inside the library doors was a table filled with giftwrapped books, each of them with a tag for age group, and a small blurb giving just enough to know what kind of book was inside, but not to guess what it actually was. “An inspiring story of—” Pass. “Experience the real hardships of 1860s—” Not for me. “In this quirky modern girlboss story—” Absolutely not. I was ready to leave, just rifling through a few stacks as my wife decided between the two she’d narrowed her choices down to, when I spotted it:
“A murder mystery novel inspired by Agatha Christie with a dash of Groundhog Day and a hint of Quantum Leap and Downton Abbey.”
Hello, what’s this?
My imagination immediately started going wild with the possibilities. Based on this blurb, I felt I could safely assume there’d be a time loop… Is someone inhabiting other characters? Maybe it’s set in the early 1900s? I love a good mystery, and this combination of elements was so bizarre I couldn’t pass it by.
So I didn’t.
After helping my wife choose—I advised her not to get the one that seemed like it might be a John Green book on the basis that we already have several of his and a duplicate would be a shame—we headed out. I was eager to read my new book, more eager than I’ve been for a book in ages, but after a long day of work we were both more eager still to eat. The book would have to wait. But an hour and change later, we opened our books, and there it was.
The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. (I later learned this is just the US title, changed to reduce risk of confusion with the aforementioned The 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, released just a few months prior to this one.)
It was everything I dreamed of.
The concept is, all at once, complicated and straightforward. The protagonist, with no memory of himself, awakes at Blackheath Manor the morning of a party. He is tasked with solving a murder which will happen that night. He’s got eight days to solve it… well, sort of. He’s got eight of the same day to solve it. In each day, he occupies a different host, a different guest at the manor. If he solves it, he’s free to return to his own life. If he doesn’t, he starts over. His memories carry from host to host, but not from cycle to cycle.
And he’s not the only one. There are others in the manor also trying to solve the same murder, and only one can escape.
The people at the manor are all, to varying degrees, loathsome. High-society loathsome. Liars, blackmailers, manipulators. They’ve all got their own dirty laundry, and they’re all quite colorful people, for better or for rotten. And our protagonist gets to be several of them.
One of the most unique elements of the book, established early on and a key difference from its obvious inspiration Quantum Leap, is that the protagonist is genuinely inhabiting all of these people, and in doing so retains their personalities. Their likes, their dislikes, their fears, their hopes… all of them in addition to himself. This proves to be one of his biggest challenges, and one of the biggest strengths of the story. Everything that happens is effectively seen through two pairs of eyes at once, absorbed through two mindsets. Even with the protagonist taking the reins, each host has different strengths and weaknesses, a different decision making process, and different instincts to either lean into or overcome.
Like any great mystery novel, all the pieces fit together perfectly. Seemingly insignificant details will come back later with greater meaning. The way the day plays out is meticulously crafted, with a clear and consistent timeline as all the characters, hosts or otherwise, go about their days. Its only potential failing as a mystery is that it doesn’t give the reader everything they need to solve it until the end. Ultimately it’s not that kind of story. At its core, it’s about the protagonist trying to escape, and the manor’s mystery is simply how he does it. Nonetheless, I do need to acknowledge it will not appeal to someone looking for a classic whodunnit. A bit of a shame, I think, given how much better built this puzzle box is than many mysteries I’ve read, but it’s the protagonist’s puzzle box, not the reader’s. I still loved it, but that might not be for everyone.
All in all, The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was a blast from start to finish. It’s a bit of a slow burn at first, but it pays off well. In that way, the pacing reminds me at times a bit of Better Call Saul. The characters are strongly written, all of them people you either love, or love to hate. The plot is riveting and the twists genuinely surprising. Much like The Prestige or The Sixth Sense, it’s the kind of story that will be completely different on a second read, so much of it totally reframed once you know all the elements and how they work together. The ending is a bit rushed, and it’s not something for the reader to solve, but as a whole, I highly recommend it.