A Degree of Murder - Maz Evans

Written by Maz Evans
Read by Jeremy Clyde, Matt Addis, Maz Evans, Olivia Darnley, Tom Alexander, Vivienne Rochester
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 128 Kbps
Unabridged

PER REQUEST

This is a wonderfully clever black comedy of tangled relationships, sinister events, deception, downright lying, copious amounts of alcohol and inappropriate sex.

Together with an impeccably timed series of shocks peppered throughout the whole book, I tore through the whole thing much, much too quickly.

In fact, I loved it so much that I went straight back to the beginning to read it again, because I’m pretty sure some of the finer points passed me by.

The story is set in Bathory College and ranges over a twenty-five-year period from Graduation Day in 2000 to the Class Reunion of 2025 and is told by all the characters as they experience various important events in their lives, together with entertaining updates from the editor of the Bathory Bulletins – Tillie Johnson – a woman who, hilariously, genuinely has no idea what’s going on around her.

Talk about getting the wrong end of the stick. Every time …

Not everyone survives – not by a long shot – and there’s twist upon twist at the end.

The best bit for me was that, for a large part of the book, the reader has no idea who the victim is, let alone the murderer.

The court scenes are very cleverly handled and manage to contribute greatly to the story without giving anything away and the whole thing gallops along at a terrific pace.