Ink Ribbon Red

Pavesi (The Eighth Detective) impresses with this head-spinning meta-mystery. In 1999, antiques dealer Anatol invites five close friends to celebrate his 30th birthday at his family estate in Witshire. The festivities revolve around a parlor game Anatol has devised called Motive Method Death. Participants draw two names—that of a victim and that of a murderer—from martini glasses, then dream up one another’s deaths in the form of short stories or lurid sketches. Pavesi ups the ante by refusing to differentiate between rounds of Motive Method Death and real life, leaving readers to wonder, for long stretches, about the veracity of a fatal fire or a gruesome car accident or an impalement on a sundial. Meanwhile, the author probes the backstories of Anatol and his “friends,” unearthing incidents of blackmail, backstabbing, and attempted murde. Early on, Anatol acknowledges that his game owes a debt to Agatha Christie’s remote-location classics and the gothic spirit of Shirley Jackson; the novel does justice to the comparisons. With shrewd plotting and a bewitching atmosphere, Pavesi ensures that fans of Anthony Horowitz will delight in staying one step ahead of his befuddled characters. (July)