Strange Houses

I read this in a single sitting, partly because it isn’t particularly long (and there are lots of repeated diagrams) but also because I was fascinated and wanted to know the explanation. This is another triumphant puzzle piece that greatly relies on the graphics so I’m not sure how well it works as an audiobook.

We start out with the author, a purported journalist, being asked by a friend to look at the floor plan of a house they are considering buying as there seem to be some oddities with it. An architect is consulted, a newspaper story written, and things proceed from there, revealing other related properties with equally strange features.

The construction and pacing was really clever and a sense of the McCabe and of potential danger was maintained all the way through. The way that architecture is used for the purpose of murder initially seems a bit far-fetched once you accept the power of superstition than the final explanation Does make it all sound at least a little bit plausible.

And the final twist-on-the-twist was very much the icing on the cake!

So another great book from our mysterious author and I’m looking forward to the third volume which hopefully we’ll have a matching cover!