You know I love a Janice Hallett book so when I knew there was another one I picked it up straight away. It's very similar to her other books - written in a non linear fashion, without prose. This time it's about a pub, a bit off the beaten track, which is being run by Sue and Mal Eastwood. They have a WhatsApp group with several other publicans in the same chain. Each pub runs a quiz - except one, I think - and each of them is really proud of their quiz for bringing in business etc. Mal prides himself on writing his quizzes himself, unlike lots of the other landlords in the group who rely on quiz books.
There are several teams who always come to Mal's quiz, who are known by their team names and who have friendly rivalries between them. A new team turns up one night and puts the cat among the pigeons by coming first. They make their way round a few of the pubs and keep coming first. Mal becomes certain that they are cheating, and sets out to find out how.
A body is found near Mal and Sue's pub which brings lots of intrigue and police into their pub. The body belongs to someone who knew a bunch of the quizzers who keep winning, so it all gets really confusing. I was expecting a twist at the end but when it happened I was incredibly shocked as I hadn't seen it coming at all. I liked the book as a whole and thought it read more quickly than some of her others. I can't wait until her next book as I will of course read it.
I'm giving this four out of five.
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