#BookReview of #TheMurderBox by Olivia Kiernan | @LivKiernan | @riverrunbooks

The fourth book in the acclaimed Frankie Sheehan series with a high-concept premise
– The Murder Box

[ About the Book ]

Some games can be deadly
At first, Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan believes the murder mystery game sent to her office is a birthday gift from one of her colleagues. But when Frankie studies the game’s contents, she notices a striking resemblance between the ‘murder victim’ and missing twenty-two-year-old Lydia Callin.

As Frankie and her team investigate, a series of grisly crimes connected to the game are discovered across Dublin city and Lydia’s involvement with a shadowy network of murder mystery players becomes clear.

On the hunt for Lydia’s murderer, Frankie is drawn more deeply into the game. Every successful move brings her closer to the killer. But the real question is not what happens should she lose — but what happens if she wins.

[ My Review ]

The Murder Box by Olivia Kiernan will be published with riverrun July 22nd and is the latest book in this series featuring Irish DCS Frankie Sheehan. As someone who has not read the previous three books in the series, I can safely say that The Murder Box holds its own as a standalone thriller, capturing my attention from the opening pages. Definitely one for all fans of Jane Casey’s Maeve Kerrigan series.

The Murder Box is an intriguing premise set around a game and we all know that in any game there can only ever really be one winner. Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan is knee-deep in a missing persons case of a famous Irish TV celebrity when she receives a subscription style gift box for a murder mystery game. Initially curious and a little excited at some much needed distraction, she looks at the items in the box and is impressed by its authenticity. Being that it is her birthday she suspects it is a gift from a well-meaning friend. But the truth is quickly realised when Frankie makes the connection between its contents and a description brought to her of a local young woman who never came home. After her flatmate reports her disappearance, Frankie quickly grasps the seriousness of what she has in front of her. And when a colleague identifies a clock in the game, Frankie and her team are under serious pressure to collect and analyse the clues and catch a killer before the time runs out.

Frankie Sheehan is cool headed and loyal to the extreme. As she gathers her team close together their focus shifts to a group of Trinity College students who all too are playing the game. To them it is a challenge, a distraction from their studies but their reality takes on a different hue when Frankie catches up with them.

Terry Dolan is the original missing person that Frankie was looking for before she received the box and, with pressure from above, due to family connections, Frankie is feeling the strain. As she slowly makes progress gathering evidence and expertise where she can, the case blows open when a connection is found between the two individuals missing. What is this link? How could a celebrity TV star have any association with this game? Is it a ruse? Is it a publicity stunt? All are viable options until a macabre discovery is made by a bunch of teenage boys.

The Murder Box is just a great read. It’s a solid and believable story with a fabulous host of characters, all very real. Olivia Kiernan clearly knows her audience bringing all on a very thrilling and engaging journey. Expertly plotted with all the threads neatly woven together, The Murder Box is a clever, clever novel. Highly enjoyable, a book I will happily recommend to all looking for a discerning and smart crime fiction novel.

[ Bio ]

Olivia Kiernan is an Irish writer. In a previous life, she completed a diploma in anatomy and physiology then a BSc in Chiropractic before she succumbed to the creative itch and embarked on an MA in Creative writing. In 2015, she began writing Play Dead For Me (formerly titled Too Close to Breathe), a crime thriller that was published to critical acclaim in 2018 and features Dublin detective, Frankie Sheehan.

The second in the series The Killer In Me was called a “captivating new thriller” by the Wall Street Journal, “a high-stakes noir page-turner” by Bookpage.com and “a nail-bitingly good read” by Mystery Scene. The third in the DCS Frankie Sheehan series If Looks Could Kill was released in 2020 and the fourth The Murder Box is now available to pre-order and will be published on 22nd of July.

Twitter ~ @LivKiernan