Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes Series: McMasters Guide to Homicide #1
Published by Simon and Schuster on April 30, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Action & Adventure, Fiction / Humorous / Black Humor, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General
Pages: 416
Format: Audiobook, eBook
ISBN: 9781451648225From Edgar Award–winning novelist, playwright, and story-songwriter Rupert Holmes comes a diabolical thriller with a killer concept: The McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts, dedicated to the art of murder where students study how best to “delete” their most deserving victim.
Who hasn’t wondered for a split second what the world would be like if a person who is the object of your affliction ceased to exist? But then you’ve probably never heard of The McMasters Conservatory, dedicated to the consummate execution of the homicidal arts. To gain admission, a student must have an ethical reason for erasing someone who deeply deserves a fate no worse (nor better) than death. The campus of this “Poison Ivy League” college—its location unknown to even those who study there—is where you might find yourself the practice target of a classmate…and where one’s mandatory graduation thesis is getting away with the perfect murder of someone whose death will make the world a much better place to live.
Prepare for an education you’ll never forget. A fiendishly funny mix of witty wordplay, breathtaking twists and genuine intrigue, Murder Your Employer will gain you admission into a wholly original world, cocooned within the most entertaining book about well-intentioned would-be murderers you’ll ever read.
I was so excited to read this book and was so happy to find out it was the book club for September. However, when actually reading the book, I was a bit disappointed.
The set-up for the novel is a manual for those who don’t have the money to pay for McMasters Conservatory. The narrator, the dean of the Conservatory, focuses on three students as they go through McMasters and then go out into the world to fulfill their theses.
It started out well. I thought the idea of Cliff Iverson trying to kill his employer, failing, and being caught by two retired NYPD officers was quite good. They offer him a place at McMasters due to having a sponsor who paid the tuition for him. There’s a bit of push back from Cliff at first before he gets into the hang of how the place works. During this time, Cliff really annoys me; I cannot place why, It’s mostly just a gut feeling. After discussing this in book club, I will give him more of the benefit of the doubt due to how others described him.
The other two students that the dean focuses on is Gemma Lindley and Dulcie Mown aka Doria Maye. Gemma is planning on killing her boss who is blackmailing her. Dulcie is killing hers because he is wrongly upset that she slept with someone else and not him. Dulcie is the only one who actually is okay with the whole murdering thing. Not saying that people should be okay with murder, but when I’m reading books like this about murder, I want the characters to be a bit more morally grey. Or at least a bit less whiny about the whole process. Gemma’s whole moralistic attitude was fine at first, but became annoying after a while.
Their time at McMasters in general was a bit…well boring. I didn’t know that murder could be this boring, but this book did it. Once they all leave McMasters, it did become better. The last 50% of the book is why I ended up giving the book three stars.
The second half of the book with Cliff, Gemma, and Dulcie actually setting up and committing their respective murders was fascinating. Well, at least, Cliff and Dulcie’s were the ones I kept wanting to read about. Gemma’s was flawed from the beginning, and again, her whole moralistic attitude was difficult to get behind. The fact that she didn’t want to be personally involved in the murder and was too stubborn to listen to the staff at McMasters made her fail right out of the gate. Cliff’s plan is so fascinating, and I was flipping through the pages trying to figure out how this was all going to end with Merrill Fielder’s murder.
By the end, the conclusion for all three characters was satisfying and did wrap everything up quite well. The last note from the dean was hilarious and made me laugh uproariously that he didn’t understand what was happening. Mostly, the concept was great and fascinating, but the execution needed a bit more work and edits. I’ll probably end up reading the next book, but I’ll be checking it out from the library instead.
By cover alone, this is one to not have out at work lol