Malice Aforethought

⚖The case for it

The first inverted mystery novel. We know the killer from page one: a mild-mannered country doctor plans to murder his wife. Berkeley proved the mystery could work as psychological study of the criminal. The template for every "we know who did it" psychological thriller, from Columbo to Patricia Highsmith.

— the canon

✕The case against

Once the famous first page hands you the murderer, the book has to coast on Dr. Bickleigh's company, and he is a self-pitying snob in a village of snobs. The middle stretch of affairs and tennis parties drags; the misogyny is period-accurate and wearing. Ingenious in 1931, the inverted structure now reads like the pilot episode of a genre you've already binged.

— the honest librarian