Eight Perfect Murders

Tess pulls Malcolm inside and kisses him. She admits that she feels strange, and Malcolm thinks she has been drugged. After Tess falls asleep, Malcolm grabs a rolling pin and searches the house for Charlie. He discovers that Charlie is Marty Kingship when Marty approaches him with a gun.

Marty and Malcolm talk about Brian’s dog, Humphrey, being a bad guard dog. Malcolm is holding a cell phone and admits he used it to log into the swaps website. They sit at the table, and Malcolm lies, saying he called the police. Marty calls him out on his lie. Then, Marty asserts that fiction is better than reality and admits he got into both reading and murder because of Malcolm’s list. Over several hours, Marty tells Malcolm about the murders.

It started with Marty’s wife cheating on him around the time he discovered the swaps website, Duckburg, through his police work. Marty decided he wanted Norman dead more than he wanted his adulterous wife dead and accepted Malcolm’s swap. Killing Eric Atwell drastically changed Marty. He discovered Malcolm and his list through researching Eric, got a divorce, and moved to Boston. Marty blamed Robin Callahan’s book about infidelity for his wife’s affair and set up the murders of people with bird names based on The A.B.C. Murders. The other victims, Ethan Byrd and Jay Bradshaw, came up in Marty’s searches of police reports.

Then, he discovered Bill Manso in the police reports and set up his murder based on Double Indemnity: killing him with a baton, then putting his body by the tracks. Next, Marty snuck into Elaine’s house, knowing about her heart troubles from being in the bookstore with her, and scared her to death with a clown mask. He left the books from the list on her shelf hoping to attract Malcolm’s attention. Marty was pleased that Malcolm came to him for help because he knew he wasn’t a suspect to Malcolm.

Marty continues his story, explaining that he gave Malcolm Nicholas Pruitt’s name, then killed Nicholas by forcing him to drink scotch laced with benzodiazepine. This killing was inspired by Malice Aforethought. Marty planted the scotch, hoping that it would make Malcolm suspect Brian and Tess. Malcolm admits that he did, and this also pleases Marty. Marty admits he drugged Tess and wants to kill her with a plastic bag over her head and frame her for Brian’s death. They go into the bedroom where Brian is sleeping, and Marty demands that Malcolm put a pillow over Brian’s face and shoot him. When he hands over his gun, Malcolm shoots and kills Marty.

Malcolm refers to this chapter as “The Whole Truth” (251), inspired by The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. This narrative starts the night Claire died. On New Year’s Eve, Claire and Malcolm have a quiet night in, but Claire sneaks out to do drugs after Malcolm falls asleep. When he wakes up and sees her note, Malcolm drives to Eric’s place, where Malcolm knows she’ll be, and sees Claire’s car there. Malcolm peeks inside and sees Claire kissing Eric, as well as doing cocaine. Back inside his car, Malcolm punches the roof, cries, and shivers before calming down and waiting for Claire to leave. When she does, at 2:30 am, Malcolm follows her in his car. On the highway, he swerves into her lane, and she drives off the overpass. Malcolm is relieved when the police tell him that his wife was dead, rather than injured, and no one else was killed. He grieved for her by planning Eric’s murder and by throwing himself into work.

This chapter is the final phone call between Gwen and Malcolm. He tells her that Marty Kingship is Charlie, and that he killed Marty. She asks if he knew it was Marty, and Malcolm admits that he didn’t know. Malcolm tells her to check for Marty’s prints at Nicholas’s house. Gwen asks if Marty killed her father, Steve Clifton. Malcolm admits to Gwen that he hit Steven, her father, with his car, and the experience feels like a dream. Then, Malcolm tells her how he has been haunted by nightmares ever since and that he wanted her to know the truth.

This chapter begins with the list of people who were murdered by Malcolm and Marty. Malcolm says he changed Marty’s name, acknowledges that they have the same initials, and notes how some readers will think they are the same person. Malcolm insists that he was the mastermind, but Marty did most of the killing.

After killing Marty, Malcolm checks to make sure that Brian and Tess are only sleeping, not dead. Once he is sure, Malcolm goes to his apartment, packs a bag, and buys some groceries. He calls 911 to tell them about the corpse at Brian’s house and calls Gwen (which is the conversation in the previous chapter). Then, he breaks into Elaine’s house in Rockland. There, he writes this book, his memoir, as well as reads mystery novels and poetry. Malcolm admits that he kept one page from Claire’s diary that includes nice words about him and a poem by Bill Knott.

Malcolm also admits that his murder of Norman was more violent than he initially described it to be, and that Nero inspired him to get up and leave. Malcolm recalls asking Marty about the comment on his blog. Marty didn’t know what Malcolm was talking about, and Malcolm admits he might have commented on his own blog post after a night of heavy drinking. He compares the ending of his book to the ending of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which is a suicide note. The last book Malcolm rereads is And Then There Were None. He plans to drown himself to fulfill the last murder on his list, The Drowner.