Eight Perfect Murders

Marty Kingship is, according to Malcolm, “a former police officer [...] who was now working part-time as a security consultant for one of the big downtown hotels” (113) in Boston. Marty has “a broken, loveless marriage” (242). Marty reads five books per week and is “always looking for book recommendations” (169-70).

Before learning his identity, Malcolm refers to Marty as his “shadow” (109). He only knows that his shadow killed Eric in exchange for him killing a man named Norman. They swapped murders on a dark website called Duckburg. Gwen, an FBI agent, calls Marty “Charlie” before she knows his identity. This name can be connected to the series of murders based on the A.B.C. Murders, where the people with the same initials are killed. Marty wanted to kill a woman named Robin who wrote a book that inspired his wife’s infidelity and covered it up by killing multiple people with bird names. A famous jazz musician Charlie Parker is referred to as the Bird. Like Malcolm, Marty is unreliable. He claims that he doesn’t “know what the fuck a blog even is” (168) while committing murders based on the “Eight Perfect Murders” blog post. His identity as the killer is revealed in the final section of the novel.

The inciting incident of the novel is FBI Special Agent Gwen Mulvey questioning Malcolm about his Old Devils blog post “Eight Perfect Murders.” She is very pale, Malcolm notices. He realizes “it wasn’t just her skin that was pale. It was all of her” (4). Malcolm also describes her as looking like “An English professor maybe” (30). Gwen admits that she is the only one “convinced of the connection” (21) between the murders on Mal’s list. Gwen brings Malcolm along in her investigation of Elaine’s murder. Shortly after they search Elaine’s house, Gwen is suspended by the FBI.

After her suspension, Gwen contacts Malcolm in secret. She eventually admits that she is the daughter of Steven Clifton, but changed her last name to her mother’s birth name. Steven was the middle school teacher who molested Claire. Gwen found Malcolm, and eventually his blog, after Steven was killed on his bike. Malcolm eventually admits that he killed Steven, and Claire thinks this is an act of justice because Steven told her that he abused children.

When Gwen is officially off the case, two agents, Agent Berry (he/him pronouns) and Agent Perez (she/her pronouns), question Malcolm. They also ask for information about his alibis during the murders, not trusting Gwen’s investigation after it was revealed that her father was a conflict of interest in the case. Perez interacts with Malcolm more than Berry. She “couldn’t have been much older than thirty, with short black hair and a round face” (157). Unlike Gwen, these agents are static characters who do not hear Malcolm’s confession.

Two people work for Malcolm in the bookstore. He describes Emily Barsamian as “extremely bookish” (30) and possibly a “secret writer” (49). She wears skirts with t-shirts that feature images such as the cover of We Have Always Lived in the Castle” (55). She shares more with the other employees at the store than she does with Malcolm. He views her as a “suddenly silent teenager” (116). Eventually, Malcolm learns that Emily is dating Jane Prendergast, a mystery novelist who has events in the store.

In contrast to Emily, Brandon Weeks is Malcolm’s “gregarious employee” (49). He is the source of “nonstop chatter” (61), while Emily is more reserved. Malcolm thinks Brendon will leave the bookstore when he completes his business degree, but is unsure about Emily working there in the long-term. Brandon and Emily share a love for books and the bookstore cat, Nero.

Malcolm rescued Nero after killing Norman. Nero was Norman’s cat and Malcolm took him when he left Norman’s house. Shortly thereafter, Nero became “the store cat” (2) and his “entire universe is two book-lined rooms and a series of strangers, a few of whom feed him” (25). Nero seems content there. Malcolm notes that Nero “loves his life in the bookstore” (181).

Brian Murray is the co-owner of Old Devils and a mystery author. He is 60, but looks older, and “writes the Ellis Fitzgerald series” (50). This series inspired Gwen to go into law enforcement. However, Brian is “an alcoholic, a functioning one, but barely. He writes his yearly book in about two months and takes the rest of the year off to drink” (131). Brian lives in Boston, while his wife, Tess Murray mostly lives in Florida and owns a jewelry store there. She used to be a publicist and is much younger than Brian.

Brian is somewhat of a static character. He is known for telling the “exact same stories” (131), or being a “habitual storyteller” (57). After he breaks his arm, Tess comes to stay with him. They are revealed to have a somewhat open marriage and Tess is interested in sleeping with Malcolm after checking in with Brian about it. Malcolm mistakes her desire for sex as a murderous desire, but she is consistently flirtatious with him.