The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

“I failed her this morning, and it’s all I’ve thought about since. Now that I have a second chance, I cannot turn my back.”

Responsibility and protectiveness are strong traits in Aiden’s character. At a time when he believes that he could leave Blackheath, he chooses to jeopardize his own safety and remain at the house because he feels a strong impulse to try and help Anna. Aiden doesn’t have any context or justification for this feeling, but he obeys it anyway. Aiden’s impulse to protect and defend Anna parallels his subsequent feelings of protectiveness towards Evelyn and his desire to avenge his sister’s death.

“This isn’t a celebration, it’s a punishment, and there’ll be fifty people in their very finest clothes watching it happen.”

Evelyn explains to Aiden that she is aware of her parents’ intentions and plans, revealing that she is a shrewd and observant character. Evelyn is also not sentimental and has accepted the toxic and vengeful nature of her relationship to her family. Evelyn points out the juxtaposition between a seemingly joyful celebration and the dark plans that she can sense are waiting for her. The mention of 50 people witnessing the punishment reflects the theme of witnesses and spectacles, which is prevalent throughout the novel. Part of what makes Evelyn’s supposed murder such an interesting crime is that it is highly public, many people watch it happen, and yet almost no one correctly understands what is actually happening.

“‘You were a doctor,’ he says. ‘Then a butler, today a playboy, tomorrow a banker. None of them is your real face, or your real personality. Those were stripped from you when you entered Blackheath, and they won’t be returned until you leave.’”

The Plague Doctor explains to Aiden that he is moving between the bodies of hosts, revealing a key plot element and narrative device. This information also sets the stage for Aiden’s key motivation, which will drive the conflict of the rest of the novel: He wants to stop moving between host bodies and reclaim his own true identity. The possibility that Aiden will never get out, and never have access to his true self again, becomes a chilling threat.

“‘I am you, just four days ahead,’ he says, pausing to let my mind ram itself against the idea. ‘Daniel Coleridge is your final host.’”

Aiden makes a key mistake when he believes Daniel Coleridge’s claim to be a future host. This mistake leads Aiden to trust Daniel and treat him as an ally for most of the plot, which puts both Aiden and Anna in grave danger. Aiden might be quick to trust Daniel because he is so terrified and overwhelmed at this point that it is a relief for him to have anyone he can confide in and work with.

“Whatever happened yesterday, it will happen tomorrow and the day after. I promise you, however you may consider interfering, you’ve already tried and it’s already failed.”

When he learns that Evelyn is going to die, Aiden’s first instinct to prevent her death. He shows a traditional heroic attitude of believing that he has agency and free will and wants to use these attributes for good by preventing the death of an innocent person. Daniel confronts Aiden with a much more fatalistic logic, revealing a central philosophical tension in the novel. Part of what Aiden must learn at Blackheath is whether individual agency and action actually mean anything. Because Aiden doesn’t remember what has happened in his previous attempts to solve the crime, he also can’t objectively evaluate whether individual actions make a difference or not.

“Among the ink bottles, envelopes, and ribbons scattered on it, there’s a large, lacquered case with two revolver shaped hollows in the cushion. The revolvers themselves are nowhere to be seen, though I suspect Evelyn brought one of them to the graveyard.”

Aiden sees that two guns have been taken from Lady Helena Hardcastle’s room. Aiden has already lived through the day several times before, so he knows that hours later, Evelyn will come to the graveyard with a gun and tell him it belongs to her mother. An event that is technically in the future is already known to Aiden, allowing him to have a more complex understanding of how events connect to each other. This incident is a good example of how the plot device of time travel and body switching contribute to Aiden’s success as a detective trying to solve a crime. The two missing guns will also be a key clue allowing Aiden to finally understand and solve Evelyn’s death.

“He offered me freedom in return for solving a murder that wouldn’t look like a murder, but I watched Evelyn shoot herself after fleeing a dinner in despair. There can be no doubt about her actions or motivations, which makes me wonder at my captor’s.” 

Aiden is extremely confused when he first sees Evelyn shoot herself, because he doesn’t understand how her death can be both a murder and a suicide. His confusion reflects the themes of secrets, deceptions, and appearances differing from reality, since Aiden will later come to understand that his initial interpretation of Evelyn’s death is almost entirely wrong. Aiden’s utter conviction is also ironic, because as the plot unfolds, Evelyn’s actions and motivations become much murkier. Aiden’s affection for Evelyn and desire to protect her leads him to take a situation at face value, rather than reflect more critically.

“The gun she used to take her life was a silver pistol. Why would she change weapons?”

After witnessing Evelyn’s death for the first time, Aiden shows his ability to notice small details, even while also being emotionally upset and disturbed. Aiden knows that in the graveyard, Evelyn had a black revolver with her (taken from her mother’s bedroom), and he is confused as to why she would use a different gun to shoot herself only a few hours later. Even though Aiden can’t yet make sense of this observation, his attention to detail helps him to move a tiny bit closer to solving the murder. The observation also reflects traditional detective novel tropes, as the “detective” pays close attention to crime scenes and notices things that the ordinary observer would miss.

“‘One loop after another, I experimented, making these sorts of decisions for each of your hosts, arriving at the order you’re experiencing now,’ he says, spreading his hands magnanimously. ‘In my opinion, this is the sequence that gives you the best chance of solving the mystery.’”

The Plague Doctor reveals his role in the game. He is not just a passive observer or an enforcer of rules, but he actively intervenes in the game to give Aiden an advantage over the other players. Within the world of the novel, the Plague Doctor functions almost as a kind of god-like figure. He takes pride in his ability to design and modify the setup of the game.

“I’m expected at the reflecting pool in ten minutes, and I can’t be late. In fact, that’s why I’m here. I need the silver pistol you took from the doctor.”

Evelyn seemingly reveals how a death that appears to be by suicide is actually a murder: According to her, she is being blackmailed into taking her own life. This detail affirms Aiden’s desire to help her, but it also shows him being quick to trust her. Aiden also doesn’t question why Evelyn insists on having the silver pistol, rather than using a different weapon. This detail hints that there may be more to the death by suicide plot than Evelyn is revealing.

“Cunningham isn’t my illegitimate child, Dance. He’s my wife’s. Charlie Carver was his father.”

Lord Hardcastle reveals that the supposed secret around Charles Cunningham is actually a red herring, designed to distract from the more scandalous truth. For a wealthy aristocrat like Lord Hardcastle to have an illegitimate child would not have been terribly shocking, and his wife would be expected to tolerate it. For a woman like Lady Helena to have had an affair would be much more scandalous. The reveal that Carver was actually Lady Helena’s lover shows that there is much more to the story of events surrounding the murder of Thomas Hardcastle.

“‘There was somebody else,’ I say slowly, clutching at the edge of memory. ‘A woman, I think. She’s the reason I came here, but I couldn’t save her.’”

Aiden never has full access to memories from his past life, but he is haunted throughout the novel by a sense of a failed duty to protect a woman he cared about. At various points, this desire seems to connect to either Anna, Evelyn, or both. As the plot progresses, Aiden regains more of his memories and starts to realize that someone else is the reason he’s at Blackheath. This idea is reinforced by Aiden being told repeatedly that he came to Blackheath of his own free will.

“If Miller’s right and Charlie Carver didn’t kill Thomas Hardcastle, chances are it was Helena Hardcastle, the spinner of this dreadful web we’re all tangled in, and the woman I’m increasingly convinced is at the center of it.”

Although solving Evelyn’s murder is the key to Aiden’s freedom, he becomes increasingly obsessed with the murder of her brother because he believes that the two deaths are connected. Investigating Thomas’s murder leads Aiden to grow increasingly suspicious of Lady Helena, and since he cannot track her down, she becomes cast in a more sinister light. Lady Helena is the only significant character whom Aiden never interacts with, and she becomes another red herring, distracting Aiden from what is really going on.

“I remember the guilt, the sorrow. I remember the regret. There aren’t images, there isn’t even a memory. It doesn’t matter. I can feel the truth of what she is saying.”

Anna reveals to Aiden that he murdered her in one of their previous loops, and he immediately knows that she is telling the truth. This revelation challenges the affection and protectiveness Aiden has felt for Anna throughout the plot. It also reminds Aiden that he doesn’t know who he has been in the past, or what he has been capable of. The realization that Aiden has been a cold-blooded murderer in his past foreshadows future revelations about other characters and provides a reminder that no one is truly who they seem.

“I should have seen it immediately. Daniel claimed he was the last of my hosts, but that can’t be true.”

Aiden abruptly realizes that Daniel Coleridge has been lying to him: Daniel claimed to be a future host, explaining why he was aware of the game, and leading Aiden to trust him as an ally. However, when Aiden counts up his hosts, he realizes that Daniel must actually be another player in the game. Because of this realization, Aiden is no longer sure whether he should trust Daniel or the Plague Doctor. Just as the stakes are at their highest because Aiden is almost out of time, he has to completely reassess key assumptions he has been relying on. 

“I find two guns inside. One is a harmless starting pistol […] The other is the black revolver Evelyn took from her mother’s room, the one she had in the forest this morning and will carry into the graveyard this evening. It’s loaded. A single bullet missing from the chamber. There’s also a vial of blood and a small syringe filled with a clear liquid.”

As Aiden begins to piece together more and more clues, he becomes increasingly suspicious about the circumstances of Evelyn’s death. When he uncovers these items, hidden somewhere where Evelyn can access them shortly before her death by suicide, Aiden confirms his suspicions. The missing bullets and other supplies give Evelyn the means to fake her own death.

“It’s very clever. Unfortunately, somebody’s going to use that fake suicide to murder you, which is a great deal cleverer.”

Evelyn is often puzzlingly unmoved by mentions of her own death, which the reader understands when we learn she is planning to fake a death by suicide. All of the mentions of her death have meant nothing, because she doesn’t think she is actually going to die. Aiden finally has the opportunity to warn her by explaining that someone is aware of her plan and is going to use it against her. 

“I can put a stop to it here and now, but only if you go along with it all. Point a gun at your stomach and play dead for half an hour.”

After Aiden reveals to Evelyn that someone is actually planning to kill her during her faked death by suicide, she understandably wants to abort her plan. However, Aiden insists that she go ahead so that he can try to flush out the killer. Although he doesn’t explain this to Evelyn, it is vital to Aiden that he find out who is going to kill her so that he and Anna can escape from Blackheath. By Evelyn confirming Aiden’s suspicions, he is now on the verge of uncovering the killer.

“Even so, she keeps on walking, the silver pistol glinting in her right hand, and the starting pistol in her left.”

The presence of the silver pistol rather than the black revolver at Evelyn’s death by suicide is a significant detail throughout the novel. Its significance is only clear when Aiden (knowing that the faked death is being used to cover up the murder) insists that Evelyn take the pistol. The switch of the weapon will communicate to the killer that something is off about the plan and will help Aiden to figure out who is trying to kill Evelyn. 

“That’s when I saw how you could commit the perfect crime, and why you needed two matching revolvers. Before pulling her out of the pool, all you had to do was shoot her in the stomach using the fireworks as cover for the second shot. The murder weapon would disappear into the murky water, and the bullet would match the identical gun she’d just dropped on the grass. Murder by suicide.”

Aiden reveals to Michael Hardcastle that he has finally figured out the murder. While Evelyn believed she was faking death by suicide and keeping herself safe from having to marry Ravencourt, Michael planned to actually kill her. The context of the fake death by suicide, particularly the use of two identical guns, ensured that Michael would be able to commit the crime undetected. Given that Aiden, Anna, and Daniel have been trying for years to solve this crime in successive loops, it is very important that the crime be cunning and innovative. Additionally, Aiden’s revelation follows traditional detective tropes, as the detective reveals the murderer among all of the major characters—a move that mimics Agatha Christie’s Poirot novels.

“Did he know it was poisoned? The alarm on his face suggests not. This was somebody else’s work. There’s another killer at Blackheath.”

For a brief moment, it seems like Aiden has solved Evelyn’s murder and won his freedom. But when Michael and Evelyn both show signs of poisoning, the case becomes more complicated since someone else was trying to kill both of them. Aiden still must do more to solve the case, and it is not clear whether he will be allowed to go free if he has not fully resolved all of the pieces.

“By locking prisoners inside the murder, we give them a chance to atone for their own crimes by solving somebody else’s It’s as much a service, as a punishment.”

The Plague Doctor explains to Aiden that Blackheath is a type of prison, and he also explains the ethical implications of this system. Whereas putting a criminal in a traditional prison only provides a certain kind of justice, forcing them to work to solve another crime means that they actually create justice within the world. The structure of the prison also forces individuals to gradually change their characters and rehabilitate themselves. In order to become people who could work together to solve a crime, both Aiden and Anna have to fundamentally change and redeem themselves.

“It wasn’t loyalty that brought you to Blackheath; it was vengeance. You didn’t come here to rescue Anna; you came for your pound of flesh.”

The Plague Doctor finally reveals that, prior to the beginning of this loop, Aiden hated Anna and came to Blackheath to torture her. This revelation forces Aiden to reevaluate who he is and whether he wants to free Anna. He has the option to leave her behind in Blackheath, and this might be the ultimate punishment. Aiden is initially presented as a caring and virtuous character with a lot of integrity, but over the course of the plot, it becomes clear that he is much more morally ambiguous.

“She’s soulless, conscienceless. I can barely believe she’s a person.”

Aiden initially cares deeply for Evelyn and is dedicated to protecting her, even at the risk of his own life. However, his trust is misplaced, and Evelyn turns out to be the killer he is hunting. When Aiden and Anna confront Evelyn and she tells them all about her violent history, including the murder of her own young brother, Aiden is shocked and horrified. While Aiden and Anna have dark pasts but have genuinely developed into better people, Evelyn has remained remorseless and evil throughout her life.