I picked up Peter Swanson’s Nine Lives because everything I read about it mentioned Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. I can see that it’s a riff off the classic. I’ll admit, though, by the time the characters were killed off in Nine Lives, I was really only waiting to see what method was used. The deaths didn’t come as a surprise.

Nine people receive envelopes containing a list of nine names. While most didn’t recognize any of them, FBI agent Jessica Winslow, whose own name is on the list, has a vague recollection that her father might have known someone with one of the names. And, when the first death occurs, a drowning, Jessica suggests to the investigators they might want to look into the background of the parents rather than the names on the list. As one of the names on the list, Jessica has protection, and she’s not allowed to work on the case. In fact, a fellow agent encourages her to leave town.

Why would it help to leave town? Those nine people live all over the country. They seem to have nothing in common. Two of the names on the list are much older than the others. But, someone is picking them off one by one.

As I said, I picked up the book looking for a resemblance to And Then There Were None. Although the book was fast-paced and I tore through it, I did get a little bored with the lists, and here’s another murder. My favorite character in the entire book was actually a secondary one, Detective Sam Hamilton. He was at the scene of the first murder in Kennewick, Maine. Hamilton’s own background is fascinating. He’s of British and Jamaican ancestry, and spent a great deal of time with his grandmother in England. Sam’s grandmother collected Agatha Christie novels and introduced him to those books. He caught a connection between the lists and Christie’s classic novel, and read it several times while the investigation was ongoing. Personally, I’d like to see Sam Hamilton as the lead investigator in his own mystery.

Nine Lives was a quick weekend read, but I’d suggest Agatha Christie instead.

Peter Swanson’s website is https://www.peter-swanson.com/

Nine Lives by Peter Swanson. William Morrow, 2022. ISBN 9780062980076 (hardcover), 320p.

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