Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide

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McMasters dean Harbinger Harrow, offers the case studies of three pupils — Baltimore engineer Cliff Iverson (on full scholarship from a mysterious benefactor), British hospital worker Gemma Lindley, and incognito Hollywood star Dulcie Mown — to educate at-home students by example.

The campus of this "Poison Ivy League" college-its location unknown to even those who study there-is where you might find yourself the practice target of a classmate...and where one's mandatory graduation thesis is getting away with the perfect murder of someone whose death will make the world a much better place to live. Here Holmes successfully turns the mystery genre upside down by making us root for our three goodhearted killers, who if they fail, don’t just receive an F — they pay with their lives. Gulp. I turned to see Dobson with an identical .38 trained on me. Dobson explained, “The sergeant likes to make his empty gun a tempting prospect. Trying to steal an officer’s weapon is further evidence of guilt.”

The two men apparently found this amusing, but then Dobson inquired in a more serious tone, “So tell me, Cliff: No regrets for what you did?” The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother. Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide by Rupert Holmes is presented as a handbook written by Dean Harbinger Harrow of McMasters Conservatory and details the experiences of three students from the graduating class – aeronautics engineer Cliff Iverson (whose anonymous sponsor remains a mystery revealed at the end of the story), hospital employee Gemma Lindley and Dulcie Mown (alias for Hollywood diva Doria Maye) - each of whom seeks to execute a sanctioned deletion of their respective employer/boss. We follow all three candidates through their orientation, training and ultimately their “thesis” which translates into how to apply all they have learned in executing their plan, failing which has its own set of consequences. Much of Cliff Iverson’s story is told through journal entries (first person PoV). Dobson had not taken his eyes off my face, but it seemed safe to assume he didn’t have a schoolboy crush on me. “Were you planning to ask why I want to know where you were?” he asked with genuine curiosity. “See, usually when I ask someone for an alibi, they want to know why.” I have to be honest, I went into this with low expectations and was absolutely blown away. Murder your Employer follows the stories of three McMasters students as they prepare to, well, murder their employers. There are multiple POVs and an omniscient narrator, which I don't see a lot of but thought was the perfect choice for this book.

Which, okay. Fine, I could get used to. But then the book kind of deviates from its entire concept: it being a manual and it including written reports of these students. It just follows Gemma and Dulcie and Cliff on their separate murder planning from their own perspectives, no diaries involved. Like, if you're committing to a concept, why not follow through with it? An exclusive institution for aspiring murderers …oh sorry, I mean “deletists” situated in an undisclosed location, The McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts covers an expansive syllabus in the homicidal arts ranging from “Herbicide” to forgery to “Eroticide” and much more. Of course, the selection process for aspiring students is quite rigorous (the fate of rejected candidates is another matter, altogether!) and follows a procedure beginning with justifying one’s proposed “thesis” based upon certain principles, The Four Enquiries: Who hasn’t wondered for a split second what the world would be like if the object of your affliction ceased to exist? But then you’ve probably never heard of The McMasters Conservatory, dedicated to the consummate execution of the homicidal arts. To gain admission, a student must have an ethical reason for erasing someone who deeply deserves a fate no worse (nor better) than death. I'm purposely leaving out almost all plot details because it's way more fun to go into this one knowing almost nothing and just let the book happen to you. (I'm sure it would also be fun to try and figure out what's going to happen, but I'm not that kind of reader.)Although this beautifully designed DIY manual is full of twists, the emphasis is on comedy . . . but the extraordinary Holmes can pull the heartstrings too.’ THE TIMES Edgar winner Holmes frames this cheeky 1950s-set crime novel as a self-study guide for those who can’t afford tuition to the McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts, a ‘finishing school for finishing people off’ . . . [the] farcical plotting, idiosyncratic characters, and witty, stylish prose combine for a fun, frothy read. Fans of humorous historical fiction will be well entertained.” — Publishers Weekly

With dry humor and an eye for hidden clues, Rupert Holmes imagines a secret Hogwarts-like school that teaches the fine art of pulling off the perfect (and perfectly deserved) murder. An utterly creative and deliciously diabolical read.' Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling authorI handed Stedge his gun. “I was never going to shoot either of you,” I said, as if they might wish to understand me better. “There’s only one person in the world I want to kill, and I thought if I could get away from you, I might have a second chance.” I looked at their passive faces and mumbled, “You can’t understand.” A new novel from the man who wrote Swing (2005), Where the Truth Lies (2003), and “Escape (The Piña Colada Song).” So I was sunk. If Dobson knew enough to show me those sunglasses, then he had me dead to rights. I wondered if they planned to arrest me here and now. I sure would have liked a last beer before going to prison. I doubted they had beer in the death house. Certainly not draft. Suddenly, life imprisonment and a job in the library sounded like a vacation in sunny Madrid. A book begging to be read on the beach, with the sun warming the sand and salt in the air: pure escapism.