Fair Play

Louise Hegarty’s genre-splicing debut is a treat – clever, confident, and always surprising, a mystery story that ingeniously escapes the locked room of the genre to take on the biggest questions of life and death – Paul Murray, author of The Bee StingAs soon as I finished this fiendishly elegant jigsaw puzzle of a book, I dashed back and scoured its pages trying to find if Hegarty had planted a glinting, hidden clue somewhere to unlock the mystery * The Sunday Times *A brilliant dissection of the murder mystery format … Both funny and moving, it’s a really impressive debut – The Times, ‘Best Books of 2025 So Far’Dazzling, formally subversive, brimming with compassion, Fair Play explodes the conventions of a mystery in order to confront us with the genuinely mysterious. An emotional ambush of a novel, this book will delight readers – then it will haunt them – Colin Walsh, author of KalaIt takes skill, and even a sense of anarchy, to produce a novel as funny, baffling and occasionally moving as Fair Play – The Irish TimesA fiendishly designed, intricately layered, psychologically astute tale, and so elegantly written too. I’ve never read anything like it . . . a story of striking originality. I am full of admiration. – Emma Stonex, author of The LamplightersAn ingenious puzzle-box of a novel … Sad, funny, clever, engrossing; this is a wonderful debut. – Jon McGregor, author of Reservoir 13 Undoubtedly the most original crime novel you’ll read all year * The Guardian *[An] ingenious debut novel – The TelegraphA witty, knowing homage to classic detective fiction, but also a deeply sensitive examination of the loneliness and confusion of grief * The New York Times *Fair Play is ambitious and unpredictable and riotous and at the same time full of meaning and compassion. It’s a triumph – Lisa McInerney, author of The Glorious HeresiesWith each turn of a page the plot thickens masterfully and the form twists like a wicked game. Get to the Louise Hegarty party early, she’s brilliant – Jodie Harsh, author of You Had To Be There Each time you think you’ve got the measure of this clever and immensely readable debut, it turns around at the door, looks you in the eye, and offers up one more twist, one more audacious shattering of genre and convention that you never saw coming – Andrew McMillan, author of PityA smart, intricately plotted novel – iNewsActs as both witty deconstruction of a genre and portrait of unbearable grief and loss * Financial Times *I loved it … intriguing, smart, fun, and devastatingly poignant … I shall now read everything Louise Hegarty ever writes – Effie Black, author of In Defence of the ActIn crime novels, a death is often merely the inciting incident. Murder gets the party started, so to speak. Grief, the monster in the shadows that keeps you awake at night, rarely features. That Louise Hegarty has not only upended the genre, but combined this with a moving exploration of loss, makes this inventive debut all the more impressive * Irish Independent *Louise Hegarty is such a talented writer. In Fair Play, she delivers a Rubik’s Cube of a debut novel, both an expert evocation of a Golden Age mystery and something else entirely. I was moved and surprised and I can’t wait to see what she does next – Catherine Kirwan, author of Cruel DeedsA fantastical locked room mystery – PA ReviewFair Play shows how the true mysteries of death and life can elude the consolations of genre fiction … Fair play, indeed * The Wall street Journal *Amazing … a really modern, interesting, bizarre take on the murder mystery … It’s brilliant * LA Times *Hegarty follows the conventions of all the great traditional mysteries … and then twists them. Fair Play is set in a rural Irish country home, an Airbnb rented by a group of friends to celebrate New Year’s Eve with a murder-mystery theme party. When a guest is found dead the next morning, the friends are thrown into an investigation that references all the classic detective plot devices in such a twisty way that you’ll discover there are many more questions (and, eventually, answers) than you first realized – Elle, The Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2025

Louise Hegarty’s stories have appeared in Banshee, The Tangerine, The Stinging Fly and The Dublin Review and have been featured on BBC Radio 4. She was the inaugural winner of the Sunday Business Post/Penguin Ireland Short Story Prize and recently her story ‘Now, Voyager’ was produced as part of A City and A Garden, a new state-of-the-art sonic experience commissioned by Sounds from a Safe Harbour in association with Body & Soul and presented as part of Brightening Air | Coiscéim Coiligh. Fair Play is her debut novel.