"Delightfully twisty and chilling all at once — murder mysteries are rarely this fun." —Jonathan Whitelaw, The Sun
Sir Lawrence Linwood is dead. More accurately, he was murdered—savagely beaten to death in his own study with a mediaeval mace. The murder calls home his three adopted children: Alan, an archeologist; Roger, an engineer; and Caroline, a journalist. But his heirs soon find that his last testament contains a strange proviso—that his estate shall go to the heir who solves his murder.
To secure their future, each Linwood heir must now dig into the past. As their suspicion mounts—of each other and of peculiar strangers in the churchless town of Linwood Hollow—they come to suspect that the perpetrator lurks in the mysterious origins of their own birth.

Christopher Huang grew up in Singapore, an only child in a family tree that expands dramatically sideways at his parents’ generation. He moved to Canada after his National Service, studied architecture at McGill, and settled down in Montreal, apparently for good. His first novel, A Gentleman’s Murder, was named a 2018 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year and is in development for television. He is also the author of the standalone mystery Unnatural Ends. A Pretender's Murder is his third novel.

Christopher Huang's profile page

“An immersive read with satisfyingly intricate plotting. Huang seamlessly incorporates issues that will resonate with twenty-first-century readers.” —Booklist (starred review)

"Delightful and immersive." —Foreword Reviews (starred review)

"[A] puzzle worthy of Golden Age detective fiction. Fans of historical mysteries and 1920s novels will welcome this twisted, complex story." —Library Journal (starred review)