By Cooper Hofmann

 Rupert Holmes writes books centered around murder and is simultaneously a guy with the last name Holmes–which is my favorite kind of irony. Does he write books about killing people because of his last name, or is it just a really good coincidence? Personally, I think Holmes was built for writing about homicide, firstly, because he’s British, but secondly because the way he writes his novel, “Murder Your Employer: A McMaster’s Guide to Homicide,” is downright beguiling.

Holmes’ writing career has a looming shadow over it. A large, imposing, sickeningly catchy shadow. It took me skimming his Wikipedia page three times to realize that Holmes wasn’t just a child with bad luck when it came to his name. No, this 70-year-old British man wrote the song “Escape,” the song where a man sings for four minutes straight about Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain. So, this guy went from writing a song with half a billion listens on Spotify, to writing a book about killing your boss, a drastic change.

The book itself is a surprising hit. Holmes has dabbled with a variety of novels and plays. He started with “Accomplice: A Comedy Thriller,” then, after taking a 12-year hiatus while supposedly resting in his money from “Escape,” I imagine Holmes stopped hibernating, and typed out “Where The Truth Lied.” Unfortunately, I haven’t read his catalog, but Holmes does describe the book as a “tour de force” of such significant things as “sinister mystery.”

“Murder Your Employer” (MYE) follows three people, Cliff Iverson, Gemma Lindley, and Dulcie Morn. The thing that binds all three characters together is that they have comically evil bosses, ridiculously so. This leads the trio to find themselves at McMaster’s Conservatory for the Applied Arts, which by all definitions is a Hogwarts for murderers. The goal while at this school, is to eventually re-enter the world with newfound proficiency in gutting their bosses.

The biggest standout in this book, for me, is how well it owns its ridiculousness. On the first page of the book, we see a map of the conservatory, with Holmes proudly displaying that the school not only has a maze made of thistles but also a snake pit. When Cliff first makes it to the school and is practically thrown into a banquet with hundreds of other students, it’s revealed that one of the many dinner courses was just casually poisoned by school officials, and now they all have to figure it out or die. This book is so unserious but wears its absurdity on its sleeve. However, at the same time, this book holds just enough realism to immerse you in its storytelling.

Throughout the novel, I could vividly picture what the conservatory looked like and equally get lost in the awe-inspiring worldbuilding Holmes puts in place. I again want to emphasize how impressive that is. This book stares you in the face and says that Cliff has a pre-med class, then reveals that it isn’t a medical class, it is a Pre-Med(itated) murder class. Then it just moves on and you’re dragged along with it, because why wouldn’t there be a class on planning your murders in the school for murder; it’s comparable to homeroom for these characters. Everything dumb, outlandish, or colorfully creative, still fits into the setting so it’s remarkably easy to run with all of it.

And I can’t just move past that pun, because if it represents anything, it represents the goofy comedy I adore in this book. It’s so grimly eccentric that I have to love it. The book starts with the line, “So you’ve decided to commit a murder. Congratulations.” Holmes revels in a dark tone and mixes it perfectly with an aforementioned ridiculousness to balance it out. 

The characters themselves also have such noteworthy personalities: Cliff is a disgruntled engineer, Gemma is an overworked nurse, Dulcie is a trapped actress, and each character is motivated by an equally hateable boss. Cliff’s boss, for example, is the first we hear about, and his defining actions revolve around getting his employees killed or making them kill themselves. Holmes takes time to drive it home and make the reader hope that each would-be killer’s plan goes smoothly. 

Along that note, the thriller and mystery element of the novel comes into play when they get to the killing. It would be easy to just go and spend a chapter per kill but Holmes goes above and beyond to establish genuinely compelling, if not overcomplicated, and confusing murder plots that delight the reader to keep turning pages to see what happens next. 

Holmes has a sequel in the works, “Murder Your Mate,” that revolves around killing romantic partners. So it appears like Holmes will continue and make a series out of MYE. If I can cap this off with anything, it would first be a small prayer that the sequel curse doesn’t hit this series like a truck, and that Holmes keeps putting out amazing work. Secondly, on the off chance his book series goes downhill later on,  I implore you to pick up “Murder Your Employer” at some point in the future, because it truly is an exceptional read.