The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Turton, Stuart. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. Sourcebooks Landmark, September 18, 2018. Kindle.

In the murder mystery The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, narrator Aiden Bishop learns hard truths about himself and others as he tries to save Evelyn, a woman he believes is being forced into marriage for money. This closed-circle mystery presents a twist when Aiden learns he is being held captive at the Blackheath Estate. He will not be allowed to leave unless he solves the crime. He is given eight days in which he will be “hosted” in the bodies of eight people at the estate to collect information and solve the crime.

Aiden, the narrator, wakes in the forest unaware of his identity or how he came to be there. He only remembers that he was searching for a woman named Anna. He hears a shot and a scream and believes that Anna has been murdered. An unidentified man sneaks up behind Aiden, puts a compass in his pocket, and instructs him to head east. By walking east, Aiden reaches Blackheath Estate. He insists he has witnessed a murder and that the police need to be called. A man named Daniel Coleridge takes charge of him. Coleridge tells Aiden that his name is Sebastian Bell and that he is a guest at the party. Additionally, he tells Aiden that one knows anyone by the name of Anna and no one is missing from the party.

Aiden wakes the following day in the body of the butler who opened the door at Blackheath when Aiden arrived with his claims that Anna had been murdered. He wakes the following day in a different room where a man wearing the mask of a Plague Doctor greets Aiden. The doctor tells him that Aiden will witness the murder of Evelyn, though that murder will not look like a murder. He has eight days to solve the murder and earn his release. Aiden will spend each of his eight days seeing the day’s events from the point of view of a different host.

Against the Plague Doctor’s advice, Aiden teams up with a woman named Anna, who was not murdered in the woods as Aiden had first believed. Anna is another prisoner searching for answers to Evelyn’s murder so she can escape Blackheath. Unlike Aiden, Anna sees the day only from her own point of view. She also has only one day to solve the murder. The doctor explains this is because Aiden came to Blackheath willingly while Anna was forced to be there.

As the eight days pass, Aiden begins to piece together an idea of what is happening at Blackheath. He realizes that Daniel is another competitor intent on giving Aiden misleading information. Aiden is also in danger of being killed by the footman, a man who uses a knife to torment and kill the guests who will host or have hosted Aiden. Aiden has promised Anna that he will not leave without her. He plans to find some way to free them both. However, that seems unlikely as he learns more about his situation. The final unmasking in this masquerade is a plot twist that involves mistaken identity, revenge, and proof that people really can change.