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The Man on the Endless Stair
Overview
In this vivid, brilliantly realized new mystery, a bestselling author entrusts an old friend with finishing his final novel, but when he arrives at the remote Scottish island to hear the final wishes, the writer is found murdered and the manuscript has vanished . . . When troubled but talented young author Euan meets decorated novelist Malcolm Furnivall, he feels his luck has finally changed. Malcolm takes Euan as a protégé, vouching for him in the rarefied literary scene in the 1950s. But lately, Malcolm has not been himself. Consumed by his work, he cuts an increasingly isolated figure and has become convinced that something terrible will befall him. He summons his loved ones to his secluded island in the Hebrides and--to everyone's surprise--entrusts Euan with the task of completing his masterpiece. Malcolm's suspicions soon prove well-founded; he is discovered brutally murdered in his study, and his invaluable unfinished novel has vanished. Cut off from the mainland, with the killer on the loose and the island's inhabitants circling, Euan feels both his mentor's legacy and his only chance at greatness slipping away. He must venture deep into Malcolm's labyrinthine mansion to find the manuscript before it falls into the wrong hands. But what he doesn't yet know is that the closer he comes to solving the mystery, the tighter he will bind himself to a fate more dangerous than anything he's yet imagined.
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9798897100071
- ISBN-10: 9798897100071
- Publisher: Pegasus Crime
- Publish Date: December 2025
- Dimensions: 9.14 x 6.15 x 1.19 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
- Page Count: 304
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The Man on the Endless Stair has a classic setup: A struggling young writer, Euan, is summoned to one of the isolated Hebrides islands by his mentor, literary lion Malcolm Furnivall, and asked to complete his manuscript—much to the dismay of others on the island, especially Malcolm’s adult children. Euan views this as the chance of a lifetime, but soon after he arrives, Malcolm’s wife warns, “He has changed. He sees us as characters. He will hurt you. He will hurt everyone. Something is coming, and you will be at the centre.” Malcolm confesses that he fears for his life, and, indeed, he is mysteriously murdered not long after Euan’s arrival. With communication to the mainland cut off, Euan desperately searches for Malcolm’s missing manuscript while trying to identify the killer lurking in his midst. It’s a classic locked-room (or locked-island) whodunit, with chapters full of creepy action and unsettling revelations. Euan is not sure whom to trust among the handful of people who surround him, including Malcolm’s wife, children, lawyer, staff and a neighbor, and he becomes increasingly less sure of the lines between fiction and reality. Scottish novelist Chris Barkley sets his debut in the 1950s, and Euan is haunted by not only his experiences fighting in World War II, but also the memory of his sister, Julia, who disappeared, leaving Euan to feel responsible for not protecting her from their father. Soon after the murder, in fact, Euan spots a child running outside who looks like Julia, which makes him question whether he has seen a ghost, a hallucination or an actual child. From the start, Barkley’s engaging prose transports readers to a different time and place, one laden with urgency and imminent danger. The beauty of this book is the delicate narrative balance that Barkley strikes—the story contains elements of horror and the supernatural, and even time-bending physics. Malcolm’s writing has always made Euan “believe in things at the edge of possibility,” and he notes of his hero, “Even in death, he held sway over me; I was inside his puzzle box.” In fact, Euan notes, “I felt like one of his characters, here on my own island, searching for the conclusion.” The conclusion is a humdinger, a mind-blowing fever dream that will leave readers’ heads spinning. The Man on the Endless Stair is a decidedly apt title: Barkley’s novel will leave readers feeling as if they’re inside one of M.C. Escher’s illusionary paintings.
The Man on the Endless Stair has a classic setup: A struggling young writer, Euan, is summoned to one of the isolated Hebrides islands by his mentor, literary lion Malcolm Furnivall, and asked to complete his manuscript—much to the dismay of others on the island, especially Malcolm’s adult children. Euan views this as the chance of a lifetime, but soon after he arrives, Malcolm’s wife warns, “He has changed. He sees us as characters. He will hurt you. He will hurt everyone. Something is coming, and you will be at the centre.” Malcolm confesses that he fears for his life, and, indeed, he is mysteriously murdered not long after Euan’s arrival. With communication to the mainland cut off, Euan desperately searches for Malcolm’s missing manuscript while trying to identify the killer lurking in his midst. It’s a classic locked-room (or locked-island) whodunit, with chapters full of creepy action and unsettling revelations. Euan is not sure whom to trust among the handful of people who surround him, including Malcolm’s wife, children, lawyer, staff and a neighbor, and he becomes increasingly less sure of the lines between fiction and reality. Scottish novelist Chris Barkley sets his debut in the 1950s, and Euan is haunted by not only his experiences fighting in World War II, but also the memory of his sister, Julia, who disappeared, leaving Euan to feel responsible for not protecting her from their father. Soon after the murder, in fact, Euan spots a child running outside who looks like Julia, which makes him question whether he has seen a ghost, a hallucination or an actual child. From the start, Barkley’s engaging prose transports readers to a different time and place, one laden with urgency and imminent danger. The beauty of this book is the delicate narrative balance that Barkley strikes—the story contains elements of horror and the supernatural, and even time-bending physics. Malcolm’s writing has always made Euan “believe in things at the edge of possibility,” and he notes of his hero, “Even in death, he held sway over me; I was inside his puzzle box.” In fact, Euan notes, “I felt like one of his characters, here on my own island, searching for the conclusion.” The conclusion is a humdinger, a mind-blowing fever dream that will leave readers’ heads spinning. The Man on the Endless Stair is a decidedly apt title: Barkley’s novel will leave readers feeling as if they’re inside one of M.C. Escher’s illusionary paintings.