Murder Your Employer

Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide

Author	Rupert Holmes
Genre	Crime fiction
Publisher	Avid Reader
Publication date	2023
ISBN	9781451648218
Website	https://www.rupertholmes.com/murder-your-employer/

Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide is a mystery novel by Rupert Holmes, published in 2023. Murder Your Employer was No. 6 on the New York Times bestseller list,^[1] No. 6 in new releases on the international bestsellers list in Canada,^[2] No. 9 on Publishers Weekly bestsellers list,^[3] and No. 7 on USA Today bestseller list.^[4] The audiobook version of Murder Your Employer was a finalist in 2024 for the Audie Award for Mystery.^[5]

Murder Your Employer is the first volume of a series; Holmes estimates that the second volume, Murder Your Mate, will be available in late 2024.^[6]

Summary

McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts is a secretive school in an undisclosed location where individuals learn how to commit murder (or deletions, the term preferred by the school). Set in the 1950s and narrated by the dean of McMasters, Harbinger Harrow, Murder Your Employer follows the education of three students.

Cliff Iverson, an aircraft design engineer, is determined to murder his supervisor who had driven two of his co-workers to suicide and added critical design flaws to Iverson's aircraft design to save on costs. Gemma Lindley is being blackmailed by her supervisor who suspects Gemma of killing her dying father to alleviate his suffering. Dulcie Mown, a well-known Hollywood actress, is tormented by a predatory studio head.

After the three students complete their course of studies, they leave McMasters to finish their "thesis" (the murders). They will not all succeed.

Reception

Reviewers note how Holmes incorporates dry humor in Murder Your Employer. Syndicated critic Oline Cogdill calls the novel droll and irreverent.^[7] In the Los Angeles Times, Bethanne Patrick describes it as "a funny, fast-paced, flip-the-playbook mystery".^[8] Mark Sanderson writes in the Sunday Times, "Although this beautifully designed DIY manual is full of twists, the emphasis is on comedy."^[9] Syndicated critic Peter D. Kramer interviewed Holmes about his process in creating the world of McMasters, and compares the school to "a sort of Hogwarts for homicidalists".^[10]

References

1. "Hardcover Fiction". The New York Times. March 12, 2023. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
2. "International Bestsellers". The Vancouver Sun. March 4, 2023. p. C8.
3. "Bestsellers". The Spokesman-Review. March 5, 2023. p. D6.
4. "USA Today Bestsellers". Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona. May 26, 2024. ProQuest 3060095618.
5. "2024 Audie Awards Winners". Audio Publishers Association. January 25, 2024. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
6. Kramer, Peter D. (April 17, 2023). "Rupert Holmes interview on new book 'Murder Your Employer'". lohud.com. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
7. Cogdill, Oline H. (February 19, 2023). "'Murder Your Employer' just getting started". South Florida Sun Sentinel. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. p. E3.
8. Patrick, Bethanne (February 20, 2023). "If you like piña coladas, you might enjoy Rupert Holmes' new cozy mystery". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 12, 2023. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
9. Sanderson, Mark (February 18, 2023). "The McMasters Guide to Homicide: Vol 1 by Rupert Holmes review". The Sunday Times. London, England.
10. Kramer, Peter D. (April 23, 2023). "Secret college for killers". The Journal News. White Plains, New York. pp. C1, C3.