Eight Perfect Murders

How does the novel describe the labor involved in customer service generally, and the work of selling books specifically?

Is fiction always preferred to reality in the novel? How would you describe the relationship between reality and fiction?

How do the murders function as allusions? How do other allusions function in the novel?

What is the impact of including Malcolm’s entire blog post that inspires the murders within the novel? How could it be compared and contrasted with other descriptions of, and references to novels?

Do you agree or disagree with Malcolm’s list of perfect murders? What is a perfect murder?

How would you compare and contrast the books on Malcolm’s list with the other books that he reads and discusses in the novel?

How does the city of Boston serve the narrative, and how might the narrative be different in a smaller town or in a different regional area?

What is the significance of Malcolm identifying with his career as a bookseller, despite his distance from his work throughout most of the novel?