2011 comedic metafiction. Lacey and Paul are pot-growing siblings in
rural California, who find a headless corpse on their property. "Lisa"
and "David" are struggling authors who are alternating chapters of the
mystery they're writing, but still have significant issues to work out
from their former relationship…
So as a mystery, it doesn't really hold up, but it isn't meant
to. "Lisa" and "David" happily kill off each other's favourite
characters, wrench their personalities into different shapes, and
snipe at each other in the brief "email" exchanges at the end of each
chapter, as they gradually stop pretending even to like each other,
never mind to show any sort of respect for the joint work.
If you've ever collaborated on anything creative, parts of this will
certainly feel familiar, and the real Lutz and Hayward resist the urge
to make either of their avatars look particularly virtuous or
villainous. It's not the elegant parody that truly superb authors
might have managed, and some of the inside story drags, but
nonetheless it's enjoyable.
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