false 1753875 4135863 1594202117 9781594202117 145 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1233004032m/4135863.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1233004032s/4135863.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4135863.The_Manual_of_Detection 3.62 348
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In an unnamed city always slick with rain, Charles Unwin toils as a clerk at a huge, imperious detective agency. All he knows about solving mysteries comes from the reports he's filed for the illustrious detective Travis Sivart. When Sivart goes missing and his supervisor turns up murdered, Unwin is suddenly promoted to detective, a rank for which he lacks both the skills and the stomach. His only guidance comes from his new assistant, who would be perfect if she weren't so sleepy, and from the pithy yet profound Manual of Detection.

Unwin mounts his search for Sivart, but is soon framed for murder, pursued by goons and gunmen, and confounded by the infamous femme fatale Cleo Greenwood. Meanwhile, strange and troubling questions proliferate: why does the mummy at the Municipal Museum have modern-day dental work? Where have all the city's alarm clocks gone? Why is Unwin's copy of the Manual missing Chapter 18? And will it ever stop raining?

When he discovers that Sivart's greatest cases—including The Three Deaths of Colonel Baker and The Man who Stole November 12th—were solved incorrectly, Unwin must enter the dreams of a murdered man and face a criminal mastermind bent on total control of a slumbering city.

The Manual of Detection will draw comparison to every work of imaginative fiction that ever blew a reader's mind—from Carlos Ruiz Zafón to Jorge Luis Borges, from The Big Sleep to The Yiddish Policeman's Union. But, ultimately, it defies comparison; it is a brilliantly conceived, meticulously realized novel that will change what you think about how you think.

"I was impressed, besotted, and transported by The Manual of Detection. Such a great book! Surprising and completely satisfying, with mythic images and precise sentences. I wish I'd written it, but I'm almost as happy just to have read it."
—Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club and Wit's End

"Inventive, atmospheric, and fiendishly delightful. If you've ever fallen under the spell of Borges, Ray Bradbury, or Angela Carter, I urge you to acquire your own copy of The Manual of Detection."
—Kelly Link, author of Magic for Beginners and Pretty Monsters

"I feel like I found the thesis Encyclopedia Brown wrote after he grew up and went to Hogwarts. Except that in parts it's like the movie Brazil. I don't know whether there's a plan for a sequel, but I want more."
—Alexander Chee, author of Edinburgh
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