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#Youdunnit: Three Short Stories
One crowdsourced storyline, three finely crafted stories by Penguin authors Nicci French, Tim Weaver and Alastair Gunn.
What crime has been committed?
Who is the victim?
And who will solve the case?
Write a short crime story, using plot details crowdsourced on Twitter. This was the challenge we put to three Penguin authors - Nicci French, Time Weaver and Alastair Gunn. How different would the stories be? And how would the authors cope, with so much of the detail out of their hands?
#Youdunnit
Three very different murders and three unique takes on your travel photographer turned reluctant sleuth, Lucinda Berrington. Deep in the suffocating British countryside, the gangland streets of Cape Town or the glossy world of professional cycling, Twitter followers are meeting an unsavoury demise.
Maybe next time you log in you'll wonder...
Are you following them, or are they following you?
This ebook is brought to you free of charge by Penguin, in association with Specsavers.
Look out for other titles by all three authors:
Thursday's Children by Nicci French, follows Blue Monday, Tuesday's Gone and Waiting for Wednesday as the fourth in the Frieda Klein series.
Richard & Judy book club pick Never Coming Back is the fourth David Raker thriller by Tim Weaver, author of Vanished,Chasing the Dead and The Dead Tracks.
Alastair Gunn's debut crime novel, The Advent Killer, is available from Penguin from November 2013, and introduces DCI Antonia Hawkins.
107 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
8 people are currently reading
148 people want to read
About the author
Nicci French
80 books3,694 followersNote: (Nicci Gerrard and Sean French also write separately.)
Nicci Gerrard was born in June 1958 in Worcestershire. After graduating with a first class honours degree in English Literature from Oxford University, she began her first job, working with emotionally disturbed children in Sheffield. In that same year she married journalist Colin Hughes.
In the early eighties she taught English Literature in Sheffield, London and Los Angeles, but moved into publishing in 1985 with the launch of Women's Review, a magazine for women on art, literature and female issues.
In 1987 Nicci had a son, Edgar, followed by a daughter, Anna, in 1988, but a year later her marriage to Colin Hughes broke down.
In 1989 she became acting literary editor at the New Statesman, before moving to the Observer, where she was deputy literary editor for five years, and then a feature writer and executive editor.
It was while she was at the New Statesman that she met Sean French.
Sean French was born in May 1959 in Bristol, to a British father and Swedish mother. He too studied English Literature at Oxford University at the same time as Nicci, also graduating with a first class degree, but their paths didn't cross until 1990. In 1981 he won Vogue magazine's Writing Talent Contest, and from 1981 to 1986 he was their theatre critic. During that time he also worked at the Sunday Times as deputy literary editor and television critic, and was the film critic for Marie Claire and deputy editor of New Society.
Sean and Nicci were married in Hackney in October 1990. Their daughters, Hadley and Molly, were born in 1991 and 1993.
By the mid-nineties Sean had had two novels published, The Imaginary Monkey and The Dreamer of Dreams, as well as numerous non-fiction books, including biographies of Jane Fonda and Brigitte Bardot.
In 1995 Nicci and Sean began work on their first joint novel and adopted the pseudonym of Nicci French. The Memory Game was published to great acclaim in 1997 followed by The Safe House (1998), Killing Me Softly (1999), Beneath the Skin (2000), The Red Room (2001), Land of the Living (2002), Secret Smile (2003), Catch Me When I Fall (2005), Losing You (2006) and Until It's Over (2008). Their latest novel together is What To Do When Someone Dies (2009).
Nicci and Sean also continue to write separately. Nicci still works as a journalist for the Observer, covering high-profile trials including those of Fred and Rose West, and Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr. Novels include Things We Knew Were True (2003), Solace (2005) and The Moment You Were Gone (2007). Sean's last novel is Start From Here (2004).
Nicci Gerrard was born in June 1958 in Worcestershire. After graduating with a first class honours degree in English Literature from Oxford University, she began her first job, working with emotionally disturbed children in Sheffield. In that same year she married journalist Colin Hughes.
In the early eighties she taught English Literature in Sheffield, London and Los Angeles, but moved into publishing in 1985 with the launch of Women's Review, a magazine for women on art, literature and female issues.
In 1987 Nicci had a son, Edgar, followed by a daughter, Anna, in 1988, but a year later her marriage to Colin Hughes broke down.
In 1989 she became acting literary editor at the New Statesman, before moving to the Observer, where she was deputy literary editor for five years, and then a feature writer and executive editor.
It was while she was at the New Statesman that she met Sean French.
Sean French was born in May 1959 in Bristol, to a British father and Swedish mother. He too studied English Literature at Oxford University at the same time as Nicci, also graduating with a first class degree, but their paths didn't cross until 1990. In 1981 he won Vogue magazine's Writing Talent Contest, and from 1981 to 1986 he was their theatre critic. During that time he also worked at the Sunday Times as deputy literary editor and television critic, and was the film critic for Marie Claire and deputy editor of New Society.
Sean and Nicci were married in Hackney in October 1990. Their daughters, Hadley and Molly, were born in 1991 and 1993.
By the mid-nineties Sean had had two novels published, The Imaginary Monkey and The Dreamer of Dreams, as well as numerous non-fiction books, including biographies of Jane Fonda and Brigitte Bardot.
In 1995 Nicci and Sean began work on their first joint novel and adopted the pseudonym of Nicci French. The Memory Game was published to great acclaim in 1997 followed by The Safe House (1998), Killing Me Softly (1999), Beneath the Skin (2000), The Red Room (2001), Land of the Living (2002), Secret Smile (2003), Catch Me When I Fall (2005), Losing You (2006) and Until It's Over (2008). Their latest novel together is What To Do When Someone Dies (2009).
Nicci and Sean also continue to write separately. Nicci still works as a journalist for the Observer, covering high-profile trials including those of Fred and Rose West, and Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr. Novels include Things We Knew Were True (2003), Solace (2005) and The Moment You Were Gone (2007). Sean's last novel is Start From Here (2004).
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 11, 2014
Time for a mini review:
This was an OK collection but it did seem a little disjointed. I know that this is likely because of how it was conceived, but I think it could have still been much stronger. It did bring together some authors I enjoyed and you could tell the different writing styles but they worked well together.
This was an OK collection but it did seem a little disjointed. I know that this is likely because of how it was conceived, but I think it could have still been much stronger. It did bring together some authors I enjoyed and you could tell the different writing styles but they worked well together.
March 22, 2018
3 different authors. 3 different stories. The same plot points chosen by twitter. Will they inevitably write the same story?
Well, the answer is no. Each story was completely different.
The Following by Nicci French
I liked her aspect of Jo being Lucinda’s friend and them wanting to grow old together before the tragedy struck.
I also liked how she wrote Lucinda’s character. It was a bit relatable in a way.
All in all, her version was a nice point of view but it lacked a bit of power to it. So, this one got 3 stars from me.
Disconnection by Tim Weaver
This one was tougher for me to get into but I liked the way the crime and the murder were introduced.
My main issue with this story was that according to the points twitter chose, Lucinda is supposed to be our heroine, our main character. But this wasn’t the case here. More than half of the story is about Zill, while Lucinda is more of a side character.
This one got 2.5 stars from me.
Hashtag, bodybag by Alastair Gunn
To be honest here (and no offense) I had never heard of Alastair Gunn before, but out of the three stories, this one was the best in my opinion!
I liked Lucinda’s introduction and job. Her role in the story was very logical and in my opinion the relation of all the victims made most sense in this story than in the other two.
I give this one 3.5 stars
This was a fun & quick read and I would recommend it to anyone who likes crime stories & experiments.
Well, the answer is no. Each story was completely different.
The Following by Nicci French
I liked her aspect of Jo being Lucinda’s friend and them wanting to grow old together before the tragedy struck.
I also liked how she wrote Lucinda’s character. It was a bit relatable in a way.
All in all, her version was a nice point of view but it lacked a bit of power to it. So, this one got 3 stars from me.
Disconnection by Tim Weaver
This one was tougher for me to get into but I liked the way the crime and the murder were introduced.
My main issue with this story was that according to the points twitter chose, Lucinda is supposed to be our heroine, our main character. But this wasn’t the case here. More than half of the story is about Zill, while Lucinda is more of a side character.
This one got 2.5 stars from me.
Hashtag, bodybag by Alastair Gunn
To be honest here (and no offense) I had never heard of Alastair Gunn before, but out of the three stories, this one was the best in my opinion!
I liked Lucinda’s introduction and job. Her role in the story was very logical and in my opinion the relation of all the victims made most sense in this story than in the other two.
I give this one 3.5 stars
This was a fun & quick read and I would recommend it to anyone who likes crime stories & experiments.
March 7, 2021
Three short stories based on the same premise by three authors.
It's good to see how different people come up with different stories, all involving death/murder and twitter and a photographer.
It's good to get a taste of the author's style of writing too.
It's good to see how different people come up with different stories, all involving death/murder and twitter and a photographer.
It's good to get a taste of the author's style of writing too.
May 21, 2023
It was interesting to see the different approach that three different authors can take a story and make it their own.
June 7, 2014
This was a free book on Kindle and I got it as one of the stories was by Nicci French who I really like.It was an interesting concept, three different stories by three different authors which all contain the same information that was given by twitter users. My favourite was the Nicci French story and the last one, Hashtag Bodybag was good but Disconnection was just okay.
November 10, 2013
This was an excellent little collection, with the plotlines etc being thought up by Twitter followers. Three very different authors create three very different stories for the same main character, she being the only constant. Excellent stuff.
December 27, 2014
3.5 stars.
It's hard to criticise elements of the plots due to it being mainly based on twitter's suggestions.
Nicci French's was good, but quite obvious and simple.
Tim Weaver's was the best, complex with a frustrating ending.
Alastair Gunn's was the weakest, yet still enjoyable.
It's hard to criticise elements of the plots due to it being mainly based on twitter's suggestions.
Nicci French's was good, but quite obvious and simple.
Tim Weaver's was the best, complex with a frustrating ending.
Alastair Gunn's was the weakest, yet still enjoyable.
February 5, 2014
Very clever who dunnit stories using the same charatcer names - really liked this book.
February 3, 2015
Loved this book. Something a bit different, three short stories with the same characters and scenario.
April 4, 2014
Decent stories but the Twitter plotline was just weak. A couple of points were forced in so felt rather "Cleudo"
June 24, 2014
Very easy read. Sometimes when you read different sides of the story it gets confusing but the book seemed to follow.
July 15, 2015
Interesting concept, crowd-sourced stories, and seeing how each author uses the same basic premise.
Rather disconcerting that the main protagonist has the same name in each story.
OK stories
Rather disconcerting that the main protagonist has the same name in each story.
OK stories
October 9, 2015
Great idea. My recommendation is to stagger reading it over a longish period of time, so that you "forget" the previous iteration before embarking upon the next one.
June 15, 2015
First one good, second one a bit lame, third one - it's getting really silly now!
April 15, 2017
a nice couple of short stories on my kindle
March 24, 2017
Three good authors come together to make this quick and enjoyable read :) xx
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews