I love detective novels.

Scratch that. I love good detective novels.

Michael W Lucas’s “git commit murder” is not a good detective novel.

Michael W Lucas’s “git commit murder” is an excellent detective novel.

It is one of the best, if not the best, detective novels that I have read recently.

The plot is entertaining.

The characters are not just believable but entirely relatable.

The same is true of the overall setting and ambience.

I suspect that many of the few of you reading this will be able to relate to the location and its theme(s), to the concerns of the main character - from their social anxiety to wondering why their laptop bag is constantly so heavy - and to the myriad tech points so deftly woven throughout the novel.

I love Agatha Christie’s novels, set in the fading “glory” of country estates, and with people coming to terms with their new lifestyles after the world wars.

I love their detail, their twists, and the depth of the characters (mostly).

But I can’t relate to them in the same way that I related to “git commit murder”. They are just so far removed from my own experience.

A tech conference, where I don’t know many people, where I struggle in loud venues with alcohol-fuelled cliques? Now that’s something I understand.

The plot is engaging without being unduly complicated, and there is a raft of potential contenders for the role of murderer, with no particular leaning one way or another until the very end.

The identity of the murderer, and their rationale, did not surprise me at all - I don’t think it was intended to be a surprise - but nor did I reach that point being absolutely sure who it was.

Basically, I very much enjoyed this.

The fact that “git commit murder” is available DRM-free, from the author’s own website, for $5? Even better.

And there’s a sequel, which I am hastily loading onto my ereader.

You know what I’d really enjoy? A low budget, fan-made, film of it.