Who Done It?

 Who Done It? (2013) by Jon Scieszka (compiler/editor)

Synopsis from the book flap: Can you imagine the most cantankerous book editor alive? Part Voldemort, part Cruella de Vil (if she were a dude), and worse in appearance and odor than a gluttonous farm pig? A man who makes no secret of his love of cheese or his disdain of unworthy authors? That man is Herman Mildew.

 
The anthology opens with an invitation to a party, care of this insufferable monster, where more than 80 of the most talented, bestselling and recognizable names in YA and children’s fiction learn that they are suspects in his murder. All must provide alibis in brief first-person entries. The problem is that all of them are liars, all of them are fabulists, and all have something to hide...

Let's start by saying that this was an admirable project--get 80ish authors to help put together a book that will be sold to benefit a nonprofit group that encourages young creative writers. That's a great project. I applaud it most sincerely. In theory, a whodunnit which featured 80 suspects all providing alibis and ostensibly letting the reader figure out the solution to who killed the odious Herman Q. Mildew, the editor of nightmares, sounds like a real winner. I was all ready to put my "little grey cells" to work and try to outwit the authors and discover the murderer.

However...

Please note that I cannot continue that thought without completely spoiling the book. If my one-star rating doesn't scare you off, then you probably won't want to continue reading until you've read this for yourself. 

However, this is, in my opinion, a huge hornswoggle. There is no cohesive plot. The reader will not pick up clues among the authors' alibis. There is no way to figure out "whodunnit" because [Here's the SPOILER] Herman Q. Mildew is NOT dead. Nobody killed him. The whole book is a sham. Now, if we believe some these authors, there have been some deaths along the way (and bless them for that because I can still count the book for the Medical Examiner Challenge) but none of those were Mildew. This could have been such a great project if, following in the footsteps of The Detection Club, there had been a real plot, a generally agreed-upon setting of the scene, and then the authors had proceeded (round-robin fashion) to write up their alibis--their side of the story, adding what details they might and those that followed need to take those new details into account. Then the reader could have sifted through clues laid down in the framing story as well as the alibis and had a chance to determine the killer. As it was, this was the biggest disappointment I've read so far this year. The only thing (well, things) that save it is that it was for a good cause and David Levithan's poem/albi which is a terrific send-up of a William Carlos Williams poem.  ★ for those two things.

First line: Ladies and gentlemen...and I use those terms loosely because I know you are all writers and illustrators...we have a bit of a situation.

Last line: You hold the answer to that question in your hands
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Deaths = 4 (one natural; one fell from height; one food poisoning; one frozen to death)