Evelyn Clarke is the pseudonym for V.E. Schwab and Cat Clarke, and The Ending Writes Itself is their first novel written together. It is an entertaining mystery story, although I found it too easy to figure out whodunnit.

The Ending Writes Itself is about six authors who are invited to the private Scottish island of famous bestselling mystery author Arthur Fletch. They think they have each been lucky enough to secure an invitation to one of Fletch’s exclusive salons, but instead they are told Arthur Fletch is dead and that they have been brought to his island for a competition to complete his unfinished final novel. The winner gets $2 million dollars and a three-book deal with Fletch’s publisher.

With their phones and laptops locked away in a safe, the six authors have seventy-two hours to turn in their pages (written old school on a typewriter) to Fletch’s editor, the only other person staying on the island. But then threatening messages begin to appear and the bodies start piling up, leaving the authors to wonder if one of them might actually be a killer.

What I like about The Ending Writes Itself is that the characters are for the most part sympathetic and despite being in competition with each other, their behaviour towards each other isn’t really cutthroat, so when they started getting picked off, I was actually feeling distressed over their deaths.

But what is really interesting is how Schwab and Clarke’s own agents and editors let them get away with the many criticisms of the publishing industry that populate this novel. Seriously, the publishing industry is the real villain of the story. I knew before reading The Ending Writes Itself how toxic the publishing industry can be, but I really hope agents and editors are not actually doing the kind of stuff they do in this novel, ha ha. :-/

Despite it being pretty obvious for a seasoned mystery reader such as myself who the killer is, I think fans of mystery novels will still get a kick out of this one.