Eight Perfect Murders describes the plots of the mystery books with supposedly undetectable crimes that Malcolm lists on the Old Devils Bookstore blog. Other novels are also discussed in varying degrees of detail. One important author in Swanson’s novel, and in the genre of mystery generally, is Agatha Christie. Her novel The A.B.C. Murders is the model for the first murder that FBI Agent Mulvey discusses with Malcolm. The last book Malcolm reads before dying by suicide is And Then There Were None, also by Christie. Christie is a popular mystery author from the early 1900s whose work has been performed in theaters, as well as adapted for movies and television. Much of her extensive oeuvre features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, who has been portrayed by actors such as Kenneth Branagh, David Suchet, and John Malkovich. The latter acted in a 2018 miniseries of The A.B.C. Murders, which can offer context for Swanson’s novel. Malcolm also rereads and considers Christie’s Murder of Roger Ackroyd before his death.

The history of the mystery genre can be traced to “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe, published in the mid-1800s.