Not a Clue

In this life-size game of Clue, six psychiatric patients inParis's Saint Anne's Hospital are suspects in the murder of Dr. Black. Though Not a Clue tells the stories of these possible assassins, theirlives,and what has brought them to the hospital, the true focus of ChloéDelaume's intense and tumultuous novel is not merely to discoverthe identity of the murderer.Rather, bycleverly combining humor with the day-to-day effects of life's unrelenting compromises, Not a Clueis an astutecommentary on the current state of literary production and consumption. Masterfully juggling an omniscient narratrix, an accusing murder victim, at least six possible suspects as well as their psychiatrists, and a writer who intervenes by refusing to intervene, Delaume uses the characters, weapons, and rooms of the board game Clue to challenge-sometimes violently, sometimes playfully-the norms of typography, syntax, and narrative conventions.