The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Aiden wakes up to an urgent banging at the front door. Astonishingly, the man at the front door is Doctor Sebastian Bell; Aiden is now inhabiting the body of the butler, Mr. Collins, and experiencing the previous day for a second time. Aiden watches the scene from the previous morning replay, with Sebastian urgently asking for help, and Daniel Coleridge stepping in to help him. Panicked and confused, Aiden runs out of the kitchen and collides with Gregory Gold. Gold begins attacking and beating Aiden until he “can barely breathe, barely see. I’m sobbing, buried by pain” (65). Aiden passes out.

Plague Doctor explains that every day Aiden will wake up in the body of a different host. Aiden realizes with shock that “It wasn’t a dream after all, it really happened. I lived the same day twice in the bodies of two different people” (67). Aiden’s true appearance and identity have been stripped from him and won’t be returned until he leaves Blackheath. In order to escape, he has to find a murderer, but the Plague Doctor does not yet give him any details about the crime or victim. The day will repeat eight times, so Aiden will have eight chances to try and solve the crime.