Authorised Murder is a fun murder mystery that is quite different from all of the other Asimov books that I've read. The idea behind the bok is really meta. Asimov is at a book conference where he has to write a story about a murder at a book conference. It just so happens that there is a murder at the book conference so (in the story) the murder is true and Asimov is dramatising it. All Clear? Good.

This does kind of touch on my favourite bit about the book, which is where Asimov and Darius Just, the character investigating the murder, argue in the footnotes about details of the plot. These are universally fun and give a good break from the tension of the investigation.

The mystery itself is well thought out and while I had a suspicion about whodunnit it wasn't obvious enough that I would have put money on it. The characters are fun if a little edgy in the post #MeToo world, there are some cringy descriptions and sexy bits that haven't aged well but they are more dated than offensive.

Well worth a look if you want to see a master trying his hand at something different. It is a fun, fast read that is worth the price of admission.