When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the bestselling crime writer for years, she’s intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan’s traditional formula has proved hugely successful. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job.
Conway’s latest tale has Atticus Pünd investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but the more Susan reads, the more she’s convinced that there is another story hidden in the pages of the manuscript: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, …
When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the bestselling crime writer for years, she’s intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan’s traditional formula has proved hugely successful. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job.
Conway’s latest tale has Atticus Pünd investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but the more Susan reads, the more she’s convinced that there is another story hidden in the pages of the manuscript: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder.
Masterful, clever, and relentlessly suspenseful, Magpie Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction in which the reader becomes the detective.
A unique storyline and a great conclusion.
I got half of it. Pretty good clues.
I knew nothing about this book, Corinna picked it as an Audiobook for a road trip, and it was great. I was not expecting it to be as meta as it was, but it really worked for me. There were a few times it got a little tricky as an audiobook, but overall it worked for me.
What a fun and interesting murder in a murder story experience! The combination of accidental death, suicides, and murders gave the mind lots to play with! And untangling the characters of the "book in a book" and the book itself was a challenge in and of itself.
The ending was as expected in terms of the main character and her boyfriend ending up together as should be, and the relationship between the author and his main detective (of the book within a book) was fascinating and gave a sort of spice to the whole thing.
Could not put down. This was an amazing read.
Whodunit within a whodunit.
I like books with meta narratives. I also like puzzles, and this book entangles both in quite a clever way.
It also teases the reader by throwing in pieces of information that are obviously pertinent, and avoids explaining them for as long as possible, or flat out tells the reader that a conclusion turned out to be false, but again not explaining why for as long as possible.
If any of the above sounds tantalizing, this book is for you.
I did not care for this book. It uses a literary device I found jarring--not going to say what it was because I don't want to give it away. The book was recommended to me, so obviously others don't feel this way. But I almost put it down after 200 pages. Instead, I simply skimmed to the end.
I really enjoyed this. It was fun and clever and really very well done. The first half was a flawless Christie-esque ‘cozy’; the second half was a modern whodunnit that acknowledged how truly unlikely such things are to actually happen to real people: ‘But I wasn’t a detective. I was an editor - and, until a week ago, not a single one of my acquaintances had managed to die in an unusual and violent manner.’ I was amused by the main character’s mentions of Horowitz’s own television shows - realistically, a modern murder-mystery enthusiast really would be a fan of ‘Midsomer Murders’ as well as similar shows, but it still seemed so consciously self-referential that it made me laugh.
Magpie Murders is well worth reading.
Probably a 4.5. Great book but something has to blow my mind for it to be a 5. VERY clever, about a murder mystery inside another murder mystery. Lots of fun twists.
