From the New York Times bestselling author
of Moriarty and Trigger Mortis, this fiendishly brilliant, riveting
thriller weaves a classic whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie into a chilling,
ingeniously original modern-day mystery. 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 Murdersis a deviously dark
take on vintage English crime fiction in which the reader becomes the
detective.
...and I couldn't agree more!!!
In this clever, superbly-written whodunnit, there is a book
buried within a book - a format I have never read - nor thoroughly enjoyed -
until "Magpie". In other words, Horowitz has create a character (Alan
Conway) who himself has created a character (Atticus Pund). But when fiction
and reality-fiction collide, that's where the ingeniousness of Horowitz is on
display.
The Saxon-upon-Avon murder story, the one I am more fond of, has multiple suspects: a guilt-ridden doctor; an aristocrat landowner and his philandering wife; a busybody housekeeper, her brave son and his tender and protective fiance; a vicar and his wife with, quite literally, nothing to hide; an ex-con and his wife who are proprietors of an antique shop; and a groundskeeper with a past as mysterious as that of Saxon-upon-Avon itself. All combine in a wonderfully crafted mystery as an homage to the English mystery writers of not that long ago.
Horowitz writes with much detail - one almost is bound by such written "law" when it comes to mysteries; but he also writes with much respect for the intuitive nature of the reader, encouraging and stimulating the reader to solve the mystery as well as Atticus does. Within the detail, Horowitz shows an even greater command of subject matter, character development (backstories) and, of course, the climactic resolution. But, his cleverness is shown in the SUB-story of the book, the death of fictitious-real-fictitious Alan Conway, the "writer" of the Atticus Pund novels. Here, the plots, characters and even resolutions cleverly and intelligently align. The writing is smart, succinct and all blends well to create a mystery-within-a-mystery.
Looking forward to reading more Anthony Horowitz writing.
