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About the Book

Crime writer Alan Conway has been a bestselling author for years. Readers love his detective, Atticus Pünd, a celebrated solver of crimes in the sleepy English villages of the 1950s.

But Conway’s latest tale of murder at Pye Hall is not quite what it seems. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but hidden in the pages of the manuscript lies another story: a tale written between the very words on the page, telling of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition and murder.

Format: Paperback (552 pages) Publisher: Orion
Publication date: 16th November 2017 Genre: Crime

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My Review

Magpie Murders has been in my TBR pile since 2017 and was included in my list for both the 20 Books of Summer 2022 and 2023 reading challenges. It’s satisfying to have finally read it, especially since I have a feeling it was a birthday or Christmas present.

As you’d expect from Anthony Horowitz, it’s a very clever book with an extremely intricate, skilfully crafted plot and his trademark wit. Magpie Murders pre-dates his Sherlock Holmes inspired books such as The House of Silk so it’s interesting to see allusions to Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. For instance, Alan Conway lives in Abbey Grange, the title of a Sherlock Holmes story. And there’s a squabble over the title of a book which also features in his recent ‘Hawthorne & Horowitz’ crime series in which he plays the role of the hapless sidekick to brilliant but eccentric detective Daniel Hawthorne. (Follow the links to read my reviews of The Word Is Murder, The Sentence Is Death, A Line To Kill and The Twist Of A Knife.) And he indulges himself in a few references to his other work, such as the TV series Midsomer Murders.

Structured as a story within a story, the first half of Magpie Murders is the manuscript of a period murder mystery entitled, you guessed it: Magpie Murders. It’s written very much in the style of Agatha Christie and features a detective who you feel could easily have stood in for Hercule Poirot if needed. It has all the classic ingredients of a golden age crime novel and, to be honest, I could have happily enjoyed this in its own right. The second half of the book involves editor Susan Ryeland trying to discover whether there are clues in the manuscript that might help solve a real life crime that threatens the future of the publishing business where she works. As in the period mystery, there are plenty of suspects and the identification of the culprit turns on a small detail which I’m proud to say I spotted.

The book is lot of fun but I felt it was a little long. I found the solution of the period mystery and the motivation of the culprit far more satisfying than that of the modern day one. However, there’s no doubting the author’s cleverness and his seemingly effortless ability to pull off many different genres.

Magpie Murders is book 6 of my 20 Books of Summer 2024.

In three words: Clever, witty, assured
Try something similar: The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett

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About the Author

Bestselling author Anthony Horowitz has written two highly acclaimed Sherlock Holmes novels, The House of Silk and Moriarty; three James Bond novels, Trigger Mortis, Forever and a Day and With a Mind to Kill; the acclaimed bestselling mystery novels Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders and the Detective Hawthorne novels, The Word is Murder, The Sentence is Death, A Line To Kill, and the latest A Twist of Knife.

He is also the author of the teen spy Alex Rider series, and responsible for creating and writing some of the UK’s most loved and successful TV series, including Midsomer Murders and Foyle’s War. In January 2022 he was awarded a CBE for his services to literature.

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