Magpie Murders
The Sunday Times bestseller now on BBC iPlayer
-
-
3.9 • 72 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
THE NUMBER ONE EBOOK BESTSELLER
'Want to read a great whodunnit? Anthony Horowitz has one for you: MAGPIE MURDERS. It's as good as an Agatha Christie. Better, in some ways. Cleverer.' Stephen King
'The finest crime novel of the year' Daily Mail
*****
Seven for a mystery that needs to be solved . . .
Editor Susan Ryland has worked with bestselling crime writer Alan Conway 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.
From the creator of Midsomer Murders comes a fiendish mystery perfect for fans of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot.
*****
Praise for Magpie Murders - the gripping Sunday Times bestselling crime thriller:
'Ingenious' Sunday Times
'Thrilling and compelling with a stunning twist' Daily Mail
'A stylish thriller' Sunday Mirror
'A cunning reinvention of the thriller' Mail on Sunday
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Horowitz (The House of Silk) provides a treat for fans of golden age mysteries with this tour de force that both honors and pokes fun at the genre. In the prologue, an unnamed editor sets the tone by describing how reading the manuscript of Magpie Murders, the ninth novel in a bestselling mystery series by Alan Conway, cost her her job and many friendships. In the text of the manuscript itself (which is accompanied by a bio of Conway and blurbs from real-life authors Ian Rankin and Robert Harris), Poirot-like sleuth Atticus P nd, a German concentration camp survivor who has settled in England, tackles an Agatha Christie like puzzle in 1955 Saxby-on-Avon. The verdict of accidental death seems warranted in the case of housekeeper and unrepentant busybody Mary Blakiston, who took a fatal fall down a flight of stairs at Pye Hall, since no one else was in the locked manor house at the time. But rumors that her estranged son wished Mary dead lead his fianc e to seek P nd's help. The identity of the person responsible for Mary's death is but one of the questions P nd must answer, and Horowitz throws in several wicked twists as the narrative builds to a highly satisfying explanation of the prologue.
Customer Reviews
Magpie Murders
A long book, but I only put it down to eat or sleep. I did not know who the protagonist was until the last few chapters.
Liked both stories, but needed flow
I enjoyed both the stories in the book, but the enormous gap between Atticus Punds revelation that he knew who the murder was and the end of the book made me less invested in the resolution. Clever idea, but threw me. Not the way my brain works
Tedious
Not the first time this author has played around with the idea of books within books or the writer as a character. It’s like he’s bored with fiction and, having had enough success to afford some risk, wants to play around with supposedly cutting edge formats.
It will some people but in my view the writing just isn’t strong enough. It’s clumsy and sometimes casually racist and sexist - maybe he’s just showing his age?