Marble Hall Murders
A Novel
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4.2 • 34 Ratings
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
Murder links past and present once again in this mind-boggling metafictional mystery from Anthony Horowitz—another tribute to the golden age of Agatha Christie featuring detective Atticus Pund and editor Susan Ryland, stars of the New York Times bestsellers Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders
Editor Susan Ryeland has left her Greek island, her hotel, and her Greek boyfriend, Andreas, in search of a new life back in England.
Freelancing for Causton Books, she’s working on the manuscript of a novel, Pund’s Last Case, by a young author named Eliot Crace, a continuation of the popular Alan Conway series. Susan is surprised to learn that Eliot is the grandson of legendary children’s author Marian Crace, who died some fifteen years ago—murdered, Eliot insists, by poison.
As Susan begins to read the manuscript’s opening chapters, the skeptical editor is relieved to find that Pund’s Last Case is actually very good. Set in the South of France, it revolves around the mysterious death of Lady Margaret Chalfont, who, though mortally ill, is poisoned—perhaps by a member of her own family. But who did it? And why?
The deeper Susan reads, the more it becomes clear that the clues leading to the truth of Marian Crace’s death are hidden within this Atticus Pund mystery.
While Eliot’s accusation becomes more plausible, his behaviour grows increasingly erratic. Then he is suddenly killed in a hit-and-run accident, and Susan finds herself under police scrutiny as a suspect in his death.
Three mysterious deaths. Multiple motives and possible murderers. If Susan doesn’t solve the mystery of Pund’s Last Case, she may well be the next victim.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
British mystery superstar Anthony Horowitz delivers another intricate puzzle in the capper to his mystery trilogy about inquisitive book editor Susan Ryeland and fictional detective Atticus Pünd. As we open, the Pünd series is being rebooted by troubled mystery writer Eliot Crace, grandson of a late, beloved children’s book author. Eliot has delivered his first manuscript, which features Pünd investigating the possible murder of a woman who appears, quite ominously, to be a stand-in for Eliot’s own famous grandmother. And things get even scarier when another death occurs, leaving Susan to find out who it is that doesn’t want the manuscript’s secret getting out. Horowitz loads this enjoyable mystery with puzzles, anagrams, and other clever clues for attentive readers—but it’s just as fun to simply jump in and enjoy the ride.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Horowitz dazzles with the brilliant third entry in his Susan Ryeland series (after Moonflower Murders). At the outset, Susan has just broken up with her Greek boyfriend, Andreas, leaving him and their bustling Crete hotel behind for her dreary London flat and a new freelance project with Causton Books. She's been hired to edit the late Alan Conway's unfinished final novel featuring detective Atticus Pund, which has been completed by young writer Eliot Crace. Soon, Susan discovers an ulterior motive behind Eliot's additions to the story: he believes someone in his violently competitive family poisoned his famous grandmother, Miriam Crace, author of an überpopular children's book series and owner of Marble Hall estate, and has nestled clues about his suspicions in Conway's manuscript, using the fictional Chalfonts as a stand-in for the Craces. Thus Horowitz throws down a gauntlet for the reader: will finding the killer in Eliot's novel, which takes up a solid chunk of this book's page count, translate to a conviction in the frame story? Horowitz is at the top of his game here, linking past and present in a virtuoso finale worthy of Agatha Christie. Fans will clamor for the sequel.
