If that weren’t bad enough, she soon hears that Alan Conway is dead, after allegedly committing suicide.

But, just as the murderer is about to be revealed, Susan makes the horrific discovery that the last few chapters of the manuscript were not included. The reader is allowed to read along with Susan, and pretty soon I found myself enjoying an absorbing historical mystery, set in the mid-fifties, the style of which bears a strong resemblance to that of Agatha Christie. She plans to spend her weekend reading the manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest Atticus Pudd mystery, entitled ‘Magpie Murders’. Susan Ryeland is an editor for Cloverleaf Books. This book gave me both of those things in one novel! I love the golden age of mysteries, but, of course, I also love present -day mysteries, too. Shrewd, cunning, intelligent, and ingenious! The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz is a 2017 Harper publication. Masterful, clever, and relentlessly suspenseful, Magpie Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction in which the reader becomes the detective. 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. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job.Ĭonway’s latest tale has Atticus Pünd investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house.

An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan’s traditional formula has proved hugely successful. 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. 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. ABOUT THE BOOK: 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.

Magpie murders series books