Magpie Murders

Two Fantastic Mysteries in One Book.

I absolutely loved this book. It starts with an editor reading the latest mystery written by their best selling author. The manuscript is written in the style of Agatha Christie’s books. It is set in a small English village where everyone is a suspect and all have secrets that only the dead woman may have known. At about the midpoint of the book, the editor realizes that the last chapter of the manuscript is missing and with the author dead from a fall, she goes looking for the missing chapter in the author’s home and by asking his friends and family. As she does, she sees similarities between the author’s manuscript and his life. She also begins questioning whether the author’s death was really the accident it appeared.

I really enjoyed the manuscript’s plot and characters. They were spot on to Dame Agatha’s earlier Miss Marple mysteries. I was as frustrated as the editor when she discovered the last chapter was missing. I enthusiastically noted the many references to Christie’s character names. I did guess successfully whodunnit. The mystery of the author’s death was written in a completely different and more modern style. I wasn’t able to foresee the resolution, which was great! After reading, I could clearly see the clues I missed so the author, Anthony Horowitz, was totally fair to the reader.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys trying to solve mysteries alongside the book’s detective.

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