Magpie Murders

by Anthony Horowitz

Libby audiobook 16 hours

Read by: Samantha Bond and Allan Corduner

Published: 2016 (this version 2017)

Genre: murder mystery

I've long enjoyed Horowitz' YA books, especially the Alex Rider series. But I didn't realize until recently that he had mystery books written for adults. What fun!

This is a story-within-a-story, which got a bit confusing for me. But it is so very reminiscent of Agatha Christie mysteries and yet very self-aware! I really enjoyed this and the vocal work was excellent, but I kind of wished I were reading it in print. I would have made quite a character map!

Editor Susan Ryeland gets a manuscript and starts to read. It is the story of a village and a curious death. Detective Atticus Pund is called in to investigate, but he is dealing with serious end-of-life news from his doctor. There are so many characters and clues! Sir Magnus Pye and his wife, Johnny Whitehead, the vicar and his wife, the doctor and her artist husband, . . . 

When Susan finds the final chapters missing and then the author dies in mysterious circumstances, she plays detective. I didn't figure out either the "novel" mystery nor the overarching mystery of who killed the author. It definitely kept my attention!

Oh, there were also loads of anagrams and other word games. That's another reason I would have enjoyed seeing the text rather than listening. 

I'm going to get another of these books now that I know they exist!

I had initially read an article in the Costco Connection recommending this book. The article was fascinating and I learned a lot about this author.