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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
This is a very long book, a fact that started to annoy me at the midway point, when the clues were still jumbled. With the novel itself plus the novel that's being read by the protagonist, keeping track of all the characters challenged me. But the payoff at the end made the longwinded story worthwhile.
I would say I like this a lot more than book 1. Susan felt like a more complete character and getting the entire Atticus story inside was great.
I read the first Susan Ryeland book, Magpie Murders, and I really enjoyed the structure of it with a standard murder mystery with a second in-book fictional mystery nested within. It is a truly novel idea that made it stand out above other run-of-the-mill mysteries. I don't know why it surprised me when Anthony Horowitz immediately went back to that proverbial well with Moonflower Murders, but it did. For the most part, the schtick still works because it gives two types of mysteries in one book and they both tie together. The Susan Ryeland side of things provides a more meta and modern take on the murder mystery and the Atticus Pund a more classical Agatha Christie one.
I'm not typically one who guesses a twisty murder book correctly more than maybe a third of the time but I did manage to guess both eventual outcomes presented in Moonflower Murders. That may mean it is a bit more solvable than normal but it still remains well-written and enjoyable throughout. The one true weakness is the extraneous stuff around Susan's life that tends to pad out some of the extra pages, I just do not find it that compelling and wish it was kept a bit tighter.
I'm not typically one who guesses a twisty murder book correctly more than maybe a third of the time but I did manage to guess both eventual outcomes presented in Moonflower Murders. That may mean it is a bit more solvable than normal but it still remains well-written and enjoyable throughout. The one true weakness is the extraneous stuff around Susan's life that tends to pad out some of the extra pages, I just do not find it that compelling and wish it was kept a bit tighter.
medium-paced
Not a great ending but quite a ride. Perhaps I should not have rushed through it, but don't we all read a whodunnit to get to the who promptly?!
Loved Magpie Murders but found the sequel a little too draggy. Kept on reading cause Horowitz made his heroine, Susan Ryeland, ever so likeable.
Loved Magpie Murders but found the sequel a little too draggy. Kept on reading cause Horowitz made his heroine, Susan Ryeland, ever so likeable.
Such a clever series….a book within a book! This is a very well executed mystery. Susan Ryeland is a former editor living in Greece and running a hotel with her boyfriend. She’s hired by a couple to find their missing daughter back in London. Alan Conway’s novel Magpie Murders plays a role in solving the disappearance and a murder that happened the couple’s hotel years past. Never a full moment with all of the characters and crimes to be solved. Super engaging!
I didn't enjoy this quite as much as the first one (Really? Andreas shows up to save her life again?) but it was still engaging and well plotted. I wondered how Horowitz was going to contrive a plot to have another Atticus Pund novel embedded in this one, but it made sense the way he did it. I think another one in this format would stretch credulity, but I'd probably read it anyway!
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book took me a long time to get into. I could never get past the first 50 pages. Once I was able to get over that hump, I was pretty into the story. I would say the book within the book was the more interesting mystery. By the time I finished that part of the story, I had forgotten a lot of the main characters. It's entertaining and cozy though.
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing