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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
Such a strange and interesting plot. Decent characters, a little long.
3.5 stars
Had some structural issues, I forgot about the first mystery by the time the final chapter was revealed.
Had some structural issues, I forgot about the first mystery by the time the final chapter was revealed.
I bet this is a good mystery whodunnit book. I just don’t like those kinds of books. It’s gonna be a 2 for me so I remember not to try again.
3 stars
An editor investigates the apparent suicide of her agency's best-selling author. Within the book is the supposed final book in that author's best-selling detective series. A homage to the classic Christie novels, the modern half of the book also analyses mystery writers and their self-concept. Not really a puzzle-mystery in terms of a how-dunnit but does well in analysing character motivations and reading undercurrents in the room.
Notes:
- A well-written novel that feels pretty weightless, and a plot I more admired for its tight plotting than perhaps I really enjoyed. The novel-within is pretty inessential fare, and the external novel does well in characterising the victim as both a frustrated writer and a real asshole who hurts those around him.
- Although the novel was extremely easy to read, I still felt it dragged at parts when Horowitz investigated all of the red herrings that he has included. This felt very tedious when the characters largely were fairly uninteresting small-village British people. The book discusses the propensity for murders to be set in villages, noting that the intimacy of a village writes large the petty tensions within it. But nevertheless, the tension feels petty and uninteresting (to me).
- The motive of the external murderer works quite well. The contrast of the happiness other people derive from the Atticus Pund novels and the disdain the author has for his own characters is a theme that you do hear about somewhat often, and there is some sense of tragedy when someone thinks his real talent is passed over for what he thinks to be slop.
An editor investigates the apparent suicide of her agency's best-selling author. Within the book is the supposed final book in that author's best-selling detective series. A homage to the classic Christie novels, the modern half of the book also analyses mystery writers and their self-concept. Not really a puzzle-mystery in terms of a how-dunnit but does well in analysing character motivations and reading undercurrents in the room.
Notes:
- A well-written novel that feels pretty weightless, and a plot I more admired for its tight plotting than perhaps I really enjoyed. The novel-within is pretty inessential fare, and the external novel does well in characterising the victim as both a frustrated writer and a real asshole who hurts those around him.
- Although the novel was extremely easy to read, I still felt it dragged at parts when Horowitz investigated all of the red herrings that he has included. This felt very tedious when the characters largely were fairly uninteresting small-village British people. The book discusses the propensity for murders to be set in villages, noting that the intimacy of a village writes large the petty tensions within it. But nevertheless, the tension feels petty and uninteresting (to me).
- The motive of the external murderer works quite well. The contrast of the happiness other people derive from the Atticus Pund novels and the disdain the author has for his own characters is a theme that you do hear about somewhat often, and there is some sense of tragedy when someone thinks his real talent is passed over for what he thinks to be slop.
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
A love letter to Agatha Christie and fans of the mystery genre. A challenging story-within-a-story, this book is a fun double mystery.
More like 3.5 stars. I thought this book offered a clever twist to the classic whodunnit. However, I did find it very jarring going back and forth between the two stories. Susan is such a boring character that it took awhile to get interested in the second half of the book. Overall it was a well written and entertaining book that would have worked much better if Susan had been a more compelling character.
This book reminds me very much of the 1939 Winston Churchill quote: “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma…”. Although Churchill was speaking of Russia at the time, this particular section of the quote is such an appropriate description of Anthony Horowitz’s book Magpie Murders that it is the first thing I thought of when trying to find the words to start this review.
An historical mystery set in the 1950’s pays homage to Agatha Christie. What makes this book thoroughly enjoyable however is that the historical mystery is wrapped within a modern day “whodunit”. That does not mean that the nods to Christie stop in the modern mystery - in fact, her real-life grandson, Mathew Pritchard, makes a cameo as a witness who overhears an important conversation that could be key to solving the entire puzzle. For those familiar with Agatha Christie’s story, Mathew Pritchard is the son of Christie’s only child, Rosalind, and famously received the stage rights to The Mousetrap as a ninth birthday present from his grandmother.
It really is two books in one as we read along with editor Susan Ryeland who has received the manuscript for author Alan Conway’s latest novel featuring Atticus Pünd, a german-born detective who solves mysteries in sleepy English villages in the 1950’s. I was engrossed enough in this first mystery that I was as equally horrified as Susan when we realized that the final chapter of the story was missing. Can a mystery lover imagine anything worse? This starts the modern day investigation as Susan sets out to locate the missing pages.
A must read for any mystery fan, this is a smart and cleverly twisted take on the “whodunit”. Why are you still reading this? Go out and get this book…….you won’t regret it!
An historical mystery set in the 1950’s pays homage to Agatha Christie. What makes this book thoroughly enjoyable however is that the historical mystery is wrapped within a modern day “whodunit”. That does not mean that the nods to Christie stop in the modern mystery - in fact, her real-life grandson, Mathew Pritchard, makes a cameo as a witness who overhears an important conversation that could be key to solving the entire puzzle. For those familiar with Agatha Christie’s story, Mathew Pritchard is the son of Christie’s only child, Rosalind, and famously received the stage rights to The Mousetrap as a ninth birthday present from his grandmother.
It really is two books in one as we read along with editor Susan Ryeland who has received the manuscript for author Alan Conway’s latest novel featuring Atticus Pünd, a german-born detective who solves mysteries in sleepy English villages in the 1950’s. I was engrossed enough in this first mystery that I was as equally horrified as Susan when we realized that the final chapter of the story was missing. Can a mystery lover imagine anything worse? This starts the modern day investigation as Susan sets out to locate the missing pages.
A must read for any mystery fan, this is a smart and cleverly twisted take on the “whodunit”. Why are you still reading this? Go out and get this book…….you won’t regret it!