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laurieb755 's review for:
Marble Hall Murders
by Anthony Horowitz
This is a Susan Ryeland - Atticus Pünd mystery and, while I've viewed the previous two mysteries in this series on PBS, this one has yet to be broadcast. Hence, it was a new approach to read it first before watching it on-screen. As for author Anthony Horowitz, he seems to quite enjoy contriving stories that are murder mysteries filled with plot conceits. For instance, in the Hawthorne & Horowitz mystery series he inserts himself (he being Horowitz) as a character in the story, solving crimes with the fictional Hawthorne.
In Marble Hall Murders Horowitz continues the tradition of inserting a mystery within a mystery, much like Russian stacking dolls complete with the twist. Atticus Pünd is the fictional detective created years ago (in the timeline of the fiction) by author Alan Conway, and Susan Ryeland is the editor of Alan's books. By the time of Marble Hall Murders Alan Conway is no longer around, having been pushed off a tower to his death by the head of the publishing house that published his books. That event marked the end of the Atticüs Pund novels, until Eliot Crace turned up with a book he is writing, what's known as a continuation novel, and he wants to call it Pünd's Last Case.
Eliot opens a can of worms for Susan as she does not have positive memories of when she first met him, and she is not a fan of continuation mysteries. To her surprise, it turns out Eliot has grown into a better writer than he had been and his book intrigues her. Eliot has written in the style of Alan Conway, complete with inserting anagrams and clues within the story that will bring to light the solution to an unsolved (actually, unacknowledged) murder in the "real" world. Eliot's characters, Lady Margaret Chalfont and her family plus some non-family characters, mimic characters in his family, and solving his book's mystery will solve the mystery that occurred within his family some 20 years ago that related to his grandmother, children's author Miriam Crace.
However, as fate would have it, Eliot was murdered before he finished the book! How will his book end and what about the clues that he has provided – and which were responsible for Susan doing some background sleuthing. Enter Detective Inspector Ian Blakeney. You'll have to read the book to learn more about him. Lastly, perhaps as a way of tying together the previous Susan Ryeland mysteries, there is a deliciously devilish additional mystery (more easily guessed at, at least by me but no less enjoyable to read) regarding Elaine, who is married to Charles, the head of the publishing house and man who pushed Alan Conway to his death.
I'd blame my binge reading of this book on it's being a 14-day loaner but the fact is I couldn't put it down!
In Marble Hall Murders Horowitz continues the tradition of inserting a mystery within a mystery, much like Russian stacking dolls complete with the twist. Atticus Pünd is the fictional detective created years ago (in the timeline of the fiction) by author Alan Conway, and Susan Ryeland is the editor of Alan's books. By the time of Marble Hall Murders Alan Conway is no longer around, having been pushed off a tower to his death by the head of the publishing house that published his books. That event marked the end of the Atticüs Pund novels, until Eliot Crace turned up with a book he is writing, what's known as a continuation novel, and he wants to call it Pünd's Last Case.
Eliot opens a can of worms for Susan as she does not have positive memories of when she first met him, and she is not a fan of continuation mysteries. To her surprise, it turns out Eliot has grown into a better writer than he had been and his book intrigues her. Eliot has written in the style of Alan Conway, complete with inserting anagrams and clues within the story that will bring to light the solution to an unsolved (actually, unacknowledged) murder in the "real" world. Eliot's characters, Lady Margaret Chalfont and her family plus some non-family characters, mimic characters in his family, and solving his book's mystery will solve the mystery that occurred within his family some 20 years ago that related to his grandmother, children's author Miriam Crace.
However, as fate would have it, Eliot was murdered before he finished the book! How will his book end and what about the clues that he has provided – and which were responsible for Susan doing some background sleuthing. Enter Detective Inspector Ian Blakeney. You'll have to read the book to learn more about him. Lastly, perhaps as a way of tying together the previous Susan Ryeland mysteries, there is a deliciously devilish additional mystery (more easily guessed at, at least by me but no less enjoyable to read) regarding Elaine, who is married to Charles, the head of the publishing house and man who pushed Alan Conway to his death.
I'd blame my binge reading of this book on it's being a 14-day loaner but the fact is I couldn't put it down!