If you read a Sherlock Holmes novel you can be pretty sure that the detective will know exactly what's going on... In this case, that's not true at all.
Magpie Murders
by Anthony Horowitz
Genre: Murder Mystery
About: Alan Conway is a bestselling author of a Poirot-esque detective series. Or he was. When he's found dead he leaves behind a mystery of his own that his book editor will have to solve. Did he commit suicide, as the signs all suggest, and if so - where is the missing last chapter to his final novel?
The Good
The book inside a book troupe can be difficult to pull off, but Anthony Horowitz is a master and the murder mysteries from both books are fun to try and solve. And I say try because the two books mirror each other in such a way that they perfectly blind the reader. I wasn't shocked by the reveal of the murderers, but I certainly didn't solve either one and very much enjoyed how the pieces fell into place by the end. This would be an excellent book to re-read as there are so many layers and clues you can easily miss on the first read. I actually enjoyed the Alan Conway book more than the Susan Ryeland one, but the way they interacted with each other - mysteries feeding off the other - was really addictive to read, and so very cleverly done.
The Bad
In the Alan Conway book there is a lot of switching POV and this didn't always feel natural. Anthony Horowitz is great at giving character descriptions but some of those descriptions sounded like unnatural observations from certain characters. There wasn't enough distinction between the POVs for me.
The Somewhat Iffy
I really enjoyed the solution to the Alan Conway book, but I didn't feel the same way for the Susan Ryeland one. The motive was a little less solid and the confrontation was overly dramatic and had me so annoyed at how stupid Susan was being in that moment - as if she'd never read a murder mystery before!
Overall
Such a fantastic homage to Agatha Christie and all the other giants of this genre. Brilliantly clever, with all the clues and red herrings you could wish for. A book tailored for murder mystery fans.
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