Magpie murders

Select an Action

Magpie murders

Title:

Magpie murders

Author:

Horowitz, Anthony, 1955- author.

Series:

Susan Ryeland ;

Series Number:

Summary:

After working with bestselling crime writer Alan Conway for years, editor Susan Ryeland is intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries in sleepy English villages. His traditional formula has proved hugely successful, so successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job. Conway's latest tale involves a murder at Pye Hall, with dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects. But the more Susan reads, the more she's convinced that there is another story hidden in the pages of the manuscript: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder.

General Note:

"Originally published in Great Britian in 2016 by Orion Books"--Title page verso.

Edition:

First U.S. edition.

Physical Description:

4, 213, 236 pages ; 24 cm

Genre:

Detective and mystery fiction.

Subject Term:

Murder -- Fiction.

Crime writing -- Fiction.

Book editors -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

London (England) -- Fiction.

Publisher:

Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers,

Publication Date:

2017

ISBN:

9780062645227

9780062645234

Publication Information:

New York : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2017]

Call Number:

HOROWITZ

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003589960	Adult Fiction	HOROWITZ Anthony	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

"Magpie Murders is a double puzzle for puzzle fans, who don't often get the classicism they want from contemporary thrillers." --Janet Maslin, The New York Times

New York Times bestseller | Winner of the Macavity Award for Best Novel | NPR best book of the Year | Washington Post best book of the Year | Esquire best book of the Year

From the New York Times bestselling author of Moriarty, this fiendishly brilliant, riveting thriller weaves a classic whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie into a chilling, ingeniously original modern-day mystery.

When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway's latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the bestselling crime writer for years, she's intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan's traditional formula has proved hugely successful. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job.

Conway's latest tale has Atticus Pünd investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but the more Susan reads, the more she's convinced that there is another story hidden in the pages of the manuscript: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder.

Masterful, clever, and relentlessly suspenseful, Magpie Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction in which the reader becomes the detective.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Bestseller Horowitz (The House of Silk) provides a treat for fans of golden age mysteries with this tour de force that both honors and pokes fun at the genre. In the prologue, an unnamed editor sets the tone by describing how reading the manuscript of Magpie Murders, the ninth novel in a bestselling mystery series by Alan Conway, cost her her job and many friendships. In the text of the manuscript itself (which is accompanied by a bio of Conway and blurbs from real-life authors Ian Rankin and Robert Harris), Poirot-like sleuth Atticus Pünd, a German concentration camp survivor who has settled in England, tackles an Agatha Christie-like puzzle in 1955 Saxby-on-Avon. The verdict of accidental death seems warranted in the case of housekeeper and unrepentant busybody Mary Blakiston, who took a fatal fall down a flight of stairs at Pye Hall, since no one else was in the locked manor house at the time. But rumors that her estranged son wished Mary dead lead his fiancée to seek Pünd's help. The identity of the person responsible for Mary's death is but one of the questions Pünd must answer, and Horowitz throws in several wicked twists as the narrative builds to a highly satisfying explanation of the prologue. Agent: Jonathan Lloyd, Curtis Brown (U.K.). (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal Review

Agatha Christie fans will line up for this salute to Golden Age whodunits from Horowitz ("Alex Rider" series). When editor Susan Ryeland receives best-selling mystery author Alan Conway's new manuscript, she is annoyed to discover the final chapter is missing and that Conway has committed suicide. Susan begins to suspect that the irascible Conway's book hides murderous secrets related to his death. (LJ 4/1/17) © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.