Magpie murders

Title:

Magpie murders

Author:

Horowitz, Anthony, 1955- author

ISBN:

9780062645234

Additional ISBN:

9780062645234

9780062645234 9781409158387 (paperback ; Orion, 2017) 9780062645227 (Harper hardback) 9781409158370 1409158365 9781409158363 1409158373 1409158365 (paperback) 9781409158363 (hardback) 1409158373 (hardback) 9780752857251 (hardback) 0752857258 (hardback) 9781409158370 1409158365 (hbk.)

Personal Author:

Horowitz, Anthony, 1955- author

Publication Information:

London : Orion, 2016.

Physical Description:

1 volume (various pagings) ; 24 cm

General Note:

The book has irregular paging.

"Seven for a mystery that needs to be solved"--Cover.

Subject Term:

Authors -- Fiction.

Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction.

Book editors -- Fiction.

Genre:

Detective and mystery fiction.

Language:

English

Abstract:

When editor Susan Ryeland is given the tattered manuscript of Alan Conway's latest novel, she has little idea it will change her life. She's worked with the revered crime writer for years and his detective, Atticus Pünd, is renowned for solving crimes in the sleepy English villages of the 1950s. As Susan knows only too well, vintage crime sells handsomely. It's just a shame that it means dealing with an author like Alan Conway... But Conway's latest tale of murder at Pye Hall is not quite what it seems. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but hidden in the pages of the manuscript there lies another story: a tale written between the very words on the page, telling of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition and murder. From Sunday Times bestseller Anthony Horowitz comes Magpie Murders , his deliciously dark take on the cosy crime novel, brought bang- up-to-date with a fiendish modern twist.

Available:*

Library	Shelf Location	Shelf Number	Material Type	Item Barcode	Status
Searching... Palmerston North Central Library	Crime Fiction-Fiction Zone	HOR	Book.	PN364650020025	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Don't miss Magpie Murders on PBS's MASTERPIECE Mystery!

"A double puzzle for puzzle fans, who don't often get the classicism they want from contemporary thrillers." --Janet Maslin, 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 and Trigger Mortis, 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.

Genre:

Detective and mystery fiction.

Reviews (4)

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.

Kirkus Review

A preternaturally brainy novel within a novel that's both a pastiche and a deconstruction of golden-age whodunits.Magpie Murders, bestselling author Alan Conway's ninth novel about Greek/German detective Atticus Pnd, kicks off with the funeral of Mary Elizabeth Blakiston, devoted housekeeper to Sir Magnus Pye, who's been found at the bottom of a steep staircase she'd been vacuuming in Pye Hall, whose every external door was locked from the inside. Her demise has all the signs of an accident until Sir Magnus himself follows her in death, beheaded with a sword customarily displayed with a full suit of armor in Pye Hall. Conway's editor, Susan Ryeland, does her methodical best to figure out which of many guilty secrets Conway has provided the suspects in Saxby-on-AvonRev. Robin Osborne and his wife, Henrietta; Mary's son, Robert, and his fiancee, Joy Sanderling; Joy's boss, surgeon Emilia Redwing, and her elderly father; antiques dealers Johnny and Gemma Whitehead; Magnus' twin sister, Clarissa; and Lady Frances Pye and her inevitable lover, investor Jack Dartfordis most likely to conceal a killer, but she's still undecided when she comes to the end of the manuscript and realizes the last chapter is missing. Since Conway in inconveniently unavailable, Susan, in the second half of the book, attempts to solve the case herself, questioning Conway's own associateshis sister, Claire; his ex-wife, Melissa; his ex-lover, James Taylor; his neighbor, hedge fund manager John Whiteand slowly comes to the realization that Conway has cast virtually all of them as fictional avatars in Magpie Murders and that the novel, and indeed Conway's entire fictional oeuvre, is filled with a mind-boggling variety of games whose solutions cast new light on murders fictional and nonfictional. Fans who still mourn the passing of Agatha Christie, the model who's evoked here in dozens of telltale details, will welcome this wildly inventive homage/update/commentary as the most fiendishly clever puzzlemake that two puzzlesof the year. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Horowitz's unusual stand-alone combines two books in one the first, set in 1950s England, is a wonderfully written Agatha Christie-style whodunit complete with vicar, village, and vengeance. The second, set in modern times, stars an editor who must solve a mystery surrounding that whodunit, as her publishing house's fortunes rest upon its success. While the first story is more enjoyable than the second, which drags a little, this is overall a very entertaining set of tales, and readers will enjoy finding clues in the whodunit that will help solve the mystery in the latter tale. Perfect for readers of Christie and Sophie Hannah, for lovers of mysteries with a splash of metafiction, and, of course, for fans of Horowitz's other work in multiple genres, for both young people and adults. In addition to fiction, Horowitz is the acclaimed creator and writer of such popular TV crime series as Foyle's War and Midsomer Murders.--Verma, Henrietta Copyright 2017 Booklist

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.