Magpie Murders, by Anthony Horowitz, offers up a premise that’s almost sure to pique the interest of most lovers of classic mystery novels.
It’s a very Agatha Christie-esque mystery wrapped up in another mystery involving the publication of that manuscript. It’s an especially compelling setup for a mystery novel, since two mysteries means double the intrigue, and the prospect of seeing how the two novels will converge amps up the suspense.
Plot Summary
In this nested story, the interior mystery is a traditional mystery modeled after classic Agatha Christie novels. Atticus Pund, a famous detective, is called into a small English village on the behest of a woman whose fiance is a suspect in a murder. And, as is customary in these types of stories, Pund quickly discovers upon arriving at the small village that nearly everyone is a suspect. With his assistant by his side and with the help of the detective assigned to the case, he sets about unraveling the mystery.
This story, of course, is actually an unpublished manuscript written by a well-known mystery author, Arthur Conway. Conway is prickly and difficult, but that’s the least of the concerns from his editor, Susan Ryeland, because Conway ends up being found dead, having fallen — or perhaps having been pushed? — to his death before she finds out how his manuscript even ends. Susan Ryeland, then, sets off to investigate the death of her most popular author.