From Powells.com
Hot new releases and under-the-radar gems for adults and kids.
Synopses & Reviews
"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
• A New York Times bestseller
• #1 Indie Next Pick
• NPR best book of 2017
• Washington Post best book of 2017
• Esquire best book of 2017
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.
Review
"An ingenious novel-within-a-novel...part crime novel, part pastiche, this magnificent piece of crime fiction plays with the genre while also taking it seriously." Sunday Times
Review
"Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders is catnip for classic mystery lovers….With its elegant yet playful plotting, Magpie Murders is the thinking mystery fan’s ideal summer thriller." Time Magazine
Review
"An ingenious funhouse mirror of a novel sets a vintage 'cozy' mystery inside a modern frame." Wall Street Journal
Review
"Each of the narratives in Magpie Murders is engaging and fluid, each with its own charm, though Horowitz’s joyful act of Christie ventriloquism is, in particular, spectacularly impressive." Washington Post
About the Author
Anthony Horowitz is the author of the New York Times bestseller Moriarty and the internationally bestselling The House of Silk, as well as the New York Times bestselling Alex Rider series for young adults. As a television screenwriter, he created Midsomer Murders and the BAFTA-winning Foyle’s War, both of which were featured on PBS’s Masterpiece Mystery. He regularly contributes to a wide variety of national newspapers and magazines, and in January 2014 was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his services to literature. He lives in London.