Audiobook review: Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. Cosy crime with a modern twist

Susan Ryeland is a book editor, settling down one evening to read the manuscript of Magpie Murders, the latest in the bestselling Atticus Pund series.  Magpie Murders is a genuine cosy crime novel. It’s set in a small Wiltshire village, where Atticus Pund, private investigator and star of the novel is investigating a murder by beheading, which may or may not be linked to an accidental death the week before.  

Magpie Murders is a proper vintage crime story, centred on Pye Hall, an old manor hall, with a real life, well, soon to be dead, lord living there, an unfaithful wife pursued by a London lothario, a weedy vicar plus a village busybody just to name a few.  And did I mention the classic detective – charming and unflappable Atticus Pund, who gently questions each character and solves the crime.

Well, the only problem is that the last chapter of the manuscript Ryeland is reading is missing, so nobody knows who the murderer is and just to add a further layer of complexity, the author, Alan Conway has committed suicide, so he can’t reveal the ending any more!

Ryeland turns detective to track down the missing pages so they can publish the novel.  Although Ryeland can’t find the missing chapters, she’s pretty sure that Conway was actually murdered.  Although she knew Conway was arrogant and not what might be described today as particularly “user friendly”, the more people she talks to, the more she realises what a thoroughly obnoxious person he was and that there was no shortage of people who would want to kill him – all with good reason.  His particular delight was to lampoon and ridicule friends, family and probably just about everyone he knew in his novels.  Ryeland has to sift through the suspect’s motives, contemporary clues, clues linked to Conway’s novels and many, many red herrings to work out who the murderer is.

I normally listen to audiobooks when I’m out walking – a book like this usually takes me seven or eight days.  I listened to Magpie Murders in four by extending my walks and sitting in the local coffee shop to grab a couple of extra hours listening time whenever I could.  The Conway novel, Magpie Murders is a nice gentle cosy crime, not my type of thing, but I still found it most engaging.  The second part, let’s call it Ryeland Investigates, is like a second novel, but with lots of links to and clues drawn from the Conway story, which are delightfully amusing.

  

I particularly liked the way Audible divided up the narration between Allan Corduner who reads Magpie Murders and Samantha Bond who reads the part I’ve called Ryeland Investigates.  I thought the book was clever and entertaining, particularly the second half where we find out what Conway was really like and the links from Magpie Murders to real life are revealed, creating a wry mix of amusement and mystery.  

 I also thought Magpie Murders works really well as an audiobook - Audible have chosen narrators perfectly matched to their parts in the story, and whose delivery is simply spot on.

Final verdict – Thoroughly recommended, even if like me, you’re not a fan of cosy crime

Romancrimeblogger