What a clever book this is! Really, Magpie Murders is two books, a book within a book. And both books are Magpie Murders.
The narrator of Anthony Horowitz's Magpie Murders, Susan Ryeland, describes her experience with the book within the book, Magpie Murders, written by the
…more fictitious author Alan Conway. Ryeland is an editor for the publisher of Conway's books. Magpie Murders is the ninth in his series of who-done-its, and, although Ryeland dislikes Conway, she likes his who-done-its.
Now we read what Ryeland reads, the Magpie Murders written by Conway. It feels like reading an Agatha Christie novel. If you own the Magpie Murders written by Horowitz, I suggest you do so with a highlighter nearby so you can mark the first occurrence of characters' names. There are so many! I needed to do that so I could leaf back to remind myself who characters were. And, speaking of names, I will never be able to read a book again without wondering whether the names of its characters have some significance. You will understand what I mean later.
Before the murders are solved in the copy of Magpie Murders that Ryeland is editing, the story ends. It is missing chapters, and Ryeland is determined to find them. But she can't just ask Conway for them. Her firm's biggest money maker, Alan Conway, is dead. It looks like he jumped from a tower, committed suicide. But, during Ryeland's search for the missing chapters, which takes her to various areas in England, she decides that he didn't jump but was pushed.
So Ryeland not only needs to find the missing chapters so that the murders in Conway's Magpie Murders are solved; she also feels she needs to solve Conway's murder.
Every bit of this book, of both books, really, is clever. I'm so anxious to see what PBS does with it in 2022. (less)
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