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Moonflower Murders

Magpie Murders, Book 2

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Moonflower Murders

By: Anthony Horowitz
Narrated by: Lesley Manville, Allan Corduner
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Brought to you by Penguin

Now a major BBC series starring Lesley Manville

Featuring his famous literary Detective Atticus Pund and Susan Ryeland, hero of the worldwide best seller Magpie Murders, a brilliantly brain-teasing literary thriller by Anthony Horowitz. The follow-up to Magpie Murders.

Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is living the good life. She is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her long-term boyfriend, Andreas. It should be everything she's always wanted - but is it? She's exhausted with the responsibilities of making everything work on an island where nothing ever does, and truth be told she's beginning to miss her old life in London.

And then a couple - the Trehearnes - come to stay, and the story they tell about an unfortunate murder that took place on the same day and in the same hotel in which their daughter was married is such a strange and mysterious one that Susan finds herself increasingly fascinated by it. And when the Trehearnes tell her that their daughter is now missing, Susan knows that she must return to London and find out what really happened....

©2020 Anthony Horowitz (P)2020 Penguin Audio

 Amateur Sleuths Crime Crime Thrillers Mystery Suspense Thriller Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Fiction Murder Witty England
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Critic reviews

I absolutely love this series of fiendishly clever literary mysteries[...] and I wolfed this new one down
MOONFLOWER MURDERS showcases Horowitz's full battalion of strengths: the whiplash plotting, the leather-smooth prose, the bold energy and, above all, the bright spark of joy that ignites the best fiction. Sophisticated, literate novels aren't supposed to be so much fun
It is amongst the most ambitious formats I've ever read, as, essentially, Horowitz writes not one but two fully-fledged, distinct stories. There is the 300-plus page present-day Susan Ryeland story mystery, and the 200-plus page Golden Age style Alan Conway murder mystery, and both of them are brilliantly executed as exemplars in their respective genres and fields
Funny, profound and at times frightening, this is Horowitz at his very best. And the perfect jumping-on point for newcomers.
A clever, engaging book that keeps you hooked until the end
A devilishly clever, multi-layered total joy of a novel
The prolific novelist's latest work is a mind-bending murder mystery to tie readers in knots
Magnificent
It's a complex plot, a novel within a novel, where the reader gets to grapple with the whodunnit both in the main narrative and through an entirely separate detective story [...] They are both gripping reads, a clever conceit by Horowitz, who pulls off the tricky structure beautifully.
Moonflower Murders, is a superbly intricate608-page murder mystery [...] An intellectual challenge with a smile attached ispretty much the Horowitz oeuvre in a nutshell. The gleeful boy seems to shine through even the darkest tale
All stars
Most relevant
Yet another really good story with twists and turns, another one where there is a story within a story. Very well read by both narrators.
My only complaint is that the Author does tend to drag out some scenes. However still a very worthwhile read.

An excellent tale

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it was another good story from this author. perhaps not quite as good a the first as the novelty had happened.

I thought it was a bit convoluted at times and a little hard to follow. still not sure I 'got' or understood the clues in the Atticus book and I don't want to publish any soilers, but would be good to hear if anyone else believed the clues or thought they were contrived....

good but sometimes a little hard to follow

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I’m a crime fiction addict; it’s my go-to genre as it was for my late grandmother, which is rather strange as I’m not sure what else we had in common. I loved Magpie Murders buy this Moonflower Murders even more so.

There are 3 mysteries contained in the book, 2 within Atticus Punt Takes the Case, the ‘novel-within-the-novel’ plus the overarching one that Susan, the ex-editor for the writer Alan Conway, is called in to solve. Each is masterfully crafted, ingenious & fun to try and solve. I got there with one of them, but failed on the others!

A distinct flavour is produced by the dual narration. Initially I became a little irritated by Susan (the reason for 4 stars) and her criticism of the way people she met spoke when she seemed to be doing the same....but eventually I grew to admire Lesley Manville’s ability to speak as a wide variety of characters in numerous accents. Alan Corduner is fabulous as Atticus Pund.

The humour in the book had me giggling to myself as I listened on numerous dog walks; plays on words, in-jokes about the various stories within the book etc. I don’t want to give any spoilers! The characterization was fabulous and despite not meeting or hardly meeting some of the characters, I was left with clear pictures of them.

A clever, entertaining, humorous book read well.

3 for the price of 1

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There isn't enough praise for this book! I love Anthony Horowitz and i savoured every single word. Two excellent books in one what is not to just love. Brilliant!

Oh My Goodness!

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This was so involved and detailed I felt in the middle that I was totally saturated with who was where and who had done what but I really enjoyed the journey. The summing up was brilliant and a great finale to the whole book.

Really Good

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