Magpie Murders: A Novel

Anthony Horowitz

Jun 2017 · HarperAudio · Narrated by Samantha Bond and Allan Corduner

About this audiobook

Narrated by Samantha Bond

Don’t miss Magpie Murders on PBS's MASTERPIECE Mystery!

""A double puzzle for puzzle fans, who don’t often get the classicism they want from contemporary thrillers."" —Janet Maslin, New York Times

New York Times Bestseller | Winner of the Macavity Award for Best Novel | NPR Best Book of the Year | Washington Post Best Book of the Year | Esquire Best Book of the Year

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.

Ratings and reviews

This is absolutely the BEST mystery I've ever listened to, and I've listened to morre than most! I like Horowitz anyway as a writer but this is the best of his novels so far. It's a story yoo can't let your mind wander while you listen; not that you'd want it to. I wasn't sure I'd like it at all, once we were into Atticus's character (mostly because we are meant to be reminded of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, who I greatly dislike) but by then I was already so hooked I had to stick it out--and I'm so glad I did! Plenty of twists and turns in the plot, of course, because you can't have a great mystery without them. This is not a book to borrow from a library--it's one you need to own, so you can read it again and again every few years!

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About the author

Anthony Horowitz is one of the UK’s most prolific and successful writers, unique in being active in both adult and YA fiction, TV, theater, and journalism. Several of his previous novels were instant New York Times bestsellers. His bestselling Alex Rider series for young adults has sold more than nineteen million copies worldwide and has become a hugely successful show on Amazon Prime TV. His breakthrough murder mystery Magpie Murders was adapted into a miniseries for PBS. He lives in London with his wife and dog.

Allan Corduner starred as Sir Arthur Sullivan in Mike Leigh's Topsy Turvy. Other films include Moonlight Mile, The Green Zone, and Yentl. He has extensive theater credits on Broadway and in London's West End.