Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz: A Book Review

In short, she was something of a joke in Saxby-on-Avon and jokes do not commit murder.

Susan Ryeland started her day thinking that she was going to pick up the latest manuscript of one of the authors that her publishing company worked with. She didn't think it would change her life, but apparently - it would.

It was hard for me to rate this book: on one hand, I loved the story, and the book within the book concept was definitely a lot of fun. It was an interesting idea and it was used masterfully, I think, by the author. I also love a good whodunnit mystery. I usually end up turning my mind off and letting myself be led by the detective and this was a really enjoyable ride, if you ignored certain things that normal people who are editors, as well as those who are detectives, would not do in real life.

The way the book inside the book was written, it was so nice. I enjoyed the different introductions to the different characters, and I loved the fact that everyone - including the deceased was so suspicious.

On the other hand the actual book, left much for to be desired. I think I only enjoyed one character out of all them and everyone else was either super bland (Susan Ryeland) or just downright hateful (Alan Conway).

At least with the book within the book, you couldn't help but cheer for the gentle detective who was was kind and polite to all that he would meet. It isn't so with the characters in the book. I badly wanted to just skip past it and go straight back to Saxon-on-Avon, instead of focusing on the hateful character of Alan Conway.

I admit, he may be the main reason why I didn't give a full five star. It didn't feel right that an author would spend more than a decade of his life, and nine books, to just laugh mockingly at all his fans and supporters.

I would have felt angry and cheated, and any time spent in the world of Alan Conway made me really uncomfortable with this book.

Rating: 4/5