It’s an absorbing case, and the readers, along with Susan herself, are sucked right into the mid-1950s, the mind of the detective and the murderous goings on of this otherwise unremarkable little place. The detective, the perpetual outsider, comes to a small English village to investigate what turn out to be a series of murders. And it is a marvelous take on the Golden Age of mystery, reading as though it should sit on the shelf beside Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers and Margery Allingham. We read Magpie Murders by Alan Conway right along with her. Susan loves Alan Conway’s work, but the man himself is far from lovable.Īs Susan settles in to read, we do too. Susan Ryeland, editor at a small but prestigious publishing house, settles in for the weekend to read the latest manuscript by her least favorite and most favorite author. What we have, however, is the final book in the series, encased within a framing story about the death of the fictitious author of this fictitious book, and the many, many ways in which art seems to be imitating life – or vice versa. I’d dearly love to read the rest of the series. I really wish that the Atticus Pünd series existed, because the one we got in Magpie Murders was absolutely marvelous. 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. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job.Ĭonway’s latest tale has Atticus Pünd investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan’s traditional formula has proved hugely successful.

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.

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. Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Formats available: hardcover, paperback, large print, ebook, audiobook

Magpie murders series books