Magpie Murders: A Novel [B0777]

2018 PB with some wear. #1 Indie Next Pick. A Best Book of 2017 by NPR, Washington Post, Amazon, and Esquire. 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.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Never read anything like this but it actually works. Super impressive to not only have two totally separate books exist in one, but also two murder mysteries going on at once. I've never read a book within a book before and I really enjoyed this one. Would highly recommend."; "Ok, wow! Excellently done! If you like murder mysteries, put this on the top of your list!"; "A whodunnit it within a whodunnit. A book editor finds herself in the middle of a real life murder mystery while trying to find the missing chapters of an author's most recent manuscript. After reading 'worthy' literary fiction this book was exactly what I needed. A page turner which 2 mysteries to solve. I will definitely watch the TV show and read the 2nd in the series too."