I’ve been obsessed with Anthony Horowitz’s books for 25 years and they just keeps getting better and better. The previous instalments in this series – Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders – introduced us to Susan Ryeland; a books editor turned sleuth as she discovers that the detective stories she’s editing reveal clues to real-life murder cases. Horowitz masterfully writes both a golden age whodunnit and contemporary murder mystery and deftly connects the characters – and clues – between the two. In Marble Hall Murders he has managed to work his magic once again. And it’s an absolute sensation.
About Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz
While Susan thought she’d hung up her deerstalker when she moved to Crete to be with her partner, her relationship doesn’t fulfil her like her job used to do. Soon, the pull of London becomes too strong and she moves back to Crouch End, where she’s reunited with her trusty MG (a classic car) and, rather unexpectedly, Atticus Pünd.
But Susan knows the writer they’ve hired, Elliot Crace, as she worked with him years ago on a series of detective novels that flopped. He was trouble then – and he’s trouble now. She quickly deduces that Elliot has taken a page from Alan’s book by hiding secret messages in his work. Not only will this cause big problems for the estate of Elliot’s late grandmother – one of the most popular children’s novelists of all time – but, once again, they might reveal the culprit of a real-life murder…
My review of Marble Hall Murders
With it come some excellent new characters, both in the Atticus Pünd novel where our beloved detective teams up with French investigator Frédéric Voltaire and in the present day timeline where policeman Ian Blakeney makes a real splash – in the story and in Susan’s life.
Horowitz once again masterfully weaves the two narratives together, mirroring characters from the contemporary storyline with those in the golden age whodunnit being written by Elliot Crace. And it’s all so very clever. This time around it almost feels like a book-within-a-book-within-a-book as there’s Susan’s story, Elliot’s take on a classic Atticus Pünd case, and the truth about what really happened in Elliot’s family all those years ago slowly seeping through the pages.
The clues sprinkled throughout were so very excellent and on more than one occasion I managed to connect the dots before Susan did. It made me feel rather smug, even though I am sure it played out exactly as Horowitz had plotted. There was one storyline that unfolded that did make my heart sink in despair but, thankfully, my fears were unfounded and I was able to continue reading.
I’m really grateful to actress Lesley Manville, who plays Susan Ryeland in the BBC adaptation of the books, as she convinced Horowitz to write another book. Marble Hall Murders is so incredible that it would’ve been a real shame if we’d not been able to experience its genius. It had me utterly gripped as I devoured the Susan and Atticus chapters in equal measure. It’s very rare that a book can hold my attention as long as this one did, but I ended up reading for 4 hours straight when I needed to find out “whodunnit”.
Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz is published today by Century (an imprint of Penguin Books) and you can now buy your copy from your favourite local book shop!
Disclaimer: This book was gifted to me, but this has not impacted this honest review.
