Magpie Murders is a whodunnit, very much in the style of  the classic crime writers such as Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh. It’s even set in a 1950s English village.

One of the stories, that is.

Because this, you see, is a whodunnit within a whodunnit, with the contemporary story centering on a missing manuscript and an editor’s realisation that a famous crime writer’s suicide may in fact be murder…

In many ways, Magpie Murders is a kind of roman-a-clef, except the key turns—not on the characters being thinly veiled real people—but on the world of books and publishing and best-selling authors. Both the stories work, although I found the contemporary tale, which bookends the more classic whodunnit, the more compelling of the two. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed the latter tale.

For me, the greatest interest in the story was in the character exploration of the deceased author, Alan Conway, particularly his relationships with former lovers, friends, and family, as well as his frustrated ambitions. I also thought the fact that Alan Conway’s detective, Atticus Pund, was terminally ill added interest to the otherwise “by the numbers” vintage whodunnit.

Magpie Murders is an enjoyable and undemanding light read that should please all those who like whodunnits and the era of vintage crime writing in particular.

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Additional Information:

I read an uncorrected proof copy, trade paperback size, 203 pp, obtained from my NZ publisher Hachette as part of their pre-Christmas roadshow.