Book Review: Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

“Life may imitate art – but it usually falls short of it.”

I love Anthony Horowitz – his Sherlock Holmes stories are fantastic, and this book was similarly excellent.

There are two stories here (I love when an author incorporates a story within a story, it’s like getting a two-fer): the book that editor Susan is working on for her AND the story behind the story(ies) that gradually rolls out the mystery of the author. Both stories are well-conceived, well-paced, and well-written – and utterly different in style. I find that fascinating – how one author can write in such different voices in the same book. Horowitz manages with aplomb.

The opening story (the book) reads like his Sherlock period work; the “real” story that comes later reads like contemporary fiction. The blending of the two, with allusions back and forth that ultimately lead up to the Big Reveal, is managed beautifully. This was a very fun book to read, full of quirky and damaged characters, well-set scenes, great up-and-down pacing, and wry homage to the classic whodunits.