A few years ago I read Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders, a wonderful, imaginative novel containing a story-within-a-story – the outer one being a crime story set in the contemporary publishing world and the inner one being an entire Golden-Age-style murder mystery featuring a detective called Atticus Pünd. When I finished that book I remember feeling disappointed that there weren’t more Atticus Pünd novels to read, so I was delighted to find that Horowitz’s latest book, Moonflower Murders, is written in the same format.

Both books stand alone so it’s not essential to have read Magpie Murders before starting Moonflower Murders (although there are a few references in this one to the events of the previous book). At the beginning of the novel, we rejoin Susan Ryeland who is now running a small hotel in Crete with her boyfriend, Andreas. It’s not quite the idyllic life Susan had hoped for, though, and just as she is beginning to long for her old career in publishing, two guests approach her with an intriguing proposition.

Their names are Lawrence and Pauline Treherne and they run a hotel of their own in England, where a murder took place eight years ago. Stefan Codrescu, one of the hotel employees, was found guilty of the murder, but the Trehernes’ daughter, Cecily, has always believed him to be innocent. Now Cecily has disappeared, just after telling her parents that she had uncovered a clue in an Alan Conway novel called Atticus Pünd Takes the Case which proves that the wrong man had been charged with the crime. Knowing that Susan was the editor who worked on the Atticus Pünd novels in her publishing days, the Trehernes have come to ask for her help. What was the clue Alan Conway hid within the pages of his novel? Is Stefan innocent or guilty? And what has happened to Cecily?

After several chapters in which Susan begins to investigate the events of eight years earlier and how they could be connected with Cecily’s disappearance, we have the pleasure of reading the whole of Atticus Pünd Takes the Case, a detective novel dealing with the murder of a famous actress. Although this story-within-a-story is enjoyable in its own right, at first it’s not clear how it is linked to the murder at the Trehernes’ hotel, but Susan’s knowledge of how Alan Conway’s mind worked helps her to pick out possible hints and clues. I certainly didn’t manage to solve the mysteries – either the one in the Pünd story or the one in the framing story – myself, but I enjoyed watching everything unfold.

I didn’t love this book quite as much as Magpie Murders, probably because I already knew what to expect so it didn’t feel as original, but it was still hugely entertaining and, like the previous novel, packed with word games and other little puzzles cleverly woven into the text. And of course, as an Agatha Christie fan I adore the Atticus Pünd stories in both books, which are such perfect homages to Christie herself. As we have been told that the fictional author Alan Conway apparently wrote a whole series of Atticus Pünd novels, I hope Anthony Horowitz will give us the opportunity to read at least one more of them!

Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz is the second in the Susan Ryeland series, the first of which is  Magpie Murders. 

Susan is a former editor, and now joint hotel owner in Crete, and she's feeling fed up with life.  She's offered £10,000 to look into a murder and disappearance which are linked to a book that she edited, and so she's off to the UK!

I know of Anthony Horowitz from things like Foyle's War, and heard that he had written a couple of James Bond books, and a couple of books with Sherlock Holmes as the lead, but I didn't know what to expect.

I really enjoyed this book!  The characters were enjoyable, and you can see where they are in the book that Susan edited.  There are twists and turns that I didn't see coming at all.

I would describe this as a crime book, with sections of cosy crime.  You'll understand more when you read it.  I don't know if there's a similar section in the first book in the series!  That's as spoilery as I'll get!

 Moonflower Murders  was published on 20th August 2020, and is available to buy on  Amazon ,  Waterstones (signed editions!)  and from your  local independent bookshop .

You can follow Anthony Horowitz on his  website ,  Twitter  or  Facebook .

I was given this book in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to  Random House UK Cornerstone.

This is the first book I’ve read by Anthony Horowitz, and would like thank Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book prior to publication.

I didn’t realise this was the second book to feature Susan Ryeland – she first appeared in the Magpie Murders. However, this did not detract from my enjoyment of this book.

Once I got over the implausibility of a retired book editor investigating a murder, I settled down and just enjoyed the story. I’ve never come across the book within a book before, and I thought it was going to drag on a bit, but this was not the case. I read the book in a couple of sittings, as I was so engrossed in the story.

I liked the character Susan and found myself rooting for her and hoping that her relationship with her boyfriend, Andreas, turned out well. There was a lot of twists and turns in the book, and it was very well written. There was a very satisfactory ending as well.

I think you’ll enjoy this book.

Anthony Horowitz doesn’t just provide one complicated story in his new crime novel. He provides two complicated stories, and the solution to one is hidden within the other.

Moonflower Murders begins with Susan Ryeland, former editor of now‑deceased Alan Conway’s crime fiction books.

She’s now in Crete running a hotel with her partner. But they’ve got money worries and she misses the literary world. Helpfully, a situation arises to make her richer and drag her back to books.

Lawrence and Pauline Treherne visit Susan with a problem. A man called Frank Parris was killed at their British hotel eight years ago, on the day of their daughter Cecily’s ­wedding. Cecily has now vanished.

What has this got to do with Susan?

Before Cecily disappeared, she read one of Alan Conway’s books, Atticus Pund Takes the Case. She then contacted her parents to tell them that the wrong man was in jail for Frank’s murder.

It turns out that Alan had stayed at the hotel after the murder, and a lot of the people he met appeared in his book. Susan had edited it. Who better to find the clue that identifies Frank’s real killer?

Strength

So follows Susan’s visit to a fancy hotel in Britain full of sad, infuriating and downright odd characters. Actually two visits. As Susan begins to re-read the book she edited years previously, she finds another hotel, another murder, another set of ­similar characters.

Horowitz has used the mechanism of a mystery within a mystery before. It’s a strength of the books that you get a sense of how nasty Alan is, even though he barely appears.

He looks down on his fans because he thinks crime fiction is boring.

So he fills the books with jokes and double meanings to “get one over” on his readers.

This literary device keeps the reader on their toes.

There are two sets of clues and red herrings to decipher. You are sent off to read his book halfway through the “actual” book, becoming part of the investigation.

At first it was annoying to move from one to the other. But I was quickly sucked into the new mystery, constantly wondering if this or that was a clue relevant to the first one.

The Moonflower Murders is a clever, engaging book that keeps you hooked until the end.

Anthony ­Horowitz’s Moonflower Murders is out now and published by Penguin

Shamefully I hadn't gotten round to reading Magpie Murders before coming to this sequel Moonflower Murders, but it did not detract from my enjoyment one bit. I gasped out loud when I realised the conceit of a book-within-a-book was going to fully play out here, and it was such fun to be sucked into a second, full book mid-story here. I adored the differing time settings for the two inter-connected stories and had a blast trying to figure out all the clues along the way. Horowitz shows such skill here and is so self-aware of the genre that he is fully at-play in this book, it's such a joy to read. I now want to go back and re-read it to see if I can gather all the clues that I missed to whodunnit the first time!

Rating 4.5/5*

This is a book within a book murder mystery, a literary conundrum to keep you guessing.

Susan Ryeland has been forced to retire as her publishing company literally burned down. She's now living and working running a small hotel with her Greek boyfriend. They're following his dream, but she's tired out and missing her previous life as they struggle with the pressure of their new roles. When hoteliers from England turn up to enlist Susan's help in discovering where their daughter, Cecily, is, Susan is initially confused and reticent but then agrees to help - for a substantial fee. It seems that Susan was the editor for Alan Conway who wrote a book, Atticus Pund Takes The Case, based on a murder which happened in their hotel eight years ago. Their daughter read it and contacted them to say the wrong person has been convicted of that murder and it is all in the book. The next day she vanished without revealing just who she thought was guilty. . . . As Alan died two years earlier, they believe Susan is the person to help discover what has happened to their daughter and reveal who was guilty of the murder and so this intriguing story begins!

This is an intriguing mystery and you even get to read Atticus Pund Takes the Case to look for the clues yourself. As Susan investigates what people remember of the events from eight years ago, she endeavours to build a picture of it all, putting the pieces together before re-reading the book to look for additional clues. She needs to be careful though as the murderer is still there and has already murdered someone....

There are some brilliant characters portrayed in this story, which has plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing right to the confession letter at the end. The interactions between the characters, the revelations, secrets and suspense make this a fascinating read, a real page turner from this master of this genre.

I requested and was gifted a copy of this book and this is my honest review after choosing to read it and finding it a fascinating read.

Moonflower Murders is the second in a series by Anthony Horowitz that started with Magpie Murders, which came out in 2016. I read Magpie Murders and remember enjoying it but couldn’t remember much of the plot, which didn’t matter very much.

Moonflower Murders is really very clever (I’m not going to say “ingenious” because that’s what people always say in reviews of murder mysteries, but it really is.)

The “book within a book” is a clever way of freshening up a standard format and I loved the little details like the copyright page for the book etc all being included. I did find it a bit difficult to get into the Atticus Pund mini novel at the start and felt a bit like I’d been wrenched out of Moonflower Murders, which I had been enjoying, but I got into it relatively quickly and enjoyed the fact that I was being given the chance to review the same material as the “detective”.

I read a lot of Agatha Christie and usually find other crime books a bit disappointing in comparison, but this really holds its own and is a must read for any Christie fans.

My only slight negative is that it is quite long and I did wonder if some of it could have been trimmed a bit.

Many thanks for my free copy in return for my honest review.

Many Thanks to Net Galley, Random House UK, Cornerstone; and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

#MoonflowerMurders #NetGalley

All Hail Anthony Horowitz, a master craftsman for churning out not just one, but two brilliantly conceived murder mysteries.

Book #2 in Susan Ryeland series, Moonflower Murders deserve to be read in order to understand the intricate web plotted by the author in both the books. Magpie Murders was out of the world and I was literally in heaven when I got an ARC of the sequel.

Like Magpie Murders, Susan Ryeland is back investigating a case. She is approached by the Trehearnes to look into the murder of a hotel guest following the disappearance of their younger daughter Cecily 8 yrs. after the murder investigation has been closed.

Where is Cecily and why did she call her parents that the investigation was faulty referring to Alan Conway’s book Atticus Pund Takes the Case which was published by Susan’s firm.

The reader is also given the golden chance to read another book in the middle of Susan’s enquiries as the story of Atticus Pund Takes The Case is given in its entirety.

With a host of characters and red-herrings, both cases come to a conclusion a la Poirot style making it a perfect homage to Agatha Christie style story-telling.

As a huge fan of classical murder mysteries, I sincerely wish that both these books are adapted to the screen and that the series continue as these have been merely a drop in the ocean for a crazy addict like me!

This review is published in my blog https://rainnbooks.com/; Amazon India, Goodreads and Twitter.

Moonflower Murders is the much anticipated sequel to Magpie Murders, the first book in the Susan Ryeland series. I thoroughly enjoyed the first in the series and was consequently very excited to get my hands on an early copy of Moonflower Murders.

Following on from Magpie Murders, Susan has left the publishing industry and is now running a hotel in Crete with her boyfriend, Andreas. It should be the idyllic life and yet there's something missing for Susan. So when Susan is approached by the wealthy Lawrence Trehearne, asking her to look into the disappearance of their daughter, Cecily, she cannot resist. She and Andreas need the money and Susan can use the opportunity to see whether a permanent return to the UK could be on the cards.

The book largely follows the same format as Magpie Murders, initially telling of publisher Susan Ryeland's efforts as an amateur detective before detouring to the adventures of fictional detective Atticus Pünd. The idea of setting a book within a book seems very unique to me and I felt that it worked very well.

The structure of the book enables the author to introduce two separate and complex mysteries for the reader to ponder upon. It is cleverly done, with a small circle of potential suspects and plenty of red herrings to trip the reader up. My own detective skills were severely lacking when it came to working out 'whodunnit'! 

Moonflower Murders is a wonderful return to the golden age of crime writing. With a complex plot and an engaging writing style, I sincerely hope that Susan Ryeland will be given another outing in the future as I would love to read more about her adventures into amateur sleuthing. Horowitz is a great storyteller

Huge thanks to Random House and NetGalley for providing a review copy of this book.

I hadn't realised this was the second in a series of books, and was concerned that not knowing the characters or format may spoil my enjoyment, but I needn't have worried. What's not to like about literally having a book within a book and cryptic clues to follow? Mr Horowitz has a new fan.
Thank you to netgalley and random house for an advance copy of this book

I struggled to get into this book and seeing how long it was, made me consider giving up. I then looked at some of the reviews that gave it enormous praise and described a book within a book. This had me intrigued and I decided to continue. I am so glad I did. What a clever idea! Susan is running a hotel in Crete with her partner, Andreas. However, hard work, long hours and making little money had her longing for her old life as a book editor. Out of the blue, two hoteliers from England, Lawrence and Pauline Treherne arrive to see her with a proposition. Susan had once edited a book called Atticus Pünd Takes The Case and it was this book that Lawrence and Pauline’s daughter Cecily was reading before her sudden, recent disappearance. She had called them to say she was frightened and that she had discovered from a clue in the book, that a previous employee at the hotel, now in prison, was indeed innocent of his crime, a murder that had happened during her wedding weekend. They asked her to re-read the book and try and discover what she meant. They offered to pay her well and it was just the excuse she needed to return to England. This she does and as she interviews one suspect after another, with red herrings galore, she eventually reads the book, which is the whole middle section of Moonflower Murders. Does it give her the answers or can the reader get to the bottom of it? A lengthy book, that delivers two for the price of one, cleverly intertwined with a wonderful old fashioned detective story sandwiched by a more modern, sordid tale.

This is the sequel to Magpie Murders, and although I think this will work better if you've read the first book, I actually liked this more than Magpie Murders. Like the first book, it features a book-within-a-book and it's really clever and super meta. It's also super hard to explain in a review. In Magpie Murders, Susan found herself investigating the death of one of her authors who was famous for writing a series of novels about a 1950s detective called Atticus Pünd. The books were homages to Golden Age crime, but the author - Alan Conway - hated writing them (but no one wanted to publish his other stuff) so he wove in references to people that he knew and events in real life to entertain himself. IN Magpie Murders the book within the book is Conway's final Atticus Pünd novel, in Moonflower Murders, it is an earlier book in the series, which turns out to be similarly peppered with clues. It's a really interesting reading experience. It's easy to get lost in the Pünd story and forget that you're meant to be reading it because Susan is reading it looking for clues to the "real" case. The Pünd novel is a satisfying mystery - and so is the "real" mystery that Susan is looking into. It's such a fun and also mind bending reading experience.

Having not read any Anthony Horowitz, I was intrigued to read this one, but found the first few chapters pretty implausible - an editor investigating a murder just didn’t ring true for me. However, the writing is so brilliant, the ‘book within a book’ device so successful and the twists and turns so engrossing that I ended up absolutely riveted! All the characters were believable, and provoked strong emotions of either intense dislike or empathy to the point of really rooting for them and desperately wanting the outcome to go their way. The ending was complete and very satisfying and I am looking forward to reading this author’s previous books.

This was really good, I enjoyed it so much, just as much as I loved Magpie Murders. Anthony Horowitz can do no wrong. Although I had read Magpie Murders I don't think it would have mattered too much had I not done so. The plot was great. I loved the beginning and was drawn in instantly. It was really easy to read too and held me captivated. Susan Ryeland is a retired publisher living in Greece where she runs a small, struggling hotel. When approached by the owners of a hotel from Suffolk in England to investigate the case of their missing daughter she takes the job in the hope that the money earned will save her business from bankruptcy. With delight she returns to the UK in pursuit of the missing daughter, and to spend time in the London that she misses while in Greece. The story isn't without its twists and turns, all well placed and well written. As I said already it was an easy read, really enjoyable. There were no unnecessary storyline, they were all worthwhile. I'd highly recommend it.

What a superb book. So intriguing and full of twist and turns throughout. The story itself was like am embroidery that although the finale was not visible until the end all the little bits are there for the final piecing together. It was unique with a book within a book which added to the mystery. The characters were so realistic and the author inserted socially taboo areas so well. Horowitz is a great author and this was to me his most excellent yet. I am normally so good at evaluating who was responsible and why but even with all the clues mounting up I could not work it out.
Keep writing such convoluted mysteries that keeps the reader on edge all the way through until the Agatha Christie moment of the gathering and the declaration of who and why was guilty of the murders.
Highly recommend this author and especially this fantastic book. I would award 10 if I could but 5 stars have to do.

Following the events in Magpie Murders, Susan Ryeland has taken a step away from the publishing world and is now running a hotel on a Greek island. She misses parts of her old life though (although not the bit when someone tried to kill her) and when she meets Lawrence and Pauline Treherne and listens to what they have to say, she makes the decision to return to England.
Lawrence and Pauline tell her about a murder at their own hotel, what appeared to be an open and shut case. But when their daughter Pauline read Atticus Pünd Takes The Case, she was convinced that the book proved that the wrong person had been sent away for the crime. And then Cecily disappeared without trace… It seems that she was right and that someone is desperate to keep the truth buried forever.
Atticus Pünd Takes The Case was the third book in the acclaimed series by Alan Conway and was released in 2009. That was the year before I started my blog, back when I was writing my reviews on paper and throwing them out of the window so that anyone passing could read them. By coincidence, the review for this one must have blown back in through the window, as I found it down the back of the sofa yesterday. Let’s see what I thought about the original novel.
“I’m delighted that Atticus Pünd has made another appearance in print. I know some people seem him as a Poirot clone, but I think there’s more to him than that. He doesn’t suffer from Poirot’s vanity, and his background is more fleshed out his Belgian counterpart. It seems odd that a German in post-war England doesn’t get treated more negatively, especially when he needs to exert his authority, but pairing him with a well-respected local policeman who sees him as an asset, rather than as an interfering foreigner, does help.
In this case, Pünd is asked by the agent of Melissa James, a fading Hollywood actress, to investigate her death. She telephoned for help, but by the time help arrived, she was dead, strangled. But why would her killer allow her to make such a phone call? It’s a relatively simple premise, but everyone has a motive while nobody has an opportunity, despite everyone acting suspiciously at times.
It’s an intricately plotted affair, with everything meaning something. There is one event early on that never seems to take on the importance it is given (although it is an essential part of the plot) and one aspect towards the end that seemed a bit obvious to me.
I do hope Conway writes these books for many years to come. Atticus Pünd – you know, there’s something about that name that bothers me. Never mind, I’ll work it out one day. Atticus Pünd is a great lead character and the mysteries are completely fair play for fans of the Golden Age. You know what, it’s such a pleasure to find a modern mystery written with such a fair play mindset, I might start looking for more. I could even start writing one of those new-fangled blog things that I hear so much about…”
The whole of Conway’s book is reprinted in Moonflower Murders, but that’s barely half the book, as the other half details Susan’s investigating into the original murder and Cecily’s disappearance. Well, actually, she doesn’t really investigate the second bit, just the original murder which leads to the truth about the whole thing.
Anthony Horowitz crafted a great book-within-a-book, a mystery-within-a-mystery in Magpie Murders, but when I heard of the sequel, I had concerns that he was trying to bottle lightning twice. I needn’t have worried. The modern day mystery is extraordinarily well done, with red herrings a-plenty. Sometime I worry that I have read to many mysteries to be surprised. I wasn’t desperately surprised by the murderer in Atticus Pund Takes The Case, but clearly Horowitz is a better writer than Conway, as he completely blindsided me with the framing story.
Susan is a great lead, as while her personal issues by no mean dominate the narrative, they are skilfully woven throughout so you end up caring about her and her choices in life. One aspect that concerned me as I was reading it was why Conway had apparently hidden clues to a real murder in a novel, rather than, say, telling the police, but the rationale behind that works beautifully.
If you enjoyed Magpie Murders, then you’ll love Moonflower Murders even more. The more I think about it, the more I think the sequel is an even better book. But if you haven’t read Magpie Murders, then read them both! You won’t regret it.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the review e-copy. Moonflower Murders is out on Thursday 20th August.
[NB Just in case, as my sense of humour has confused people before, yes, I know Horowitz wrote both “books”. Just having a bit of a laugh, mostly with myself, as usual…]

I absolutely loved this story. Former editor Susan Ryeland is living in retirement on Crete when a couple come to find her. Their daughter has gone missing after uncovering new information about a murder in their hotel eight years before. She claimed the information came from a novel Susan edited that was influenced by the events, and Susan is persuaded to accompany them back to England to investigate.
I haven't read Magpie Murders (though I will now!) but that didn't take anything away from this second installment. I love a good nostalgic murder mystery and this book has two. I've also always enjoyed a cheesy gathering of suspects for a grand reveal, and there are two of those as well! It shows that the story never takes itself too seriously but draws the right like between fun and drama.
The novel at the heart of it is a wonderful homage to Agatha Christie, and I loved how Susan picks up on editorial issues that certainly niggled at me as I was reading it. It also made me realise that a book editor could make a decent investigator as they can pick up inconsistencies in stories. The surrounding story is fantastic, every character in both books is a suspect at one time or another and you are frequently thrown off the scent. I guessed one ending but there were so many others that were a complete surprise.
When the novel within the story began I was a little thrown as I'd been so invested in the wider narrative, but I was soon equally hooked on both.
Full of nostalgia and throwbacks to classic '50s novels, this is such an enjoyable read.

I really loved the book within a book concept here. It brought to mind that old Churchill quote about "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma". That's exactly how I would describe reading this. It requires the reader to un-peel the layers given in the present-day "real life" and look to clues from a fictional golden-age-style mystery within the book itself, of which the main character was the Editor.
I know this is an ARC so wanted to mention a few things where names need to be edited to make sense of the text:
1. The sentence "he led me into the kitchen where SUSAN was working" should be JOANNE
2. LINDA Treherne was mentioned when it actually should have been LISA
I mention these because there is such a big emphasis on names within the book (certain clues are given by virtue of character names) so it threw me when these character names were not as they were meant to be.
As an aside, I guffawed a little following the denouement when a certain person apparently had time to write a letter but I did enjoy the reveal.
A very enjoyable book that I would recommend to those who enjoy the golden age mysteries - it's gentle and had me guessing to the finish.

If one can get over how implausible it is that the ‘investigator’ was an editor, the core story had promise....

But...... to write a book totally dominated by the industry of writing: the heroine an editor; about another book being central to resolving an old murder and why someone who has read it has disappeared and then include THAT book.... Enough.

To me, this book came across as written for the author’s pleasure - and perhaps that of other authors. It held little or no pleasure for this reader. I will admit to NOT reading the second book tucked inside... That was just asking too much.

Would I buy it for myself? No way - despite having done that with other ARCs. For a friend? Only if they had done something to upset me.

If this was a ‘vanity’ project for the author to demonstrate his ‘Christie’ like skill. It failed with this reader. I could have read two GOOD books in the same time... And at my time of life that is too big a price to pay.

If my scathing review causes me to loose other ARCs in the future, so be it.

‘A four hour flight from Stansted. A one hour drive from Heraklion. Getting here had hardly been a stroll. “What is this about?” I asked. “It’s about a murder.”
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Having loved Magpie Murders, I couldn’t have been more excited to delve back into the world of Susan Ryeland, Alan Conway and of course Atticus Pünd, and this second instalment in the series did not disappoint!!
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We’re met in Crete with our protagonist from book one, Susan Ryeland, as she has left the publishing industry and set up a hotel with her partner. When one day a couple approach her with an interesting proposition, come back to England and help solve the mystery surrounding their daughters disappearance... but being not a detective she is mystified by why they would ask her, but then the answer falls into her lap... yet again Alan Conway has brought drama into her life by hiding a clue in the 3rd book in his Atticus Pünd series Which relates to a murder from 8 years ago and which they believe is the reason for the daughters disappearance.
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Being a massive fan of the ‘book within a book’ theme, this novel truly brings my joy. With technically two different mysteries running side by side... the actual mystery and the one from the Atticus Pünd novel... You are never at a loss for something to make your mind work. A mystery to rival many others, this book brilliantly salutes the great crime novels that have come whilst also paving it’s way into a new genre of it’s own. A brilliant book all round and I’m excited to see if there is more in the pipe work for Susan and Atticus.
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Thank you so much to Netgalley and Century, Penguin Random House UK for the ARC!!