A proper whodunnit with lots of twists, turns, red herrings and diversions, and a great final scene that will put all the pieces in place. I really enjoyed this homage to the Golden Age of Crime with its clues scattering the pages and characters revealing motives. I didn't really find the book within the book entirely necessary - it seems to be the trademark of this series - and the alternative names and plot confused me (even more) but the book moved at a good pace and the final scenes are well worth the wait.

‘It’s about a murder.’

Like ‘Magpie Murders’, this is a book within a book. It is a follow-up to ‘Magpie Murders’ and while it can be read as a standalone novel, the background from the earlier book is useful.

The main character in this novel is Susan Ryeland, now a retired publisher living on a small Greek Island with her boyfriend Andreas. They are running a small hotel, but it is particularly challenging, and Susan is starting to miss her previous life.

Two visitors arrive at the hotel – the Trehernes – and they tell Susan a mysterious story. A murder took place at their hotel in Suffolk, UK, on the day of their daughter’s wedding. A man was convicted of the murder. But the couple were recently contacted by their daughter Cecily who told them that she had read a novel about the famous literary detective Atticus Pünd based on a murder which had taken place at their hotel. Cecily claimed that the novel, ‘Atticus Pünd Takes the Case’ by Alan Conway, proved that the wrong man had been convicted. Cecily has now gone missing. Can Susan help? After all, she had edited and published this novel and must have some insights. The Trehernes have read the novel but can’t see any connections.

Susan is fascinated. And when the Trehernes offer her a fee (which will help her and Andreas with their hotel), she is happy to return to the UK.

‘The whole thing should be easy when actually it makes no sense at all.’

I really enjoyed this novel. So many red herrings and twists to negotiate. There are similarities between the murder mystery in ‘Atticus Pünd Takes the Case’ and the murder that took place on Cecily Treherne’s wedding day. Who was responsible for the murder? And where is Cecily?

Recommended.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Having recently read (and LOVED) Anthony Horowitz's Magpie Murders, his first mystery to feature Susan Ryland and the Atticus Pünd novels, I was surprised to find myself approaching its sequel, Moonflower Murders, with some trepidation. The premise of Magpie Murders - and it's intricate interweaving of the two plots at its heart - was so unique that I was just a little worried that Horowitz wouldn't be able to pull off the same magic twice. 

My worries were, however, unfounded. Moonflower Murders more than lives up to the expectations set by it's predecessor. Using the same 'novel in a novel' premise as Magpie Murders, Susan Ryland finds herself once again embroiled in an eerily familiar mystery when she is asked to investigate the sudden disappearance of hotelier Cecily Trehearne. Eight years before, the Trehearne family's hotel, Branlow Hall, had been the site of a brutal murder that ruined Cecily's wedding day and resulted in the arrest of one of their staff for murder. But it appears that Cecily didn't think the outcome of the case was correct. Cecily's chance reading of 'Atticus Pünd Takes the Case' seems to have sparked a revelation. She knew what really happened to Frank Parris all those years ago. But it seems someone may have silenced her before she could reveal the truth.  As Susan arrives back in England, she finds herself once again confronting the legacy of Alan Conway, and turning to yet another Atticus Pünd novel to find the clues to a real-life mystery. 

What I really enjoyed about both Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders is the way in which Horowitz moves so deftly between the two stories. Interconnections - some obvious and some fleeting - are woven between the two plot lines and there are tiny details and word games hidden within the book that can, with some thought, lead the reader to the truth behind the crime.

The worry with having a 'novel within a novel' is always that you'll find one story more enjoyable than the other but with both of these books I was utterly hooked by both plots - initially desperate to get back to Susan's investigation at Branlow Hall when the Atticus Pünd novel takes over, within a few pages I was completely hooked on Atticus' own investigation into the murder of a famous actress at the Moonflower Hotel! Writing two such engaging and interesting plots is no mean-feat and it's part of what makes these novels so very enjoyable for mystery fans.

I also liked the development of the main characters. Susan and her partner Andreas certainly become a lot more fleshed out in Moonflower Murders, and I was pleased to find some returning characters from Magpie Murders as a nice little nod to the previous book. I also felt that the supporting characters were a little more tangible in this novel - although the cast is still a large one, they felt a little more distinguishable in terms of traits and motivations.

As with Magpie Murders, I do still have one or two concerns about some of the characterisation in the books. Horowitz certainly tries to be diverse in the contemporary section of his novel but I didn't find any of the representation to be particularly positive. I found it disappointing that the only black character in the novel (or at least, the only character directly identified as being black) - a returning character that I had some issues with in the first book - is an aggressive racist, for example. I was also a unsettled by the fact that the LGBTQ+ characters all seem to end up being flamboyant stereotypes or sexual predators. I'm not saying that authors should only write 'nice' POC and LGBTQ+ characters - diversity of representation is vitally important and there is, of course, no one way to write about lived experiences - but I did find the overall negativity of the portrayals here somewhat jarring and, if I'm honest, rather stereotypical. 

That was, genuinely, my only issue with Moonflower Murders though and, that aside, I very much enjoyed this second slice of ingeniously plotted mystery, which comes replete with the usual plethora of red-herrings and suspicious goings on.

Fans of Magpie Murders are sure to love returning to both Susan Ryland and Atticus Pünd and, for newcomers to the series, the mysteries work perfectly well as a standalone (although you should go and read Magpie Murders too - it's a lot of fun!) and is sure to keep you turning the pages long past your usual bedtime!

Moonflower Murders is a follow up novel to Magpie Murders. It has the same format – that of a book within the book. Although I don’t think you have to read Magpie Murders first as this stands well on its own merits, I think it would help to know the background and some of the characters if you do.

Susan Ryeland, the main character, has retired as a publisher and is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her long-term boyfriend, Andreas. Their hotel is in debt, they’re in danger of going bankrupt and she is missing her literary life in London. So, when Lawrence and Pauline Trehearn, the owners of an hotel, Branlow Hall in Suffolk visit her and ask if she would investigate the disappearance of their daughter Cecily from their hotel for a fee, she decides to go – and at the same time visit London.

Before she had disappeared Cecily had read Alan Conway’s murder mystery, Atticus Pund Takes the Case, based on a murder that happened at Brownlow Hall eight years earlier. At that time, the evidence against Stefan, the general maintenance man was overwhelming and he was convicted. Cecily was convinced that there was something in the novel that proved Stefan wasn’t responsible for the crime. Unfortunately she hadn’t told anyone what had convinced her. The Trehearnes had read the book, but they couldn’t see any connection, although there are similarities – the characters are clearly based on the people at Brownlow Hall, with the same or similar names.

Susan had published Conway’s books, but thought that if he had indeed discovered that an innocent man was in prison he would have gone straight to the police and not turned it into a novel. But investigating Cecily’s disappearance, she re-reads his book and examines the evidence relating to the murder of eight years ago.

Moonflower Murders combines elements of vintage-style golden age crime novels with word-play, cryptic clues and anagrams. I thoroughly enjoyed trying to work it all out. it – Anthony Horowitz’s style of writing suits me – so easy to read, I whizzed through it, no doubt missing all the intricacies and clues along the way. But it is such an enjoyable way to read – no need to puzzle about the structure, or who is who as the characters all come across as individual people. Of course it’s not a straightforward mystery and along the way I was easily distracted by the red herrings. I thoroughly enjoyed trying to work it all out.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Cornerstone for an ARC.

A most interesting and unique who-done-it with two stories for the price of one. A young lady manager of a country Hotel that once had a guest murdered suddenly becomes a missing person. It seems that she had read a thriller about a murder in a hotel that threw new light on the past event. Her parents the owner of the hotel feared that her disappearance was to silence her. As the author was dead; the publishing editor of the book was commissioned to investigate and to read the book for clues. However, first she had to establish the events of the murder, but when she read it, the book was a completely different, although on a hotel elsewhere and based on the caricatures of the same people. What she discovers and how she stumbles on rhe vital clue and how she exposes a miserable disparate cast of characters who were hidden behind a benign friendly façade makes an engrossing read.

A clever idea for a book - the second in a series, but my first by Anthony Horowitz. It was full of new ideas on the old detective genre, but managed to retain a sense of period detail and its modern overall setting, complete with emails and contemporary references. The book within a book idea, apparently used in the earlier book,'The Magpie Murders' as well, was a clever way of introducing an Agatha Christie style murder story into the modern bookends of the original story, but for me rather disrupted the action and the sense of the first part of the novel.

The central book worked in its own right and was engaging enough, if rather old-fashioned in tone, but by the time we returned to the original, I had lost who the characters were and how they related to the book. In fact the rather clunky device to write them out in a list, complete with links to original characters and how their names had been devised, was quite boring, although necessary in order to have a fighting chance of following the connections. Again a good idea, if rather awkwardly executed, along with other informative devices like emails and reported telephone conversations. So an interesting book with some engaging and smart devices, but on the whole rather too clever and involved for its own good.

This murder mystery reminds me of Miss Marple. The twist is it is a book within a book. It is well written and draws you in to suspect different characters different points throughout each of the stories. Easy to read and recommended if you like a puzzle.

Another great read from Anthony Horrowitz, thank you Netgalley!
This one follows on from The Magpie Murders but can also be read as a stand-alone book. Susan Ryeland has moved to Crete and is running a hotel when she meets Laurence and Pauline Treherne. They want her to investigate a murder and think that it’s replicated in an Atticus Pund novel.
As before, it’s a story within a story which is so clever as there are so many different threads which all get tied up nicely. The secondary story is much shorter in The Moonflower Murders but is equally as effective.
Definitely highly recommended, it’s a cosy crime meets thriller novel and kept me hooked throughout.

I was nervous starting ‘Moonflower Murders’ for two reasons. I really liked the first book in the series, ‘Magpie Murders’ with its ingenious book within a book format and its affectionate dissection of the mystery genre, but I had no idea how Anthony Horowitz could pull off the same trick again without it feeling forced. Secondly, I loved his first Sherlock Holmes novel, ‘The House of Silk’, but found the follow up ‘Moriarty’ a dull and confusing mess. Fortunately, I needn’t have worried. I’m not sure ‘Moonflower Murders’ is quite as good as the book that preceded it, but it is a credible and very enjoyable sequel.
It’s set a couple of years after ‘Magpie Murders’, with book editor turned sleuth pulled out of her relatively normal life when a couple approach her asking to investigate a murder. The crime took place a few years ago at the hotel they run, with one of the staff convicted for it. However, recent events, and a secret hidden in a book by none other than Alan Conway have caused them to doubt the conviction. It’s a fairly elegant way to set things up for a double mystery in the style of the first book. Again we get both a “real” mystery investigated by Susan, and a fictional one featuring Conway’s creation, Atticus Pünd.
‘Moonflower Murders’ is another very enjoyable novel from Horowitz. It’s populated with twists and turns, a bit of politics (around the demonisation of Eastern European immigrants by the tabloid press), romance, humour and good old fashioned murder mysteries. What it lacks, compared to the first book, is a deeper examination of the crime genre. Perhaps Horowitz felt he’d already covered that, and to be fair he had, quite brilliantly. The book feels slightly inferior to its predecessor because of that, but that’s not to say it isn’t a great read. Whether Horowitz can pull off the same trick a third time remains to be scene, but I certainly hope he tries.

"I needed to concentrate. The book was 'Atticis Pünd Takes the Case'...The time had finally come to confront not just the text but my memories of its creation. It felt strange. I was about to read one murder mystery while sitting inside another."

Former publisher, Susan Ryeland, becomes involved in late author, Alan Conway's murderous mysteries again, in the second book in the series. Called to a hotel in Suffolk by the wealthy owners, to help investigate their missing daughter, Ryeland turns amateur sleuth again. Shortly before she disappeared, the missing woman told her parents she'd discovered something in one of Conway's novels that indicated a miscarriage of justice. This put her in danger.

Another of Horowitz's novels within a novel (two for the price of one!), Moonflower Murders features some of the same characters as the first novel, Magpie Murders. Devious author, Alan Conway identified who the real life murderer was, which he alludes to in one of his detective novels. In 'Atticus Pünd (a German homage to Hercule Poirot) Takes the Case', set in 1950s Devon, Conway drops clues as to who has got away with murder in present day Suffolk. Determined Ryeland interviews those involved and sets about trying to unpick infuriating Conway's literary clues. She soon finds herself in danger.

A homage to classic golden age whodunnits, I love everything about this book. The nostalgia of 1950s Devon set alongside present day Suffolk (where I lived for a period), both rural and set in a hotel, work perfectly together. The characters are all well drawn and involving and Horowitz's style of writing is a joy to read. A pacy trail of breadcrumbs, and red herrings lead to the killer, who has been hiding in plain sight. So clever, so involved and so atmospheric, I'd recommend this to all mystery-lovers.

This is the sequel to Horowitz' The Magpie Murders. If you liked that, you will enjoy this, too. I love the exuberant silliness of this series. I love how much it references classic crime novels and how 'meta' it is. As with The Magpie Murders it features the now ex-editor, Susan Ryeland, called back from running a hotel in Crete to investigate the disappearance of a woman from the hotel where eight years previously a man was bludgeoned to death, a crime which the infamous author Alan Conway used to write another of his Atticus Pund books. As with the Magpie Murders, this is partially set in modern times and the rest is the text of the Pund novel. A really enjoyable read if you like classic, Christie-esque crime novels with lots of twists and turns.

This is a complex murder mystery with the less common ‘book within a book’ plot device to introduce an additional dimension to readers attempting to identify the killer. One odd feature for this reader was that the book embedded in ‘The Moonflower Murders’ offered a more involving and easy to read plot than the overall book. Mr Horowitz’s talents as a capable thriller writer, with the ability to write in a range of genres, are well known and recognised. However, for this reader at least, the narrative was insufficiently fluent to want to keep reading at a level that the most enjoyable engaging books can manage. Two books introduce double the number of characters that the reader needs to juggle with - that can present a challenge unless the plot really grabs the reader.

Thank you to netgalley for my advanced copy. The book was quite enjoyable but I found the book within a book presented me with too many characters to keep track of. It reminded me of s poirot mystery with The end providing a good twist. A real who dunnit story.

This is another ingenious crime ‘novel within a novel’ by Anthony Horowitz, following on from Magpie Murders. Susan Ryland has started a new life as a hotelier on Crete, leaving behind her previous career as an editor to the challenging author Alan Conway. When she is approached by desperate parents to investigate the disappearance of their daughter Cecily she agrees, partly to help ease her money problems but also because the mystery seems to be related to murder from 8 years ago that Alan Conway based a book on.
Susan’s investigation leads her to read the novel written by Conway ‘ Atticus Pund Takes the Case’ to see if this post war Agatha Christie type story has any hidden information that could help her solve the disappearance of Cecily, and possibly discover the real perpetrator of the murder therefore helping acquit the wrongfully imprisoned man.
The plot of this book sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is. I found it to be utterly gripping and frustratingly impossible to predict. The main story is set in the present day and it witty and well paced. The Atticus Pund story within it is a refreshing change with a fantastic mystery of its own.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and any fan of the crime or mystery genre would surely be impressed by this clever piece of writing.

It's now two years since the events that took place in Magpie Murders leading up to the death of Alan Conway, author of the popular murder mystery series featuring investigator Atticus Pünd. After nearly dying too, Alan's editor, Susan Ryland is now living in Crete managing a seaside hotel on the coast with her partner. It's not quite the dream she imagined, involving a lot of hard work and rising debt as they struggle to make the hotel profitable.

When Susan is rung by an elderly couple who run a country hotel in Suffolk asking if she will investigate the disappearance of their daughter Cecily, she jumps at the chance to have a break and earn a fat fee at the same time. Just before she disappeared Cecily had contacted her parents to tell them she had just read an Atticus Pünd novel that Alan Conway had based on a murder that happened at their hotel. She claimed that the novel proved that the wrong man had been convicted of the murder.

As with Magpie Murders, the novel once again contains a book within the book with the Atticus Pünd novel based on the murder occupying a large proportion of the novel. Although Conway had changed the location of his murder mystery, the characters retained the same initials and could be easily identified. He also had his usual fun dropping in anagrams and clues hidden inside 'Easter eggs'. Susan makes for an unusual and interesting investigator and I liked her parts of the book much more than I like the Atticus Pünd novel, which I found a bit tedious to read in it's entirety, before being returned to the much more enjoyable current day plot. although well written, I found the Atticus Pünd plot a bit wooden and was never quite sure whether it was meant to be a homage to or a parody of Agatha Christie and the Golden age.

While Susan's current investigation was also quite complex with many characters up to no good and plenty of red herrings to keep the reader guessing, it was entertaining and fun, wrapping up the crime with a Poirot like gathering in the hotel dining room to announce the killer. While I'd like to see more of Susan Ryland in the future, I'd prefer to see her move on from Alan Conway and Atticus Pünd, or if she is to revisit the crimes in the novels, to not have the novel included in it's entirety but maybe woven into the current plot in sections.

Moonflower Murders first popped up on my screen in Jan this year. Since then, I have been eagerly waiting for the book. So, you can imagine my joy when my request to review the book was accepted.
Horowitz’s books are not just immersive, they also give readers a chance to solve a mystery along with the lead character. Now we think of ourselves as Watson to Sherlock.

Moonflower murders follow the story of Susan Ryeland, who has moved on from the debacle (Magpie Murders) that destroyed her publishing career.
She, now, co-owns a hotel in Crete along with her Greek boyfriend Andreas Patakis. The hotel hasn’t seen its finest day yet! Running the hotel is an everyday struggle. And amid this chaos, Susan misses her publishing career and her passion for reading books.
One quiet afternoon, the Trehearnes arrived at her hotel. Looking at them, she figures they are posh British citizens. And at that moment, everything changes! Cecily Trehearne, their daughter, has gone missing a few weeks back. The only clue they have is Alan Conway’s book Atticus Pünd takes the case. With her proximity to Alan Conway and the editor of the Atticus Pünd series, they request her help. After much reluctance and thoughts, she agrees to help them.
But once she reaches Suffolk, she realizes things are more complicated. Will this case be over her head? Will the history repeat itself?

Second, in the series of Magpie Murders, the book follows a similar pattern of book-within-a-book. Horowitz has enticed his readers not just with 1 but 2 convoluted and intriguing tales. And there’s a bonus story hidden in the chapters of Atticus Pünd.
The initial chapters focus on Susan, and how she has moved on life and daily life struggles. She is also getting used to Greek culture and understanding the language.
Like his other works, this book is also filled with classic British humour, such as,

“Well, I suppose it was the editor in me that noticed that every single one of the reports had described the murder as brutal as if anyone was ever murdered gently or with affection.”

It has the perfect balance between golden age detective and contemporary novels. Atticus Pünd will remind you of Hercule Poirot in over one way.

These elements come together and transport you to those pages, solving the case along with the protagonist.
I am still basking in the book's awe and, for now, I will reread Horowitz’s older books, starting with Moriarty.
This book and the Magpie Murders is a must-have book for all fans of golden age detective novel readers.
My rating for the book is 5 stars.
Thank you, NetGalley and Random House UK for the copy of the Moonflower Murders in exchange for my honest review.

A murder book within the murder book so lots of intricate and entwined murder/mysteries to solve. I loved every minute of it and sat up until the early hours trying to spot the clues and make sense of them...it certainly had me completely puzzled! I have since found out that this is a sequel to Magpie Murders which I hadn't read however it made no difference to this book at all, having said that I've immediately gone in search of the book as I just love the writing style.

If you are looking for something thrilling but not too gory, something to keep you guessing, lots of clues that make you think "of course!" but only after it's all been revealed and something to really keep you on your toes with an easy to read and slightly nerve wracking climax...this is your book. Actually just read it you won't be disappointed!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review

It's 4.5, really.

Moonflower Murders was fast paced and way better than the first one in the series. I started it and before I knew it I was halfway through!

The story was more gripping and I think one of the reasons for it could be my familiarity with the main characters of the novel and the novel in the novel.

The introduction of the various characters and their circumstances kept me on my toes (figuratively) as I tried to make sense of the crime committed and tried to figure out who could have perpetuated it.

As I have mentioned earlier, this book had two mysteries and I am so happy that I was able to solve the one Atticus Pund solved (before it was mentioned who did it) but the one being solved by Susan Ryeland trumped me. It was the character I was a hundred percent sure was innocent!

That makes me happy and sad in equal measure.

You may wonder why a 4.5 if I liked everything, so here is the answer to that.

Introduction of Atticus Pund in the novel within the novel. In my opinion, there was no reason for that because the novel within the novel was midway in the series and this book itself is not a first on the series where a character was being introduced for the first time. A little info seems fine but the introduction here went on and on.

That was the only low point for me in the book.

Because both of Horowitz's books that I have read yet have kept my mind working overtime, I believe I will be reading more by him.

Thanks to Netgalley for this read. I think it is probably better to have read The Magpie Murders’ first in order to have a bit of background on the main characters. Also, I think you will get more enjoyment from ‘Moonflower’ but still a fun read and anything by Anthony Horowitz is generally a good bet. It is really two books in one which is a bonus. Both are good traditional country house murders.

My first Horowitz novel and loved it. Susan Ryeland is approached to look into the disappearance of Cecily, which took place after she had read a book published by Susan years ago. The clue it seems is in the book ‘Atticus Pund takes the Case’.
We have an innocent man in prison and a missing woman. How are these linked and can Cecily be found?
Great read with strong characters. great pace of action as we try to find the truth. Be prepared for moments of danger and enjoy every page.