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Susan Ryeland #2
Moonflower Murders
Featuring his famous literary detective Atticus Pund and Susan Ryeland, hero of the worldwide bestseller Magpie Murders, a brilliantly complex literary thriller with echoes of Agatha Christie from New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz.
Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is living the good life. She is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her long-term boyfriend Andreas. It should be everything she's always wanted. But is it? She's exhausted with the responsibilities of making everything work on an island where nothing ever does, and truth be told she's beginning to miss London.
And then the Trehearnes come to stay. The strange and mysterious story they tell, about an unfortunate murder that took place on the same day and in the same hotel in which their daughter was married—a picturesque inn on the Suffolk coast named Farlingaye Halle—fascinates Susan and piques her editor’s instincts.
One of her former writers, the late Alan Conway, author of the fictional Magpie Murders, knew the murder victim—an advertising executive named Frank Parris—and once visited Farlingaye Hall. Conway based the third book in his detective series, Atticus Pund Takes the Case, on that very crime.
The Trehearne’s, daughter, Cecily, read Conway’s mystery and believed the book proves that the man convicted of Parris’s murder—a Romanian immigrant who was the hotel’s handyman—is innocent. When the Trehearnes reveal that Cecily is now missing, Susan knows that she must return to England and find out what really happened.
Brilliantly clever, relentlessly suspenseful, full of twists that will keep readers guessing with each revelation and clue, Moonflower Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction from one of its greatest masterminds, Anthony Horowitz.
Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is living the good life. She is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her long-term boyfriend Andreas. It should be everything she's always wanted. But is it? She's exhausted with the responsibilities of making everything work on an island where nothing ever does, and truth be told she's beginning to miss London.
And then the Trehearnes come to stay. The strange and mysterious story they tell, about an unfortunate murder that took place on the same day and in the same hotel in which their daughter was married—a picturesque inn on the Suffolk coast named Farlingaye Halle—fascinates Susan and piques her editor’s instincts.
One of her former writers, the late Alan Conway, author of the fictional Magpie Murders, knew the murder victim—an advertising executive named Frank Parris—and once visited Farlingaye Hall. Conway based the third book in his detective series, Atticus Pund Takes the Case, on that very crime.
The Trehearne’s, daughter, Cecily, read Conway’s mystery and believed the book proves that the man convicted of Parris’s murder—a Romanian immigrant who was the hotel’s handyman—is innocent. When the Trehearnes reveal that Cecily is now missing, Susan knows that she must return to England and find out what really happened.
Brilliantly clever, relentlessly suspenseful, full of twists that will keep readers guessing with each revelation and clue, Moonflower Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction from one of its greatest masterminds, Anthony Horowitz.
592 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 20, 2020
6891 people are currently reading
45911 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Horowitz
345 books20.9k followersAnthony Horowitz, OBE is ranked alongside Enid Blyton and Mark A. Cooper as "The most original and best spy-kids authors of the century." (New York Times). Anthony has been writing since the age of eight, and professionally since the age of twenty. In addition to the highly successful Alex Rider books, he is also the writer and creator of award winning detective series Foyle’s War, and more recently event drama Collision, among his other television works he has written episodes for Poirot, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders and Murder Most Horrid. Anthony became patron to East Anglia Children’s Hospices in 2009.
On 19 January 2011, the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle announced that Horowitz was to be the writer of a new Sherlock Holmes novel, the first such effort to receive an official endorsement from them and to be entitled the House of Silk.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/anthon...
On 19 January 2011, the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle announced that Horowitz was to be the writer of a new Sherlock Holmes novel, the first such effort to receive an official endorsement from them and to be entitled the House of Silk.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/anthon...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 7,011 reviews
August 25, 2024
Ever since I read Magpie Murders and was blown away by its format of a mystery within a mystery, I've been keeping all my fingers and toes crossed, hoping there might be a follow-up. And now my book prayers have been answered. Moonflower Murders is here, and I'm so happy to report that it was just as amazing as its predecessor.
Former editor Susan Ryeland is contacted by a couple whose daughter has just gone missing. Eight years prior, a horrific murder had taken place at their hotel and there's a question of whether the real murderer had been apprehended. One of Susan's writers, Alan Conway, knew the murder victim and had stayed at the hotel shortly after the murder. It seems Conway had subsequently written what had happened into his mystery novel, and the daughter realized he had clearly pointed to who was responsible in his story. But before she could tell anyone what the clue was, she had disappeared.
This is a lengthy book, with the text coming in at just under 600 pages, because it really is two mysteries in one. In addition to the disappearance of the daughter and the mystery of what really happened at that murder eight years ago, we also get to read the entirety of Conway's novel. But honestly, I breezed through the whole thing in just a few days. I was hooked from the first page, and I couldn't put it down.
This book is exactly the sort of murder mystery I love: substantial, clever, different, and immensely satisfying. I read so much of this genre that very few books manage to surprise me; I always have an inkling of what's going on and who's guilty. Yet, this book managed to surprise me on both of its mysteries.
The inner mystery, Conway's novel, is written in the style of the Golden Age, and to me, it comes as close to the bar of Agatha Christie as any I have ever read. The outer mystery is a modern take on the genre, but it contains the same hallmarks that I love from the Golden Age, including a small cast of characters, lots of clues and red herrings, and that ultimate reveal when everything is explained with amazement and satisfaction.
Horowitz doesn't cheat the reader. All the clues are there, though for some reason, I just don't see them, again and again. And his ability to trick me and to keep me amazed is what makes me love this series. I hope, now that there is a second book, that this is only the beginning of a VERY long series. If so, I can't wait to read more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
See also, my thoughts on:
Magpie Murders
Hawthorne and Horowitz
#1. The Word Is Murder
#2. The Sentence Is Death
#3. A Line To Kill
~~~~~~~~~~~~
✧ Connect with me ✧ Instagram ✧
Former editor Susan Ryeland is contacted by a couple whose daughter has just gone missing. Eight years prior, a horrific murder had taken place at their hotel and there's a question of whether the real murderer had been apprehended. One of Susan's writers, Alan Conway, knew the murder victim and had stayed at the hotel shortly after the murder. It seems Conway had subsequently written what had happened into his mystery novel, and the daughter realized he had clearly pointed to who was responsible in his story. But before she could tell anyone what the clue was, she had disappeared.
This is a lengthy book, with the text coming in at just under 600 pages, because it really is two mysteries in one. In addition to the disappearance of the daughter and the mystery of what really happened at that murder eight years ago, we also get to read the entirety of Conway's novel. But honestly, I breezed through the whole thing in just a few days. I was hooked from the first page, and I couldn't put it down.
This book is exactly the sort of murder mystery I love: substantial, clever, different, and immensely satisfying. I read so much of this genre that very few books manage to surprise me; I always have an inkling of what's going on and who's guilty. Yet, this book managed to surprise me on both of its mysteries.
The inner mystery, Conway's novel, is written in the style of the Golden Age, and to me, it comes as close to the bar of Agatha Christie as any I have ever read. The outer mystery is a modern take on the genre, but it contains the same hallmarks that I love from the Golden Age, including a small cast of characters, lots of clues and red herrings, and that ultimate reveal when everything is explained with amazement and satisfaction.
Horowitz doesn't cheat the reader. All the clues are there, though for some reason, I just don't see them, again and again. And his ability to trick me and to keep me amazed is what makes me love this series. I hope, now that there is a second book, that this is only the beginning of a VERY long series. If so, I can't wait to read more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
See also, my thoughts on:
Magpie Murders
Hawthorne and Horowitz
#1. The Word Is Murder
#2. The Sentence Is Death
#3. A Line To Kill
~~~~~~~~~~~~
✧ Connect with me ✧ Instagram ✧
July 2, 2020
This is the sequel to Anthony Horowitz's Magpie Murders, another homage to the classic golden age of crime, replicating the same structure of a book within a book, and the return of publisher, Susan Ryeland, operating as an amateur detective once again. After the fallout from the last book, Susan is no longer working in publishing and is instead jointly owning and running a hotel in Crete with her long term Greek boyfriend, Andreas Patakis. It is not quite the idyll that might have been expected, it is hard work from morning to night, every single day, with never ending problems, along with some awkward and opportunistic guests, and Susan goes to bed exhausted, and what is worse, they are in debt. There is little in the way of job satisfaction, running a hotel is Andreas's dream that she invested in, but now she is not so sure about her relationship with him, and the truth is that she is missing England and her former profession as an editor.
So when Susan is approached by wealthy couple, Lawrence and Pauline Trehearne, to return to England and their exclusive Suffolk hotel, Branlow Hotel, to look into the disappearance of their daughter, Cecily, it feels like just what she needs to do, with the bonus of being paid. Eight years ago, a hotel guest, Frank Parris, had been brutally hammered to death on Cecily and Aidan MacNeil wedding day for which ex-offender, Stefan Codrescu, was arrested and charged by Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Locke, there was plenty of evidence, for which he received a 27 year prison sentence. Cecily had phoned her parents the day before she went missing, telling them there had been a miscarriage of justice, and after reading the late Alan Conway's Atticus Pund Takes the Case, featuring his post-war German detective, an obvious story based on the Parris murder, she knows who the real killer is. Susan examines a host of suspects in the present and their possible links to Frank's murder, before re-reading Conway's novel, in her hunt for a dangerous double killer.
As usual, Horowitz writes two intricate and complex murder mysteries, inserting Conway's Pund novel for the reader in the middle, a Conway who is known for his clever twists, hints and clues, his little jokes and anagrams, and characters, cruelly but clearly drawn from those involved or present in the time period of Frank Parris's killing. Once again the author entertains and engages with a compelling and riveting book in a book crime mysteries, resurrecting an unusual detective in Susan, that ends in the classic tradition with all the suspects gathered for the final reveal of the murderer. Those who loved Magpie Murders are likely to enjoy this too! Highly recommended to all crime fiction and thriller readers. Many thanks to Random House Cornerstone for an ARC.
So when Susan is approached by wealthy couple, Lawrence and Pauline Trehearne, to return to England and their exclusive Suffolk hotel, Branlow Hotel, to look into the disappearance of their daughter, Cecily, it feels like just what she needs to do, with the bonus of being paid. Eight years ago, a hotel guest, Frank Parris, had been brutally hammered to death on Cecily and Aidan MacNeil wedding day for which ex-offender, Stefan Codrescu, was arrested and charged by Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Locke, there was plenty of evidence, for which he received a 27 year prison sentence. Cecily had phoned her parents the day before she went missing, telling them there had been a miscarriage of justice, and after reading the late Alan Conway's Atticus Pund Takes the Case, featuring his post-war German detective, an obvious story based on the Parris murder, she knows who the real killer is. Susan examines a host of suspects in the present and their possible links to Frank's murder, before re-reading Conway's novel, in her hunt for a dangerous double killer.
As usual, Horowitz writes two intricate and complex murder mysteries, inserting Conway's Pund novel for the reader in the middle, a Conway who is known for his clever twists, hints and clues, his little jokes and anagrams, and characters, cruelly but clearly drawn from those involved or present in the time period of Frank Parris's killing. Once again the author entertains and engages with a compelling and riveting book in a book crime mysteries, resurrecting an unusual detective in Susan, that ends in the classic tradition with all the suspects gathered for the final reveal of the murderer. Those who loved Magpie Murders are likely to enjoy this too! Highly recommended to all crime fiction and thriller readers. Many thanks to Random House Cornerstone for an ARC.
October 22, 2020
Having read and loved previous books by the author, specifically, The Sentence is Death and Magpie Murders, I eagerly awaited his newest despite a hefty 608 pages. I love the cleverness and humor in Horowitz’s writing, but it was missing in this story.
I found the book within a book rather boring, and skimmed much of it to get to the resolution, which was underwhelming and too drawn out. Nothing here justifies its 600+ pages.
I still have high hopes for the next book and will be first in line.
* I received a digital copy of the book via edelweiss. All opinions are my own.
I found the book within a book rather boring, and skimmed much of it to get to the resolution, which was underwhelming and too drawn out. Nothing here justifies its 600+ pages.
I still have high hopes for the next book and will be first in line.
* I received a digital copy of the book via edelweiss. All opinions are my own.
November 20, 2020
Another enjoyable adventure with Susan Ryeland and Atticus Pund.
This is a solid read, with a book within a book, and a plethora of characters, who, thanks to Mr Horowitz's talent, are superbly depicted and given their own motives behind the deeds. I am a fan of a book within a book, so full satisfaction here.
The mystery/mysteries are rather complex and I admit that the finale surprised me, which is always the best bit for me regarding this genre. Hope Book 3 is already simmering, Mr Horowitz!
This is a solid read, with a book within a book, and a plethora of characters, who, thanks to Mr Horowitz's talent, are superbly depicted and given their own motives behind the deeds. I am a fan of a book within a book, so full satisfaction here.
The mystery/mysteries are rather complex and I admit that the finale surprised me, which is always the best bit for me regarding this genre. Hope Book 3 is already simmering, Mr Horowitz!
August 27, 2021
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2 ½ stars
Anthony Horowitz excels at labyrinthine whodunnits that pay homage to Golden Age Detective fiction. Sadly, I couldn't help but noticing that Horowitz has written yet another book that casts homosexuality in a negative light. In Moonflower Murders readers will be reunited with Susan Ryeland, a former editor who now runs a small hotel in Crete with her partner Andreas. Running a hotel is exhausting and Susan, nostalgic about her old life, years for a break. It just so happens that she's approached by a couple, the Trehearnes, own a five-star hotel, Branlow Hall, in Suffolk. Eight years previously a guest was brutally murdered in his room. Susan just so happens to have edited a book that was inspired by this murder (Alan Conway's Atticus Pünd Takes the Case). The Trehearnes' daughter, Cecily, disappeared after telling them that Alan's novel holds the truth behind the 2008 murder. The Trehearnes hire Susan, hoping that her knowledge of the book and her ties to the now deceased Alan will shed light on Cecily's disappearance. Similarly to Magpie Murders the novel is divided between Susan's narrative and Alan's novel.
While it does take a stretch of the imagination to believe that the Trehearnes would hire Susan and not a private detective to find what happened to their daughter, I soon fell into the flow of story. Susan's presence at Branlow Hall ruffles quite a few feathers. There is Cecily's icy sister, the various hotel employees, Cecily's husband and their nanny...we have quite a large cast. Some of them hold Susan accountable for Alan's novel, others simply don't like the idea of her 'snooping' around. Yet Susan, who is determined to find out what happened to Cecily, knows that her disappearance is tied up to that fateful night in 2008.
While I did like the story-within-the-story technique in Magpie Murders, in this novel I was far more invested in Susan's 'reality' than Alan's book. In fact, as much as I like I Horowitz's writing, I did dislike Alan's. I found myself agreeing with Susan's comments about Atticus Pünd Takes the Case: Alan's narrative is populated by cruel caricatures of the 'real' people from Branlow Hall. I just didn't particularly care for Pünd and his investigation. Alan's novel seems a clumsy attempt at imitating Agatha Christie. His dialogues lack her wit and his detective is forgettable. I wish that Horowitz had also included a few relevant chapters from Alan's novel, rather than giving us the whole thing.
While many of the easter eggs and allusions in Alan's novel went over my head (was all that kerfuffle with the names truly necessary?), I knew the identity of the killer early on...which is perhaps inevitable given that Alan tries so hard to emulate the Queen of Crime . While I do understand that much of what I disliked in Atticus Pünd Takes the Case was intentional (as characters from Susan's narrative point out its many flaws), I still don't understand why readers should have to read the whole thing. Also, Alan's novel takes us away from the more interesting whodunnit.
For the most part I liked Susan's investigation. There were so many subplots and red-herrings that it was hard to keep all the facts straight but for the most part I was intrigued by the unfolding of her investigation.
Onto the problematic gay rep: this is the third book by him (the other ones being Magpie Murders and The House of Silk) in which gay men are portrayed as morally corrupt (they are sadistic, pedophiles, liars, manipulative). Which...what gives Horowitz? Throughout Moonflower Murders characters make comments about 'what can and what can't be said' nowadays, which suggests some sort of awareness towards 'modern' sensibilities'. While I do not except, nor desire, for characters to be models of virtue, it seems odd to make your 3 gay characters either horrible, such as with Alan and Frank, or a former prostitute who leads an unhealthy and unfulfilling existence. Great representation...not. While there aren't any extremely likeable characters, Alan and Frank are perhaps the worst of the whole lot. When talking about Alan and Frank, other characters conflate their sexual orientation with their morally reprehensible behaviour. They will say 'I have nothing against gay men' and go on to say something that equates being gay with perversion. This is the second novel by Horowitz in which his main character doesn't challenge other characters' homophobic remarks (Susan...you've let me down).
In Horowitz's novels being gay makes you undesirable.
This whole thing bugged me so much that I was unable to become truly invested in the story. Still, I did like Horowitz's depiction of the publishing industry, and I was interested in Susan's observations about the editing process or writing in general.
This was far from a 'bad' whodunnit. While I was disappointed by the way gay characters were portrayed, Horowitz's writing is nevertheless engaging (and his quintessentially British humour gets to me). Atticus Pünd Takes the Case on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired.
Read more reviews on my blog / / / View all my reviews on Goodreads
2 ½ stars
“Can you tell me what happened on the night of the murder? I asked and even as I uttered the words I felt slightly ridiculous. They sounded so old-fashioned, so clichéd. If I'd seen them in a novel, I'd have edited them out.”
Anthony Horowitz excels at labyrinthine whodunnits that pay homage to Golden Age Detective fiction. Sadly, I couldn't help but noticing that Horowitz has written yet another book that casts homosexuality in a negative light. In Moonflower Murders readers will be reunited with Susan Ryeland, a former editor who now runs a small hotel in Crete with her partner Andreas. Running a hotel is exhausting and Susan, nostalgic about her old life, years for a break. It just so happens that she's approached by a couple, the Trehearnes, own a five-star hotel, Branlow Hall, in Suffolk. Eight years previously a guest was brutally murdered in his room. Susan just so happens to have edited a book that was inspired by this murder (Alan Conway's Atticus Pünd Takes the Case). The Trehearnes' daughter, Cecily, disappeared after telling them that Alan's novel holds the truth behind the 2008 murder. The Trehearnes hire Susan, hoping that her knowledge of the book and her ties to the now deceased Alan will shed light on Cecily's disappearance. Similarly to Magpie Murders the novel is divided between Susan's narrative and Alan's novel.
While it does take a stretch of the imagination to believe that the Trehearnes would hire Susan and not a private detective to find what happened to their daughter, I soon fell into the flow of story. Susan's presence at Branlow Hall ruffles quite a few feathers. There is Cecily's icy sister, the various hotel employees, Cecily's husband and their nanny...we have quite a large cast. Some of them hold Susan accountable for Alan's novel, others simply don't like the idea of her 'snooping' around. Yet Susan, who is determined to find out what happened to Cecily, knows that her disappearance is tied up to that fateful night in 2008.
While I did like the story-within-the-story technique in Magpie Murders, in this novel I was far more invested in Susan's 'reality' than Alan's book. In fact, as much as I like I Horowitz's writing, I did dislike Alan's. I found myself agreeing with Susan's comments about Atticus Pünd Takes the Case: Alan's narrative is populated by cruel caricatures of the 'real' people from Branlow Hall. I just didn't particularly care for Pünd and his investigation. Alan's novel seems a clumsy attempt at imitating Agatha Christie. His dialogues lack her wit and his detective is forgettable. I wish that Horowitz had also included a few relevant chapters from Alan's novel, rather than giving us the whole thing.
While many of the easter eggs and allusions in Alan's novel went over my head (was all that kerfuffle with the names truly necessary?), I knew the identity of the killer early on...which is perhaps inevitable given that Alan tries so hard to emulate the Queen of Crime . While I do understand that much of what I disliked in Atticus Pünd Takes the Case was intentional (as characters from Susan's narrative point out its many flaws), I still don't understand why readers should have to read the whole thing. Also, Alan's novel takes us away from the more interesting whodunnit.
For the most part I liked Susan's investigation. There were so many subplots and red-herrings that it was hard to keep all the facts straight but for the most part I was intrigued by the unfolding of her investigation.
Onto the problematic gay rep: this is the third book by him (the other ones being Magpie Murders and The House of Silk) in which gay men are portrayed as morally corrupt (they are sadistic, pedophiles, liars, manipulative). Which...what gives Horowitz? Throughout Moonflower Murders characters make comments about 'what can and what can't be said' nowadays, which suggests some sort of awareness towards 'modern' sensibilities'. While I do not except, nor desire, for characters to be models of virtue, it seems odd to make your 3 gay characters either horrible, such as with Alan and Frank, or a former prostitute who leads an unhealthy and unfulfilling existence. Great representation...not. While there aren't any extremely likeable characters, Alan and Frank are perhaps the worst of the whole lot. When talking about Alan and Frank, other characters conflate their sexual orientation with their morally reprehensible behaviour. They will say 'I have nothing against gay men' and go on to say something that equates being gay with perversion. This is the second novel by Horowitz in which his main character doesn't challenge other characters' homophobic remarks (Susan...you've let me down).
In Horowitz's novels being gay makes you undesirable.
This whole thing bugged me so much that I was unable to become truly invested in the story. Still, I did like Horowitz's depiction of the publishing industry, and I was interested in Susan's observations about the editing process or writing in general.
“Every writer is different,” I said. “But they don't steal, exactly. They absorb. It's such a strange profession, really, living in a sort of twilight between the world they belong to and the world they create.”
This was far from a 'bad' whodunnit. While I was disappointed by the way gay characters were portrayed, Horowitz's writing is nevertheless engaging (and his quintessentially British humour gets to me). Atticus Pünd Takes the Case on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired.
Read more reviews on my blog / / / View all my reviews on Goodreads
December 6, 2020
Six hundred and eight pages? Really? Well they flew past.
In fact this was a two books for one deal so it was not surprising there were lots of pages. Horowitz used his book within a book technique and to be honest I enjoyed the Atticus Pund book a teeny bit more than the main work. Only a teeny bit though and the whole thing was thoroughly enjoyable.
I managed to guess one of the murderers immediately (it was a little obvious) but the other was a surprise. I really liked the clues especially the anagrams and the final one was delightful. I did not spot it at all. The author must have so much fun writing these books and I love the way his Atticus Pund novel is so in the style of Agatha Christie and her generation of mystery writers.
So far I have enjoyed everything I have read by this author. Keep up the good work Mr. Horowitz!
In fact this was a two books for one deal so it was not surprising there were lots of pages. Horowitz used his book within a book technique and to be honest I enjoyed the Atticus Pund book a teeny bit more than the main work. Only a teeny bit though and the whole thing was thoroughly enjoyable.
I managed to guess one of the murderers immediately (it was a little obvious) but the other was a surprise. I really liked the clues especially the anagrams and the final one was delightful. I did not spot it at all. The author must have so much fun writing these books and I love the way his Atticus Pund novel is so in the style of Agatha Christie and her generation of mystery writers.
So far I have enjoyed everything I have read by this author. Keep up the good work Mr. Horowitz!
April 23, 2025
EXCERPT: 'So, let me get this straight,' I said. I had the sense of facts tumbling on top of each other, yet I knew there was something they hadn't told me. 'You believe that maybe, despite all the evidence, not to mention the confession, Stefan Codrescu did not kill Frank Parris and that Alan Conway came to the hotel and discovered - in a matter of days - who the real killer was. He then somehow identified that person in Atticus Pund Takes the Case.'
'Exactly.'
'But that makes no sense at all, Pauline. If he knew the killer and there was an innocent man in prison, surely Alan would have gone straight to the police! Why would he turn it into a work of fiction?'
'That's precisely why we're here, Susan. From what Sajid Khan told us, you knew Alan Conway better than anyone. You edited the book. If there is something in there, I can't think of anyone more likely to find it.'
'Wait a minute.' Suddenly I knew what was missing. 'This all started when your daughter spotted something in Atticus Takes the Case. Was she the only one who read it before she sent it to you?'
'I don't know.'
'But what was it she saw? Why didn't you just call her and ask her what she meant?'
It was Lawrence Treherne who answered my question. 'Of course we called her,'he said. 'We both read the book and then we rang her several times from France. Finally we got through to Aiden and he told us what had happened.' He paused. 'It seems that our daughter has disappeared.'
ABOUT MOONFLOWER MURDERS BY ANTHONY HOROWITZ: Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is living the good life. She is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her longterm boyfriend Andreas. It should be everything she's always wanted - but is it? She's exhausted with the responsibilities of making everything work on an island where nothing ever does, and truth be told she's beginning to miss her old life in London.
And then a couple - the Trehernes - come to stay, and the story they tell about an unfortunate murder that took place on the same day and in the same hotel in which their daughter was married, is such a strange and mysterious one that Susan finds herself increasingly fascinated by it. And when the Trehernes tell her that their daughter is now missing, Susan knows that she must return to London and find out what really happened ...
MY THOUGHTS: I simply devoured Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz, the second in the Susan Ryeland series. This is an intricate and ingeniously plotted murder mystery; one murder mystery contained within another - or, if you like, two books for the price of one!
The first mystery, that of the Treherne's daughter's disappearance is set in the present time. The second murder mystery, contained in Alan Conway's novel Atticus Takes the Case is set in the 1950s, before the advent of the internet and the mobile phone. Conway was of the opinion that the internet was the worst thing ever to happen to detective fiction, which is why he set his own works in the fifties. He believed that it was hard to make your detective look clever when all the information in the world is instantly available to anyone who cares to look for it.
Conway, as I mentioned in my review of Magpie Murders, likes to insert his own little jokes into his manuscripts, which are full of anagrams (play around with the name 'Atticus Pund' and see what you come up with!), codes, and cruel caricatures of people he has met. Again there are literary references aplenty, particularly with regard to Agatha Christie, whose work he plundered mercilessly.
In the current time, Susan and Andreas are again at a crossroads, and she leaves Crete both to gain a little perspective, and in order to inject £10,000 into their struggling hotel.
There is a brilliant cast of characters in both books, but I particularly enjoyed the two sets of sisters. Cecily Treherne, who is missing, and her sister Lisa, are sisters at war. They have fought about anything and everything all their lives, to the point where Cecily once threw a knife at her sister, and Lisa was left with a permanent scar on her face. Lisa is cold blooded and determined, while Cecily is quieter and likes to please. Diametrically opposite to this pair is Susan, our intrepid editor/hotel proprietor/amateur sleuth, and her sister Katie who have absolutely nothing in common other than their enduring fondness for one another. Susan has never married and is childless, although she is in a relationship with Andreas, while Katie's life is more traditional with an accountant husband, the requisite two children, the house, the garden and the community work.
Trouble will not confine itself to the warring sisters!
Moonflower Murders is a fun and fulfilling read. I love the clues that are scattered throughout (take note of the missing Mont Blanc pen, and of the dog who barked in the night!), and even the denouement, which is classic Christie, with everyone- suspects and otherwise - gathered together for the big reveal.
I hope that there are going to be many more books in this wonderful series.
If embarking on this series, I strongly recommend that you begin at the beginning with Magpie Murders, as there are references and a spoiler contained in Moonflower Murders.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
#MoonflowerMurders #NetGalley
'The greatest evil occurs when people, no matter what their aims or their motives, become utterly convinced that they are right.'
THE AUTHOR: Anthony Horowitz's life might have been copied from the pages of Charles Dickens or the Brothers Grimm. Born in 1956 in Stanmore, Middlesex, to a family of wealth and status, Anthony was raised by nannies, surrounded by servants and chauffeurs. His father, a wealthy businessman, was, says Mr. Horowitz, "a fixer for Harold Wilson." What that means exactly is unclear — "My father was a very secretive man," he says— so an aura of suspicion and mystery surrounds both the word and the man. As unlikely as it might seem, Anthony's father, threatened with bankruptcy, withdrew all of his money from Swiss bank accounts in Zurich and deposited it in another account under a false name and then promptly died. His mother searched unsuccessfully for years in attempt to find the money, but it was never found. That too shaped Anthony's view of things. Today he says, "I think the only thing to do with money is spend it." His mother, whom he adored, eccentrically gave him a human skull for his 13th birthday. His grandmother, another Dickensian character, was mean-spirited and malevolent, a destructive force in his life. She was, he says, "a truly evil person", his first and worst arch villain. "My sister and I danced on her grave when she died," he now recalls.
A miserably unhappy and overweight child, Anthony had nowhere to turn for solace. "Family meals," he recalls, "had calories running into the thousands. I was an astoundingly large, round child." At the age of eight he was sent off to boarding school, a standard practice of the times and class in which he was raised. While being away from home came as an enormous relief, the school itself, Orley Farm, was a grand guignol horror with a headmaster who flogged the boys till they bled. "Once the headmaster told me to stand up in assembly and in front of the whole school said, 'This boy is so stupid he will not be coming to Christmas games tomorrow.' I have never totally recovered." To relieve his misery and that of the other boys, he not unsurprisingly made up tales of astounding revenge and retribution.
Anthony Horowitz is perhaps the busiest writer in England. He has been writing since the age of eight, and professionally since the age of twenty. He writes in a comfortable shed in his garden for up to ten hours per day. In addition to the highly successful Alex Rider books, he has also written episodes of several popular TV crime series, including Poirot, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders and Murder Most Horrid. He has written a television series Foyle's War, which recently aired in the United States, and he has written the libretto of a Broadway musical adapted from Dr. Seuss's book, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. His film script The Gathering has just finished production. And, oh yes, there are more Alex Rider novels in the works. Anthony has also written the Diamond Brothers series.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House UK, Cornerstone, Century for providing a digital ARC of Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com
This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
'Exactly.'
'But that makes no sense at all, Pauline. If he knew the killer and there was an innocent man in prison, surely Alan would have gone straight to the police! Why would he turn it into a work of fiction?'
'That's precisely why we're here, Susan. From what Sajid Khan told us, you knew Alan Conway better than anyone. You edited the book. If there is something in there, I can't think of anyone more likely to find it.'
'Wait a minute.' Suddenly I knew what was missing. 'This all started when your daughter spotted something in Atticus Takes the Case. Was she the only one who read it before she sent it to you?'
'I don't know.'
'But what was it she saw? Why didn't you just call her and ask her what she meant?'
It was Lawrence Treherne who answered my question. 'Of course we called her,'he said. 'We both read the book and then we rang her several times from France. Finally we got through to Aiden and he told us what had happened.' He paused. 'It seems that our daughter has disappeared.'
ABOUT MOONFLOWER MURDERS BY ANTHONY HOROWITZ: Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is living the good life. She is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her longterm boyfriend Andreas. It should be everything she's always wanted - but is it? She's exhausted with the responsibilities of making everything work on an island where nothing ever does, and truth be told she's beginning to miss her old life in London.
And then a couple - the Trehernes - come to stay, and the story they tell about an unfortunate murder that took place on the same day and in the same hotel in which their daughter was married, is such a strange and mysterious one that Susan finds herself increasingly fascinated by it. And when the Trehernes tell her that their daughter is now missing, Susan knows that she must return to London and find out what really happened ...
MY THOUGHTS: I simply devoured Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz, the second in the Susan Ryeland series. This is an intricate and ingeniously plotted murder mystery; one murder mystery contained within another - or, if you like, two books for the price of one!
The first mystery, that of the Treherne's daughter's disappearance is set in the present time. The second murder mystery, contained in Alan Conway's novel Atticus Takes the Case is set in the 1950s, before the advent of the internet and the mobile phone. Conway was of the opinion that the internet was the worst thing ever to happen to detective fiction, which is why he set his own works in the fifties. He believed that it was hard to make your detective look clever when all the information in the world is instantly available to anyone who cares to look for it.
Conway, as I mentioned in my review of Magpie Murders, likes to insert his own little jokes into his manuscripts, which are full of anagrams (play around with the name 'Atticus Pund' and see what you come up with!), codes, and cruel caricatures of people he has met. Again there are literary references aplenty, particularly with regard to Agatha Christie, whose work he plundered mercilessly.
In the current time, Susan and Andreas are again at a crossroads, and she leaves Crete both to gain a little perspective, and in order to inject £10,000 into their struggling hotel.
There is a brilliant cast of characters in both books, but I particularly enjoyed the two sets of sisters. Cecily Treherne, who is missing, and her sister Lisa, are sisters at war. They have fought about anything and everything all their lives, to the point where Cecily once threw a knife at her sister, and Lisa was left with a permanent scar on her face. Lisa is cold blooded and determined, while Cecily is quieter and likes to please. Diametrically opposite to this pair is Susan, our intrepid editor/hotel proprietor/amateur sleuth, and her sister Katie who have absolutely nothing in common other than their enduring fondness for one another. Susan has never married and is childless, although she is in a relationship with Andreas, while Katie's life is more traditional with an accountant husband, the requisite two children, the house, the garden and the community work.
Trouble will not confine itself to the warring sisters!
Moonflower Murders is a fun and fulfilling read. I love the clues that are scattered throughout (take note of the missing Mont Blanc pen, and of the dog who barked in the night!), and even the denouement, which is classic Christie, with everyone- suspects and otherwise - gathered together for the big reveal.
I hope that there are going to be many more books in this wonderful series.
If embarking on this series, I strongly recommend that you begin at the beginning with Magpie Murders, as there are references and a spoiler contained in Moonflower Murders.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
#MoonflowerMurders #NetGalley
'The greatest evil occurs when people, no matter what their aims or their motives, become utterly convinced that they are right.'
THE AUTHOR: Anthony Horowitz's life might have been copied from the pages of Charles Dickens or the Brothers Grimm. Born in 1956 in Stanmore, Middlesex, to a family of wealth and status, Anthony was raised by nannies, surrounded by servants and chauffeurs. His father, a wealthy businessman, was, says Mr. Horowitz, "a fixer for Harold Wilson." What that means exactly is unclear — "My father was a very secretive man," he says— so an aura of suspicion and mystery surrounds both the word and the man. As unlikely as it might seem, Anthony's father, threatened with bankruptcy, withdrew all of his money from Swiss bank accounts in Zurich and deposited it in another account under a false name and then promptly died. His mother searched unsuccessfully for years in attempt to find the money, but it was never found. That too shaped Anthony's view of things. Today he says, "I think the only thing to do with money is spend it." His mother, whom he adored, eccentrically gave him a human skull for his 13th birthday. His grandmother, another Dickensian character, was mean-spirited and malevolent, a destructive force in his life. She was, he says, "a truly evil person", his first and worst arch villain. "My sister and I danced on her grave when she died," he now recalls.
A miserably unhappy and overweight child, Anthony had nowhere to turn for solace. "Family meals," he recalls, "had calories running into the thousands. I was an astoundingly large, round child." At the age of eight he was sent off to boarding school, a standard practice of the times and class in which he was raised. While being away from home came as an enormous relief, the school itself, Orley Farm, was a grand guignol horror with a headmaster who flogged the boys till they bled. "Once the headmaster told me to stand up in assembly and in front of the whole school said, 'This boy is so stupid he will not be coming to Christmas games tomorrow.' I have never totally recovered." To relieve his misery and that of the other boys, he not unsurprisingly made up tales of astounding revenge and retribution.
Anthony Horowitz is perhaps the busiest writer in England. He has been writing since the age of eight, and professionally since the age of twenty. He writes in a comfortable shed in his garden for up to ten hours per day. In addition to the highly successful Alex Rider books, he has also written episodes of several popular TV crime series, including Poirot, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders and Murder Most Horrid. He has written a television series Foyle's War, which recently aired in the United States, and he has written the libretto of a Broadway musical adapted from Dr. Seuss's book, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. His film script The Gathering has just finished production. And, oh yes, there are more Alex Rider novels in the works. Anthony has also written the Diamond Brothers series.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House UK, Cornerstone, Century for providing a digital ARC of Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com
This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
April 7, 2023
I'm a big fan of Anthony Horowitz, but I'm not a fanatic. I'm also a huge fan of Lesley Manville. In her case, I may be a tad fanatical. (Perhaps two or three tads, but no more than four or five.) I listened to the audiobook of Moonflower Murders because Lesley Manville was one of the narrators. Moonflower Murders is a sequel to Magpie Murders, but it also works as a stand-alone book.
If you've read Magpie Murders or you've watched the TV show, you'll know this book is really two books. You have one modern-day mystery solved by amateur sleuth Susan Ryeland and one historical/literary mystery solved by the fictional detective Atticus Pund. So the reader is effectively given two books for the price of one. The Atticus Pund mystery is sandwiched in the middle. The Ryeland mystery begins and ends the book.
When I started this book I was thinking it was an easy 5, and I continued to view this as a 5 rating book until it finally got to the big reveal where we eventually learned the murder's name. Of course, as in all classic murder mysteries, before we learn who done it, we have to review all the suspects and learn who didn't do it. For me, it felt like that process went on and on, and I began to suspect there was an infinite number of suspects.
After all the mysteries were resolved, it took several chapters to wrap up the book. So, for me, this book was a tad too long, and that's why I gave the book a 4 rating. But, as always, Lesley Manville gets a 5 rating from me. (Can I bump that up to 25?)
If you've read Magpie Murders or you've watched the TV show, you'll know this book is really two books. You have one modern-day mystery solved by amateur sleuth Susan Ryeland and one historical/literary mystery solved by the fictional detective Atticus Pund. So the reader is effectively given two books for the price of one. The Atticus Pund mystery is sandwiched in the middle. The Ryeland mystery begins and ends the book.
When I started this book I was thinking it was an easy 5, and I continued to view this as a 5 rating book until it finally got to the big reveal where we eventually learned the murder's name. Of course, as in all classic murder mysteries, before we learn who done it, we have to review all the suspects and learn who didn't do it. For me, it felt like that process went on and on, and I began to suspect there was an infinite number of suspects.
After all the mysteries were resolved, it took several chapters to wrap up the book. So, for me, this book was a tad too long, and that's why I gave the book a 4 rating. But, as always, Lesley Manville gets a 5 rating from me. (Can I bump that up to 25?)
April 2, 2021
I’ve been a huge fan of all of Anthony Horowitz’s recent books, starting with Magpie Murders. This, the second in that series, has Susan Ryeland returning to England after she’s asked to look into the disappearance of a woman. Her parents have hired Susan, convinced that Alan Conway’s book, Atticus Pund Takes the Case, holds the secret to her disappearance. The book drew its inspiration from a Murder that occurred at their hotel, on the day of their daughter’s wedding.
Once again, we’re treated to a book within a book. First, there is the actual case Susan is investigating. Then, we are given the Atticus Pund book.
This book was entertaining and engrossing. In the same way that I enjoyed Horowitz’s writing about creating tv shows in The Word is Murder, I loved Susan’s discussion of the editing process here. While it’s long, I couldn’t think of any part that could have been edited out. There’s a reason for everything. As the saying goes, if there’s a gun in act one, someone will be shot in act two.
There are layers upon layers here. Don’t go into this if you want a light mystery. Here, both stories are convoluted in the extreme. Horowitz writes in the style of the old masters, giving us loads of suspects, gobs of red herrings and even the big reveal with everyone gathered together.
Leslie Manville and Alan Corduner are the perfect narrators for this book.
Once again, we’re treated to a book within a book. First, there is the actual case Susan is investigating. Then, we are given the Atticus Pund book.
This book was entertaining and engrossing. In the same way that I enjoyed Horowitz’s writing about creating tv shows in The Word is Murder, I loved Susan’s discussion of the editing process here. While it’s long, I couldn’t think of any part that could have been edited out. There’s a reason for everything. As the saying goes, if there’s a gun in act one, someone will be shot in act two.
There are layers upon layers here. Don’t go into this if you want a light mystery. Here, both stories are convoluted in the extreme. Horowitz writes in the style of the old masters, giving us loads of suspects, gobs of red herrings and even the big reveal with everyone gathered together.
Leslie Manville and Alan Corduner are the perfect narrators for this book.
November 11, 2020
3.5
“Even as I parked the MG on the gravel it occurred to me that any writers wanting to set a murder in a classic country house would find all the material they needed here. And any killers wanting to get rid of a body would have hundreds of acres in which to do it.”
Book editor Susan Ryeland has been asked by the owners of a fancy hotel to investigate their daughter Cecily's disappearance, which was apparently triggered by something in the last book Susan edited for the late crime writer, Alan Conway. He wrote a murder mystery based on a murder that happened at their hotel many years earlier.
We first met Susan and Alan in Magpie Murders, an intriguing, clever mystery within a mystery, where Alan was very much alive. Conway would take details from real events, rework them, add puzzles – not simple clues – and present a story in a way that an astute reader should be able to decipher. I very much enjoyed the challenge of that one.
But Alan was a strange, irritable and irritating man. He continues to annoy Susan, even after his death.
“I wanted to stretch my legs so I walked up the High Street, past the cemetery where Alan was buried. I thought about visiting his grave – I could see it between two yew trees – but decided against it. We’d always had a difficult, edgy relationship and if I’d gone to have a quiet chat at the gravestone there was every chance it would have turned into a quarrel.”
Susan worked with Alan on this novel, too, struggling to get him to change names of some of the characters, but he remained adamant. Knowing his love of anagrams and hidden clues, she (and we readers) are to assume every name deserves scrutiny. She doesn't remember this book well, but she does remember Alan saying they got the wrong man.
I enjoyed the novelty of the challenge in Magpie, but Moonflower doesn’t have the same appeal for me. It’s a long book. The first third is Susan’s personal story and eventually her visit to the hotel in question. Cecily's parents tell Susan that Cecily said Conway’s book identified the real hotel killer (not the man who was jailed for it), and since then Cecily has disappeared.
Susan arrives at their pricey hotel, feeling decidedly underdressed. It is certainly not as rustic as the one she and Andreas own on Crete.
“I unpacked with a growing sense of discomfort. Transported to an expensive wardrobe in an expensive room, my clothes didn’t so much hang as droop.”
When meeting with Cecily's father, he mentions that Cecily and her sister, Lisa, have always bickered, as evidenced by Lisa’s unsightly scar. Apparently while the girls were arguing at the ages of 10 and 12, Cecily threw a kitchen knife that struck and sliced the corner of Lisa's mouth.
“He picked up his wine glass. ‘Girls will be girls!’ He said it as toast but I didn’t join in. Girls might be girls, but not, I thought, borderline psychotics.”
With Susan, we meet quite a company of characters, some still present, and some who have come and gone. And then, we move into Conway’s “Atticus Pünd Takes the Case”, which casts different people in similar roles, such that we have to match couples and rivals with their ‘real’ counterparts. Of course, Conway uses artistic licence to change things around.
As I said, I really enjoyed Magpie Murders. I don’t think this is the same calibre. It is long and crowded, but I finally got to the end – admittedly after beginning to skim, because I found none of the characters particularly engaging and the plot was dragging. Then there is a long convoluted explanation, a bit reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s style, but some of the supposed clues and links were so tenuous and complicated, that it just fell flat for me.
I enjoy cryptic crosswords and anagrams, although I don’t pretend to be an expert, so I expected to enjoy the attempt to figure this out. Sadly, I didn’t. But Horowitz is a good writer – meaning he puts words together and sets scenes and draws characters and creates plots well – but this one didn’t do it for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. Don’t take my word for this, though. A lot of readers love it!
p.s. If you haven't read Magpie Murders yet, do! Here's my review of that:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
“Even as I parked the MG on the gravel it occurred to me that any writers wanting to set a murder in a classic country house would find all the material they needed here. And any killers wanting to get rid of a body would have hundreds of acres in which to do it.”
Book editor Susan Ryeland has been asked by the owners of a fancy hotel to investigate their daughter Cecily's disappearance, which was apparently triggered by something in the last book Susan edited for the late crime writer, Alan Conway. He wrote a murder mystery based on a murder that happened at their hotel many years earlier.
We first met Susan and Alan in Magpie Murders, an intriguing, clever mystery within a mystery, where Alan was very much alive. Conway would take details from real events, rework them, add puzzles – not simple clues – and present a story in a way that an astute reader should be able to decipher. I very much enjoyed the challenge of that one.
But Alan was a strange, irritable and irritating man. He continues to annoy Susan, even after his death.
“I wanted to stretch my legs so I walked up the High Street, past the cemetery where Alan was buried. I thought about visiting his grave – I could see it between two yew trees – but decided against it. We’d always had a difficult, edgy relationship and if I’d gone to have a quiet chat at the gravestone there was every chance it would have turned into a quarrel.”
Susan worked with Alan on this novel, too, struggling to get him to change names of some of the characters, but he remained adamant. Knowing his love of anagrams and hidden clues, she (and we readers) are to assume every name deserves scrutiny. She doesn't remember this book well, but she does remember Alan saying they got the wrong man.
I enjoyed the novelty of the challenge in Magpie, but Moonflower doesn’t have the same appeal for me. It’s a long book. The first third is Susan’s personal story and eventually her visit to the hotel in question. Cecily's parents tell Susan that Cecily said Conway’s book identified the real hotel killer (not the man who was jailed for it), and since then Cecily has disappeared.
Susan arrives at their pricey hotel, feeling decidedly underdressed. It is certainly not as rustic as the one she and Andreas own on Crete.
“I unpacked with a growing sense of discomfort. Transported to an expensive wardrobe in an expensive room, my clothes didn’t so much hang as droop.”
When meeting with Cecily's father, he mentions that Cecily and her sister, Lisa, have always bickered, as evidenced by Lisa’s unsightly scar. Apparently while the girls were arguing at the ages of 10 and 12, Cecily threw a kitchen knife that struck and sliced the corner of Lisa's mouth.
“He picked up his wine glass. ‘Girls will be girls!’ He said it as toast but I didn’t join in. Girls might be girls, but not, I thought, borderline psychotics.”
With Susan, we meet quite a company of characters, some still present, and some who have come and gone. And then, we move into Conway’s “Atticus Pünd Takes the Case”, which casts different people in similar roles, such that we have to match couples and rivals with their ‘real’ counterparts. Of course, Conway uses artistic licence to change things around.
As I said, I really enjoyed Magpie Murders. I don’t think this is the same calibre. It is long and crowded, but I finally got to the end – admittedly after beginning to skim, because I found none of the characters particularly engaging and the plot was dragging. Then there is a long convoluted explanation, a bit reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s style, but some of the supposed clues and links were so tenuous and complicated, that it just fell flat for me.
I enjoy cryptic crosswords and anagrams, although I don’t pretend to be an expert, so I expected to enjoy the attempt to figure this out. Sadly, I didn’t. But Horowitz is a good writer – meaning he puts words together and sets scenes and draws characters and creates plots well – but this one didn’t do it for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. Don’t take my word for this, though. A lot of readers love it!
p.s. If you haven't read Magpie Murders yet, do! Here's my review of that:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
August 4, 2025
Oh man, I loved this!
I wasn't sure how Horowitz was going to manage to squeeze another story out of the idea that book editor, Susan Ryeland, was going to solve another case with the help of her obnoxious dead author's character, the cozy detective Atticus Pund.
But he did!
This one explores not only a murder mystery but also Susan's love life and dreams for the future. And everyone knows that you're not reading these just for the mystery, but also for the detective. And there are really 3 detectives in this story. Atticus, the fictional detective who is a ringer for Poirot. Alan Conway the fictional detective's dead author who was pretty damn observant and full of his own assholery when he was alive. And Susan Ryland, an ex-book editor who is now a hotel owner living in Greece.
As much as you dislike Alan, you end up loving Susan. She's middle-aged and still searching for what she wants to be when she grows up. I love that! I love that someone gets what it's like to not be settled. Or willing to settle. I think a lot of authors in the past wrote middle age as some sort of ending. But the truth is, a lot of us are just getting started.
And that's what resonates with me so much in this series. That someone else my age doesn't necessarily have it all figured out or is willing to concede to society's idea that you be done. Or are snugly tucked into the life that you always dreamed of.
That's ridiculous. I'm not sure it was ever realistic, but it's certainly not the reality of myself or any of my friends.
Now, the idea behind how Susan becomes involved in this mystery should have made me scoff. But Horowitz somehow made it work. The dead girl's parents want Susan to look over one of the Pund novels that she edited just to see if there was something in it that would have made their daughter change her mind about the guilt of one of their employees who had been convicted of murder.
A murder that happened at her wedding.
Lots of strings to unravel in this one. And I enjoyed all of them.
I know Anthony Horowitz has been bumping around for a while now, but I've just recently discovered him. I feel like I've been missing out!
Recommended.
I wasn't sure how Horowitz was going to manage to squeeze another story out of the idea that book editor, Susan Ryeland, was going to solve another case with the help of her obnoxious dead author's character, the cozy detective Atticus Pund.
But he did!
This one explores not only a murder mystery but also Susan's love life and dreams for the future. And everyone knows that you're not reading these just for the mystery, but also for the detective. And there are really 3 detectives in this story. Atticus, the fictional detective who is a ringer for Poirot. Alan Conway the fictional detective's dead author who was pretty damn observant and full of his own assholery when he was alive. And Susan Ryland, an ex-book editor who is now a hotel owner living in Greece.
As much as you dislike Alan, you end up loving Susan. She's middle-aged and still searching for what she wants to be when she grows up. I love that! I love that someone gets what it's like to not be settled. Or willing to settle. I think a lot of authors in the past wrote middle age as some sort of ending. But the truth is, a lot of us are just getting started.
And that's what resonates with me so much in this series. That someone else my age doesn't necessarily have it all figured out or is willing to concede to society's idea that you be done. Or are snugly tucked into the life that you always dreamed of.
That's ridiculous. I'm not sure it was ever realistic, but it's certainly not the reality of myself or any of my friends.
Now, the idea behind how Susan becomes involved in this mystery should have made me scoff. But Horowitz somehow made it work. The dead girl's parents want Susan to look over one of the Pund novels that she edited just to see if there was something in it that would have made their daughter change her mind about the guilt of one of their employees who had been convicted of murder.
A murder that happened at her wedding.
Lots of strings to unravel in this one. And I enjoyed all of them.
I know Anthony Horowitz has been bumping around for a while now, but I've just recently discovered him. I feel like I've been missing out!
Recommended.
October 24, 2020
3.5 stars
Horowitz returns with another double-M mystery that employs his clever book-within-a-book format. Once again, we follow Susan Ryeland as she attempts to solve a murder. And once again she will have to search for clues hidden in a book by Alan Conway, a client from her previous life as an editor.
For me this was a book of two (or 3?) parts. The initial 35% sets up the story & details how Susan ends up trading in her life as a hotelier in Crete for windy Suffolk. I thought the premise was a bit thin….2 strangers from another country show up & want you to return to England & read a book in hopes it will help find their missing daughter. But I completely understood why Susan accepted the deal. The hotel needs money & she needs a break.
I have to admit I struggled through this part. After her return, Susan’s days are filled with fleeting interviews & much scribbling of lists. There’s a huge amount of information revealed here in dialogue, interviews, transcripts & emails. This combined with the slow pace left me feeling as if I was wading through quicksand & I began to think about setting it aside for another time.
Thankfully, at that point we switch over to “Atticus Pünd Takes the Case”. The murder in question occurred 8 years ago at a family run hotel in Suffolk. By coincidence, Conway was staying there at the time & based some of the characters in his next book on actual people involved. Rumour has it he also hid clues as to the identity of the real killer. Since Susan was his editor, surely she must know how to decipher his writing? She finds a comfy seat & starts reading.
As do we. The next 45% is a book from Conway’s series set in 1950’s England & featuring investigator Atticus Pünd. It’s a true homage to golden age mysteries & you can’t help but think of Pünd as a German Poirot. He’s an intelligent, fastidious man who ends up staying at The Moonflower Hotel while investigating the murder of a famous actress.
Hands down, this was my favourite part of the whole book. The location, time period, colourful characters, intricate mystery & wit…..all of these combined to keep me glued to the pages. After his last case, Pünd acquired a secretary & the formidable Miss Cain is there to support his investigation along with local DCI Hare. Like his alter ego, Conway never cheats the reader. Everything you need to identify the killer is there. The question is whether or not you’re paying close enough attention to spot the clues.
That takes us to the last 20% where we rejoin Susan & the current investigation. This segment has a better flow & focus as the pieces begin to fit together. There are many questions to be answered, not the least of which is Susan’s own future. Parallels between her investigation & the “fictional” one are a nice touch & bring the story full circle.
So there you have it. When it comes to rating this, I have to give the edge to Pünd. His story gets 4 stars while Susan’s gets 3. Overall, I may not have enjoyed this as much as Magpie Murders but I look forward to their combined adventures in the next one.
Horowitz returns with another double-M mystery that employs his clever book-within-a-book format. Once again, we follow Susan Ryeland as she attempts to solve a murder. And once again she will have to search for clues hidden in a book by Alan Conway, a client from her previous life as an editor.
For me this was a book of two (or 3?) parts. The initial 35% sets up the story & details how Susan ends up trading in her life as a hotelier in Crete for windy Suffolk. I thought the premise was a bit thin….2 strangers from another country show up & want you to return to England & read a book in hopes it will help find their missing daughter. But I completely understood why Susan accepted the deal. The hotel needs money & she needs a break.
I have to admit I struggled through this part. After her return, Susan’s days are filled with fleeting interviews & much scribbling of lists. There’s a huge amount of information revealed here in dialogue, interviews, transcripts & emails. This combined with the slow pace left me feeling as if I was wading through quicksand & I began to think about setting it aside for another time.
Thankfully, at that point we switch over to “Atticus Pünd Takes the Case”. The murder in question occurred 8 years ago at a family run hotel in Suffolk. By coincidence, Conway was staying there at the time & based some of the characters in his next book on actual people involved. Rumour has it he also hid clues as to the identity of the real killer. Since Susan was his editor, surely she must know how to decipher his writing? She finds a comfy seat & starts reading.
As do we. The next 45% is a book from Conway’s series set in 1950’s England & featuring investigator Atticus Pünd. It’s a true homage to golden age mysteries & you can’t help but think of Pünd as a German Poirot. He’s an intelligent, fastidious man who ends up staying at The Moonflower Hotel while investigating the murder of a famous actress.
Hands down, this was my favourite part of the whole book. The location, time period, colourful characters, intricate mystery & wit…..all of these combined to keep me glued to the pages. After his last case, Pünd acquired a secretary & the formidable Miss Cain is there to support his investigation along with local DCI Hare. Like his alter ego, Conway never cheats the reader. Everything you need to identify the killer is there. The question is whether or not you’re paying close enough attention to spot the clues.
That takes us to the last 20% where we rejoin Susan & the current investigation. This segment has a better flow & focus as the pieces begin to fit together. There are many questions to be answered, not the least of which is Susan’s own future. Parallels between her investigation & the “fictional” one are a nice touch & bring the story full circle.
So there you have it. When it comes to rating this, I have to give the edge to Pünd. His story gets 4 stars while Susan’s gets 3. Overall, I may not have enjoyed this as much as Magpie Murders but I look forward to their combined adventures in the next one.
October 29, 2025
"It was a strange game he played with his readers and one that only undermined the quality of his writing."
Susan Ryeland was of course, talking about one of the writers she worked with, Alan Conway, but we know that Horowitz is also saying this about himself. Horowitz is one of the leading writers in the trend of meta-fiction, where the authors insert themselves into the narrative, or write with something more than a nod-wink to story conventions. I had enjoyed my last Ernest Cunningham (Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone) a great deal, so I thought I could take on another Horowitz.
"‘You can ask anything you like,’ Martin cut in. ‘We’ve got nothing to hide.’ In Alan Conway’s novels, people only said that when they most definitely did have something to hide."
Horowitz is particularly fond of the book sandwich, a story inside a story. In the two or three books I've read, I mean this literally. Susan is told that Alan Conway's book was instrumental in convincing the hotel owner's daughter that the imprisoned man is innocent. Alan had visited the hotel just six weeks after the killing, and his subsequent book was based on those events, though he disguised it by setting it in 1953. In an effort to identify the real murderer, Susan sits down and re-reads Conway's book.
"It felt strange. I was about to read one murder mystery while sitting inside another."
So, it helps to accept there's a lot of meta, along with two mysteries that appeared unconnected unless you know the people involved. Moonflower Murders is 600 pages long, which seems intimidating until one realizes it is actually two books. The problem with this structure, for those of us that might be older or memory challenged, is that there's a full list--a regular English manor full--of characters in both books, and that Lund does indeed like to play games with the readers. So it is a bit of a mental whiplash to go from one set to the next and then back to the first. The sensation is a bit like hitting the stop step of the escalator: it should be smooth, but it really isn't and there's always a bit of a stumble. I found myself reading the Conway book as Susan did, thinking about which characters were parallel and how they might explain the more recent killing.
My other stumbling block with both books is that really, all the characters are quite flawed as Horowitz presents them. The victim, the killer(s), the guests, the staff--its a sad, sordid mess full of selfishness, sexcapedes, and money. Even Susan, Alan's former publisher and editor, is a challenge to empathy. She is depressed, struggling with her personal and professional lives, and doing a terrible job of solving the crime. As she points out at the near the end,
"I had taken on the case with the enthusiasm of someone solving a crossword puzzle when from the very start I should have realised that I was actually dealing with a massive injustice."
I enjoyed the book within the book, which has more of the feel of the Golden Age of Mysteries. That is, if Dorothy Sayers or Agatha Christie had included sex and psychosis in their books. But I appreciated the nods to tradition:
"He showed them into a simple, square room with two bulging sofas, lots of shelves jammed with books, an upright piano that even before it was played managed to look completely out of tune, and some fading Victorian portraits."
Overall, it was a curious read. I thought the mysteries were done well, though I didn't love the motives. There's a sexuality angle that is explored here that makes me deeply uncomfortable as it concerns the sex trade and exploration of gay lifestyle. In fact, as a trigger warning, there's forced sex. I also found it a strangely joyless book; the nod-winks feel like 'look how clever I am' in a self-aggrandizing kind of way, and there's very little humor or compassion to leaven the stories of the characters. Would I read it again? Very unlikely. If I feel like meta, I'd rather go with the more zany approach Stevenson takes.
Susan Ryeland was of course, talking about one of the writers she worked with, Alan Conway, but we know that Horowitz is also saying this about himself. Horowitz is one of the leading writers in the trend of meta-fiction, where the authors insert themselves into the narrative, or write with something more than a nod-wink to story conventions. I had enjoyed my last Ernest Cunningham (Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone) a great deal, so I thought I could take on another Horowitz.
"‘You can ask anything you like,’ Martin cut in. ‘We’ve got nothing to hide.’ In Alan Conway’s novels, people only said that when they most definitely did have something to hide."
Horowitz is particularly fond of the book sandwich, a story inside a story. In the two or three books I've read, I mean this literally. Susan is told that Alan Conway's book was instrumental in convincing the hotel owner's daughter that the imprisoned man is innocent. Alan had visited the hotel just six weeks after the killing, and his subsequent book was based on those events, though he disguised it by setting it in 1953. In an effort to identify the real murderer, Susan sits down and re-reads Conway's book.
"It felt strange. I was about to read one murder mystery while sitting inside another."
So, it helps to accept there's a lot of meta, along with two mysteries that appeared unconnected unless you know the people involved. Moonflower Murders is 600 pages long, which seems intimidating until one realizes it is actually two books. The problem with this structure, for those of us that might be older or memory challenged, is that there's a full list--a regular English manor full--of characters in both books, and that Lund does indeed like to play games with the readers. So it is a bit of a mental whiplash to go from one set to the next and then back to the first. The sensation is a bit like hitting the stop step of the escalator: it should be smooth, but it really isn't and there's always a bit of a stumble. I found myself reading the Conway book as Susan did, thinking about which characters were parallel and how they might explain the more recent killing.
My other stumbling block with both books is that really, all the characters are quite flawed as Horowitz presents them. The victim, the killer(s), the guests, the staff--its a sad, sordid mess full of selfishness, sexcapedes, and money. Even Susan, Alan's former publisher and editor, is a challenge to empathy. She is depressed, struggling with her personal and professional lives, and doing a terrible job of solving the crime. As she points out at the near the end,
"I had taken on the case with the enthusiasm of someone solving a crossword puzzle when from the very start I should have realised that I was actually dealing with a massive injustice."
I enjoyed the book within the book, which has more of the feel of the Golden Age of Mysteries. That is, if Dorothy Sayers or Agatha Christie had included sex and psychosis in their books. But I appreciated the nods to tradition:
"He showed them into a simple, square room with two bulging sofas, lots of shelves jammed with books, an upright piano that even before it was played managed to look completely out of tune, and some fading Victorian portraits."
Overall, it was a curious read. I thought the mysteries were done well, though I didn't love the motives. There's a sexuality angle that is explored here that makes me deeply uncomfortable as it concerns the sex trade and exploration of gay lifestyle. In fact, as a trigger warning, there's forced sex. I also found it a strangely joyless book; the nod-winks feel like 'look how clever I am' in a self-aggrandizing kind of way, and there's very little humor or compassion to leaven the stories of the characters. Would I read it again? Very unlikely. If I feel like meta, I'd rather go with the more zany approach Stevenson takes.
November 10, 2020
*US Publication Day. Buy a copy ASAP*
Another of Alan Conway's infamous detective series stories is at the centre of a baffling and intriguing mystery in Moonflower Murders.
Conway's former editor, Susan Ryeland is now a hotel proprietor living in Greece. It's been two years since the life altering events of Magpie Murders, which saw Susan turning her back on the publishing world for good.
Then two English strangers, Lawrence and Pauline Treherne, approach her at work to ask for her help. Their daughter Cecily has been MIA for several days, and they are out of their minds with worry. It all started eight years ago, when a guest at their five-star hotel (Branlow Hall in Suffolk), Frank Parris, was beaten to death in his room during the weekend of Cecily's wedding. When maintenance man Stefan Codrescu was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder, Cecily had strong doubts that he was guilty, but admitted defeat when the evidence against him proved overwhelming.
But now Cecily has vanished, and her last words to her parents was an ominous phone call to their holiday home in the South of France. Cecily had just finished reading Alan Conway's third novel, Atticus Pund Takes the Case, and within its pages had discovered something startling that had convinced her that Stefan Codrescu was innocent after all. The author in question had stayed at Branlow Hall six weeks after Parris' murder, and had asked endless questions about the man's death. Cecily excitedly informed the Treherne's that she'd send them a copy to see the link for themselves, but upon reading it they find nothing out of place. When they ring Cecily for further explanation, they are shocked to discover she has been reported missing.
Is it conceivable that in the space of the few days Conway spent at Branlow Hall he uncovered the identity of the real killer, but instead of going to the police, chose to include it in his fictitious novel? Susan is determined to get to the truth, whatever it takes.
Once again Anthony Horowitz has delivered on all counts – Moonflower Murders was intricate, carefully-plotted, addictive, and a pleasure to read from start to finish. Fans of Magpie Murders will be just as floored by the second installment, and if you are new to this series, I would advise you to start with Magpie as there is one major spoiler in Moonflower.
Just like Magpie, Moonflower contains an entirely separate book within the narrative structure of the main story. The first twenty odd chapters were conveyed in Susan's first person POV as she investigated Cecily's whereabouts and learnt all she could about Parris' murder. Then at the 37% mark she delved into Atticus Pund Takes the Case, set during the golden age of mystery stories, which gave us readers the opportunity to search for the clue to Parris' actual killer alongside Susan. Unlike Magpie Murders, this Atticus Pund installment was a published novel rather than a manuscript, so I found it cool that it had its own cover complete with artwork, copyright and publishing information, as well as cast of characters listed in front. Anthony Horowitz never fails to go that extra mile.
Moonflour Murders has deservedly knocked all my other books aside and earned the coveted title of ‘My Favourite Book of the Year’. Finally, something amazing has happened in 2020!
I'd like to thank Netgalley, Random House UK – Cornerstone, and Anthony Horowitz for the e-ARC.
Another of Alan Conway's infamous detective series stories is at the centre of a baffling and intriguing mystery in Moonflower Murders.
Conway's former editor, Susan Ryeland is now a hotel proprietor living in Greece. It's been two years since the life altering events of Magpie Murders, which saw Susan turning her back on the publishing world for good.
Then two English strangers, Lawrence and Pauline Treherne, approach her at work to ask for her help. Their daughter Cecily has been MIA for several days, and they are out of their minds with worry. It all started eight years ago, when a guest at their five-star hotel (Branlow Hall in Suffolk), Frank Parris, was beaten to death in his room during the weekend of Cecily's wedding. When maintenance man Stefan Codrescu was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder, Cecily had strong doubts that he was guilty, but admitted defeat when the evidence against him proved overwhelming.
But now Cecily has vanished, and her last words to her parents was an ominous phone call to their holiday home in the South of France. Cecily had just finished reading Alan Conway's third novel, Atticus Pund Takes the Case, and within its pages had discovered something startling that had convinced her that Stefan Codrescu was innocent after all. The author in question had stayed at Branlow Hall six weeks after Parris' murder, and had asked endless questions about the man's death. Cecily excitedly informed the Treherne's that she'd send them a copy to see the link for themselves, but upon reading it they find nothing out of place. When they ring Cecily for further explanation, they are shocked to discover she has been reported missing.
Is it conceivable that in the space of the few days Conway spent at Branlow Hall he uncovered the identity of the real killer, but instead of going to the police, chose to include it in his fictitious novel? Susan is determined to get to the truth, whatever it takes.
Once again Anthony Horowitz has delivered on all counts – Moonflower Murders was intricate, carefully-plotted, addictive, and a pleasure to read from start to finish. Fans of Magpie Murders will be just as floored by the second installment, and if you are new to this series, I would advise you to start with Magpie as there is one major spoiler in Moonflower.
Just like Magpie, Moonflower contains an entirely separate book within the narrative structure of the main story. The first twenty odd chapters were conveyed in Susan's first person POV as she investigated Cecily's whereabouts and learnt all she could about Parris' murder. Then at the 37% mark she delved into Atticus Pund Takes the Case, set during the golden age of mystery stories, which gave us readers the opportunity to search for the clue to Parris' actual killer alongside Susan. Unlike Magpie Murders, this Atticus Pund installment was a published novel rather than a manuscript, so I found it cool that it had its own cover complete with artwork, copyright and publishing information, as well as cast of characters listed in front. Anthony Horowitz never fails to go that extra mile.
Moonflour Murders has deservedly knocked all my other books aside and earned the coveted title of ‘My Favourite Book of the Year’. Finally, something amazing has happened in 2020!
I'd like to thank Netgalley, Random House UK – Cornerstone, and Anthony Horowitz for the e-ARC.
April 8, 2024
In this second book in the 'Susan Ryeland' series, the literary editor/hotel owner investigates an old murder and a current disappearance. The book works fine as a standalone.
*****
In the first Susan Ryeland novel, 'Magpie Murders', the London book editor had to investigate a homicide to find the missing chapter of the 9th (and last) novel by deceased author Alan Conway. Conway's mystery series features Atticus Pünd, a fictional private detective modeled after Hercule Poirot.
After Conway's final book was published Susan moved to Crete, where she runs a hotel called Polydorus with her boyfriend Andreas.
Polydorus is a money pit with lackadaisical employees, and Susan is feeling the strain of overwork as well as missing her literary life in Britain.
Thus Susan is intrigued when she's approached by Pauline and Lawrence Treherne, who've come from England to see her.
The couple explain that they own an upscale hotel in Suffolk called Branlow Hall, run by their daughters Lisa and Cecily. Eight years ago, Cecily's wedding at Branlow Hall was interrupted by the murder of a hotel guest named Frank Parris.
Branlow Hall's handyman, a Romanian ex-convict called Stefan Codrescu, was convicted of Parris's murder and sent to prison.
Nevertheless, Cecily Treherne - who encouraged the hotel's 'second chance' program for offenders - thought Stefan was innocent.
As it happens, author Alan Conway stayed at Branlow Hall shortly after Parris's death, and used the tragedy as the inspiration for his 3rd Atticus Pünd mystery, titled 'Atticus Pünd Takes the Case.' The victim in the novel is an actress who owns a hotel, and the characters are thinly disguised versions of real people at Branlow Hall.
Cecily Treherne recently read Atticus Pünd Takes the Case and thinks Alan Conway revealed Frank Parris's REAL KILLER in the book. Cecily confided this in a phone call to her parents, after which she disappeared.
Since Susan Ryeland was the editor of Atticus Pünd Takes the Case, the Trehernes want her to re-read the book, identify the killer, come to England, and help find Cecily. For this service the couple will pay Susan £10,000 - which she sorely needs to fix up her hotel.
Susan accepts the challenge, and stays at ritzy Branlow Hall.....
.....while she surveys the hotel and interviews people who might have killed Frank Parris. Presumably, the REAL KILLER would be threatened by Cecily's (supposed) discovery, and want to silence her. Possible suspects include Parris's friends, relatives, and acquaintances; people staying at Branlow Hall during the murder weekend; Cecily's sister, husband, and hired nanny, etc.
In the midst of her investigations, Susan reads Atticus Pünd Takes the Case, and the novel forms the middle part of Moonflower Murders.
Susan carefully peruses the manuscript to try to identify Frank Parris's killer. This is easier said than done because Conway was a trickster who liked to include codes, allusions, jests, anagrams, Easter Eggs, etc. in his writing.
Of course Susan finally sees the light, but not before she follows a lot of red herrings and is almost killed herself. Finally - in true Atticus Pünd (and Hercule Poirot) fashion - Susan gathers all the suspects for the big reveal.
Fans of golden age mysteries will have fun trying to determine who killed Frank Parris in Moonflower Murders and who killed the actress in Atticus Pünd Takes the Case. This is a clever double mystery, highly recommended.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com
July 3, 2020
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.
With many thanks to Random House and Netgalley for a copy of the book
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.
With many thanks to Random House and Netgalley for a copy of the book
February 3, 2021
Horowitz is my favorite author, but I just could not get into this. I read 170 pages, then skipped ahead to the last 3 chapters.
June 2, 2020
It's safe to say I was extremely excited to get my hands on a copy of Moonflower Murders. It may not have blown me away quite as much as Magpie Murders (which was one of my top reads of 2019), but it was extremely clever nonetheless.
We have the same format of a book within a book. Personally, I found the premise of Susan Ryeland investigating a bit weak (she's a publisher after all, not a detective), but the story itself whizzes by. Anthony Horowitz style of writing is exceptionally easy to read and of course I did not see the ending coming.
A thoroughly enjoyable read, but if you've read Magpie Murders and were blown away by it as much as me, then don't go in with super high expectations to save disappointment.
We have the same format of a book within a book. Personally, I found the premise of Susan Ryeland investigating a bit weak (she's a publisher after all, not a detective), but the story itself whizzes by. Anthony Horowitz style of writing is exceptionally easy to read and of course I did not see the ending coming.
A thoroughly enjoyable read, but if you've read Magpie Murders and were blown away by it as much as me, then don't go in with super high expectations to save disappointment.
October 10, 2020
I wish to thank NetGalley and HarperCollins Canada for the ingenious Moonflower Murders Arc by Anthony Horowitz. This book and the previous one, The Magpie Murders, feature amateur detective, Susan Ryeland. These books are a superb homage to the Golden Age of British mystery exemplified by the writings of Agatha Christie. Like the previous book, The Moonflower Murders is clever and original in its construction and it works well as a stand-alone. We get an old fashioned mystery set in the early 1950s within a modern mystery story. Who doesn't enjoy a two for one deal?!
Susan Ryeland was a book editor in England, but retired and moved with her boyfriend, Andreas, to Crete. They are running a seaside hotel which is not prospering. It is exhausting work and their debt is increasing. Susan is being to have doubts about their personal relationship and their stress keeping the hotel running. She is missing England and her previous work for a book publishing company.
She is approached by a wealthy British couple, the Treharnes, who own an exclusive Suffolk hotel. Eight years ago, a hotel guest named Frank Parris was brutally murdered in his room during the wedding of their daughter, Cecily. The handyman was convicted of the murder and imprisoned.
Recently, Cecily read a mystery book by the late author, Alan Conway. The book titled 'Atticus Pund Takes the Case' was one of his best selling series set in the early 1950s. The book was loosely based on the murder that disrupted Cecily's wedding, along with the hotel staff and members of the wedding party. Conway's series, featuring Detective Atticus Pund, contains hidden clues, anagrams and other word puzzles. Cecily told her parents that she knew who committed the murder of Frank Parris from clues embedded within the story and that the wrong man had been convicted. She vanished before revealing what she had discovered. Her disappearance was probably connected to her figuring out who committed the murder. This put her life in danger. Her parents want to hire Susan to find out their daughter's fate. Because she edited all of Conway's detective series, they feel Susan is the person to figure out what clues Cecily found in the book that identified the true killer.
Susan returns to England. She has been offered a large sum of money by the Treharnes and lodging at their luxury hotel. She has the eight-year-old murder to solve as well as Cecily's recent disappearance. She realizes there are many members of the wedding and hotel staff to interview. There were a number of suspects with reason to want Frank Parris dead.
At this point, Susan begins to reread 'Atticus Pund Takes the Case' searching for the hidden clues and having no luck. She smartly takes notes about each character, their relationships, their location and the timeline for the murder. I wish I had done the same. There were so many names of subjects in both storylines that it took much concentration to keep the characters straight. This added to the complexity of both stories. When the tangled relationships and motives were explained, everything made sense in a believable manner, proving how well the plots were planned and executed. I found the writing style and tone very similar in both stories except for the mention of modern technology in the present-day tale. Both Susan Ryeland in modern times and Atticus Pund, the 1950s detective, call all the relevant cast together in a room to explain their conclusions, a tribute to Christie and all.
Readers who enjoy traditional, old fashioned style mysteries should find this book enjoyable and a pleasure to read.
Susan Ryeland was a book editor in England, but retired and moved with her boyfriend, Andreas, to Crete. They are running a seaside hotel which is not prospering. It is exhausting work and their debt is increasing. Susan is being to have doubts about their personal relationship and their stress keeping the hotel running. She is missing England and her previous work for a book publishing company.
She is approached by a wealthy British couple, the Treharnes, who own an exclusive Suffolk hotel. Eight years ago, a hotel guest named Frank Parris was brutally murdered in his room during the wedding of their daughter, Cecily. The handyman was convicted of the murder and imprisoned.
Recently, Cecily read a mystery book by the late author, Alan Conway. The book titled 'Atticus Pund Takes the Case' was one of his best selling series set in the early 1950s. The book was loosely based on the murder that disrupted Cecily's wedding, along with the hotel staff and members of the wedding party. Conway's series, featuring Detective Atticus Pund, contains hidden clues, anagrams and other word puzzles. Cecily told her parents that she knew who committed the murder of Frank Parris from clues embedded within the story and that the wrong man had been convicted. She vanished before revealing what she had discovered. Her disappearance was probably connected to her figuring out who committed the murder. This put her life in danger. Her parents want to hire Susan to find out their daughter's fate. Because she edited all of Conway's detective series, they feel Susan is the person to figure out what clues Cecily found in the book that identified the true killer.
Susan returns to England. She has been offered a large sum of money by the Treharnes and lodging at their luxury hotel. She has the eight-year-old murder to solve as well as Cecily's recent disappearance. She realizes there are many members of the wedding and hotel staff to interview. There were a number of suspects with reason to want Frank Parris dead.
At this point, Susan begins to reread 'Atticus Pund Takes the Case' searching for the hidden clues and having no luck. She smartly takes notes about each character, their relationships, their location and the timeline for the murder. I wish I had done the same. There were so many names of subjects in both storylines that it took much concentration to keep the characters straight. This added to the complexity of both stories. When the tangled relationships and motives were explained, everything made sense in a believable manner, proving how well the plots were planned and executed. I found the writing style and tone very similar in both stories except for the mention of modern technology in the present-day tale. Both Susan Ryeland in modern times and Atticus Pund, the 1950s detective, call all the relevant cast together in a room to explain their conclusions, a tribute to Christie and all.
Readers who enjoy traditional, old fashioned style mysteries should find this book enjoyable and a pleasure to read.
February 3, 2022
Last fall I felt like the universe wanted me to read Magpie Murders, and I was so glad I finally did! Over the holiday break I picked up the sequel, though I'll admit to being intimidated by its hefty (600+) page count. No spoilers here, but the story picks up shortly after Magpie left off. Editor Susan Ryeland is called upon to investigate a murder: in a far-away British hotel called The Moonflower, a man was brutally murdered—and the owners think the key to discovering the perpetrator of the crime lies in a book Susan edited years ago. This was a satisfying puzzle of a book, and the story-within-a-story format added extra layers of interest for this reader.
As shared in the January 2022 Quick Lit round-up on Modern Mrs Darcy.
As shared in the January 2022 Quick Lit round-up on Modern Mrs Darcy.
May 9, 2022
Even better than the first one - just very much my kind of mystery. I enjoyed both the framing device and the book within the book, and for such a long book, I was fully engaged throughout. I hope we get more!
January 25, 2021
I enjoy Horowitz’s writing - and I loved Magpie Murders - I enjoyed the Pünd novel in that book a lot more - I’m not sure if it’s because it felt more relevant to the plot, or because at that point, I’d never read anything from The Golden Age Of Crime so the writing felt better than it actually was.
This book itself is okay - I like Atticus Pünd more than I like Susan Ryeland, but Atticus Pünd Takes The Case is very convoluted - the first portion of the book is spent emphasising the similarity between APTTC and the events that took place at Branlow Hall, but I just couldn’t make that connection - and I spent a great deal of it trying to work out which characters were supposed to be which - it just didn’t feel very relevant.
Considering Susan, an editor, makes a point about how hard Alan Conway is to edit, and he refused to take any of her opinions on board - insisting the chapter on the diamond Pünd recovers stays in APTTC, even though it’s irrelevant and adds nothing to the actual plot, I’m surprised that so much of Susan’s story made the cut. The side plot with her sister, her constant back and forth over her relationship - it all feels like it could’ve been edited down.
It was a little predictable in places - it’s rare for me to guess a motive, but I pinned down one of the motives.
I could overlook all of these issues but for this -
The problematic gay representation. Gay people are portrayed as predators and as perverts, not just in this book, but in Magpie Murders and in House Of Silk and his DI Hawthorne series. It’s boring, it’s predictable and it’s out of date.
All of his recently published adult novels have serious homophobic and gay representation issues. Horowitz, if you’re reading this - it is possible to write books where gay men aren’t seen as perverts. Or if you can’t manage that, you could just write books without gay people - and I wish you would, because I would really like to continue reading your books.
December 18, 2020
Really, really great. Almost a 5 (more like a 4.5), but it's not quite as good as the first.
October 23, 2020
"The greatest evil occurs when people, no matter what their aims or their motives, becomes utterly convinced that they are right"
4,5⭐️
When I found out about the existence of "Moonflower Murders" I think I gave a little shriek. Follow up to "Magpie Murders", one of my favorite books of the last years, I even tried to bribe the author on Twitter to get my Netgalley request approved (Shameless! Me, not him. He didn't even respond to my pathetic bribery attempt)
When after several weeks pending my request was finally approved I decided to read it inmediately even though it will be published in August and I'm so glad I did. I enjoyed it tremendously!
Two years after "Magpie Murders" events, retired publisher Susan Ryeland is living in Crete, running a small hotel with her boyfriend Andreas. When a british couple visiting ask her for help with their daughter's disappearance and its possible link to a murder eight years before, she goes back to England to investigate.
I absolutely love the author's writing style and his obvious homage to the Golden Age of detective fiction. Once again he delivers a book within a book (I would gladly read all the Atticus Pünd novels) with such an ingenious plot that it's not till the last pages when all the clues are revealed. And you have to be a good storyteller to be able to tie the clues of not only one but two different murder mysteries, independently and between each other.
If I'm rating this 4,5 ⭐️ instead of 5 is because the Atticus Pünd story took a little time to take off.
We're just in June but I can say now without fear of being wrong that "Moonflower Murders" will be one my top 10 books of the year.
Waiting anxiously to meet back Susan Ryeland very soon!
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK/Cornerstone for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
4,5⭐️
When I found out about the existence of "Moonflower Murders" I think I gave a little shriek. Follow up to "Magpie Murders", one of my favorite books of the last years, I even tried to bribe the author on Twitter to get my Netgalley request approved (Shameless! Me, not him. He didn't even respond to my pathetic bribery attempt)
When after several weeks pending my request was finally approved I decided to read it inmediately even though it will be published in August and I'm so glad I did. I enjoyed it tremendously!
Two years after "Magpie Murders" events, retired publisher Susan Ryeland is living in Crete, running a small hotel with her boyfriend Andreas. When a british couple visiting ask her for help with their daughter's disappearance and its possible link to a murder eight years before, she goes back to England to investigate.
I absolutely love the author's writing style and his obvious homage to the Golden Age of detective fiction. Once again he delivers a book within a book (I would gladly read all the Atticus Pünd novels) with such an ingenious plot that it's not till the last pages when all the clues are revealed. And you have to be a good storyteller to be able to tie the clues of not only one but two different murder mysteries, independently and between each other.
If I'm rating this 4,5 ⭐️ instead of 5 is because the Atticus Pünd story took a little time to take off.
We're just in June but I can say now without fear of being wrong that "Moonflower Murders" will be one my top 10 books of the year.
Waiting anxiously to meet back Susan Ryeland very soon!
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK/Cornerstone for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
June 18, 2022
This has mostly raving reviews but I just couldn't get into the series. I had hoped that the second one would win me over but unfortunately not. I can't say exactly what it was that made me feel disconnected with the story but it just wasn't my cup of tea ☕
September 1, 2020
Similarly to the first book Magpie Murders, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Moonflower Murders featuring the famous detective Atticus Pund. Compared to the first book, we get a bit more backstory in Moonflower Murders with the former editor Susan Ryeland investigating the disappearance of Cecily Trehearns, a daughter of a couple owning a hotel in Sussex. Cecily believed that one of the Atticus Pund books edited by Susan held clues to solving a murder that took place in her parents' hotel 8 years ago. And so Susan investigates and reads the book again to help her discover the killer and to find out what happened to Cecily.
This book is genius. I think writing a book that's engaging is a great challenge already, but to be able to pull 'a book within a book' requires real writer skills. Atticus Pund is as I remembered him, a peculiar German detective with sharpness and methods not too dissimilar from Agatha Christie's Poirot. This is an intriguing, atmospheric whodunit with a great cast of characters that is highly enjoyable to read.
Many thanks to the publisher for my review copy in exchange for an honest review.
This book is genius. I think writing a book that's engaging is a great challenge already, but to be able to pull 'a book within a book' requires real writer skills. Atticus Pund is as I remembered him, a peculiar German detective with sharpness and methods not too dissimilar from Agatha Christie's Poirot. This is an intriguing, atmospheric whodunit with a great cast of characters that is highly enjoyable to read.
Many thanks to the publisher for my review copy in exchange for an honest review.
December 5, 2020
Really slow start... this took me until about 50% to really get into the story.
Susan Ryeland’s character fell flat for me with a storyline that was pretty boring. Also, this is a mystery inside of a mystery which at times made it difficult keeping everyone straight.
But Horowitz saves the day with the arrival of Atticus Pund! Think Agatha Christie/Sherlock Holmes ... just a good old crime solver. I really enjoyed his story and would love a series dedicated exclusively to him. I found this part of the novel to be much more engaging with characters that were much better developed than in the rest the novel.
That being said... is this worth wadding through 300 pages to get to the good part? For me Atticus Pund part is well worth it. 4 stars.
Susan Ryeland’s character fell flat for me with a storyline that was pretty boring. Also, this is a mystery inside of a mystery which at times made it difficult keeping everyone straight.
But Horowitz saves the day with the arrival of Atticus Pund! Think Agatha Christie/Sherlock Holmes ... just a good old crime solver. I really enjoyed his story and would love a series dedicated exclusively to him. I found this part of the novel to be much more engaging with characters that were much better developed than in the rest the novel.
That being said... is this worth wadding through 300 pages to get to the good part? For me Atticus Pund part is well worth it. 4 stars.
September 3, 2025
অ্যালান কনওয়ে—তিনি এমন একজন লেখক, যিনি খ্যাতি পেয়েছেন গোয়েন্দা গল্প লিখে এবং বিচক্ষণ এক গোয়েন্দা চরিত্র তৈরি করে; কিন্তু সেই চরিত্র এবং সেইসব গল্প আবার মনেপ্রাণে ঘৃণা করেন। তার লেখাতে থাকে আশপাশের পরিচিত, অর্ধপরিচিত সকলের ব্যঙ্গ-বর্ণনা। আবার তার যৌনজীবনও অস্বাভাবিক এবং অতি কুৎসিত।
তো.. তারই লেখা বই পড়ে এক মেয়ে উধাও হয়ে গেল। উধাও হবার আগে শুধু মা-বাবাকে বইটা সম্পর্কে জানিয়ে গেল। ঘটনাক্রমে ততদিনে সেই লেখক সাহেব আর বেঁচে নেই। ফলে মেয়েটির অন্তর্ধানের দায় এসে চাপল সেই লেখকের বই সম্পাদনা করা মানুষটির উপর—সুয্যান রাইল্যান্ড। তাকে নামতে হলো বর্তমান এবং আট বছর আগে ঘটে যাওয়া এক ঘটনার 'বিহাইন্ড দ্য সিন' খুঁজে বের করার কাজে।
▪️▪️▪️
ধীরগতির থ্রিলার বলেই ভালো লেগেছে বেশি। কারণ একটানা দ্রুতগতির বই পড়তে পড়তে মাথা মাঝেমাঝে ক্লান্ত হয়ে পড়ে। তাছাড়া এই বইটা থ্রিলার কম, মনস্তাত্ত্বিক বই হিসেবে বেশি ভাবিয়েছে। প্রেম-শারীরিক সম্পর্ক-দাম্পত্যজীবন এসব পশ্চিমা দেশে আলাদা বটেই, তবে এতটা দায়সারা সম্পর্কগুলোর জন্য মন খারাপ হয়ে গেল। এই কারণেই রেটিং ৪.৫; নতুবা 'ম্যাগপাই'-এর চেয়ে তুলনামূলক বেশ পরিণত এবং আকর্ষণীয় সমাপ্তির বই।
তো.. তারই লেখা বই পড়ে এক মেয়ে উধাও হয়ে গেল। উধাও হবার আগে শুধু মা-বাবাকে বইটা সম্পর্কে জানিয়ে গেল। ঘটনাক্রমে ততদিনে সেই লেখক সাহেব আর বেঁচে নেই। ফলে মেয়েটির অন্তর্ধানের দায় এসে চাপল সেই লেখকের বই সম্পাদনা করা মানুষটির উপর—সুয্যান রাইল্যান্ড। তাকে নামতে হলো বর্তমান এবং আট বছর আগে ঘটে যাওয়া এক ঘটনার 'বিহাইন্ড দ্য সিন' খুঁজে বের করার কাজে।
▪️▪️▪️
ধীরগতির থ্রিলার বলেই ভালো লেগেছে বেশি। কারণ একটানা দ্রুতগতির বই পড়তে পড়তে মাথা মাঝেমাঝে ক্লান্ত হয়ে পড়ে। তাছাড়া এই বইটা থ্রিলার কম, মনস্তাত্ত্বিক বই হিসেবে বেশি ভাবিয়েছে। প্রেম-শারীরিক সম্পর্ক-দাম্পত্যজীবন এসব পশ্চিমা দেশে আলাদা বটেই, তবে এতটা দায়সারা সম্পর্কগুলোর জন্য মন খারাপ হয়ে গেল। এই কারণেই রেটিং ৪.৫; নতুবা 'ম্যাগপাই'-এর চেয়ে তুলনামূলক বেশ পরিণত এবং আকর্ষণীয় সমাপ্তির বই।
May 11, 2022
To expand on my “Loved it!” of a few days ago, here is the “why”. (I will leave you to read the blurb to get more specifics on the plot.)
As always, Horowitz’s prose and dialog sparkled throughout. He’s really on a roll with the Hawthorne and Horowitz metafiction series and this one. They are fabulous showcases for his talents.
The book was long. I frequently dislike long books, but that’s because I often find them bloated. There was no excess in this one. Lots and lots of plot that just kept it rolling forward, and kept me reading. And wonderful red herrings that had me baffled. I occasionally figured out some plot element, but I didn’t have all the details nailed until the last chapter.
There was a story within a book within a book. Nifty trick to pull off. All blended together seamlessly. I guess you could skip the story and it wouldn’t detract from the overall book, but there was no reason to. It was entertaining, kind of like a Sherlock Holmes short story. Horowitz’s style was internally consistent for each of the elements.
Susan Ryeland was a great character in Magpie Murders and again in this one. I’m not a fan of too much romance in crime fiction, but Ryeland’s relationship is handled deftly and actually added to the overall impact of the book.
I’m sure someone might be disappointed with this, but if you enjoy a mystery, I doubt you’ll be disappointed. I can’t believe this one sat on my bookshelf for so long!
As always, Horowitz’s prose and dialog sparkled throughout. He’s really on a roll with the Hawthorne and Horowitz metafiction series and this one. They are fabulous showcases for his talents.
The book was long. I frequently dislike long books, but that’s because I often find them bloated. There was no excess in this one. Lots and lots of plot that just kept it rolling forward, and kept me reading. And wonderful red herrings that had me baffled. I occasionally figured out some plot element, but I didn’t have all the details nailed until the last chapter.
There was a story within a book within a book. Nifty trick to pull off. All blended together seamlessly. I guess you could skip the story and it wouldn’t detract from the overall book, but there was no reason to. It was entertaining, kind of like a Sherlock Holmes short story. Horowitz’s style was internally consistent for each of the elements.
Susan Ryeland was a great character in Magpie Murders and again in this one. I’m not a fan of too much romance in crime fiction, but Ryeland’s relationship is handled deftly and actually added to the overall impact of the book.
I’m sure someone might be disappointed with this, but if you enjoy a mystery, I doubt you’ll be disappointed. I can’t believe this one sat on my bookshelf for so long!
April 11, 2021
I enjoyed this, but didn't love it. It's absent the light magic that charmed me in Magpie Murders. The story is so implausible and unwieldy that Horowitz is forced by the end to fill the plot holes with heaps of horse manure and an assortment of eye-rolling coincidences, dumping in whatever is handy just to be done with it.
I was aware, unlike the first in the series, that a male writer was penning a female protagonist; Susan doesn't move in the world the way a woman does, in thought or action. And seriously, what does Horowitz have against LGBTQ folk?
Okay, enough grousing. Magpie Murders is deliciously, devilishly fun in its meta-homage to vintage British crime fiction. Those with the patience to puzzle out the clues in the Atticus Pünd novel-within-the-novel (alas, this is not I) will be richly rewarded. Anthony Horowitz is a great storyteller, but I'll be hoping he moves away from clichéd characters and silly stories in favor of the crisp, smart mystery so evident in Susan Ryeland #1.
I was aware, unlike the first in the series, that a male writer was penning a female protagonist; Susan doesn't move in the world the way a woman does, in thought or action. And seriously, what does Horowitz have against LGBTQ folk?
Okay, enough grousing. Magpie Murders is deliciously, devilishly fun in its meta-homage to vintage British crime fiction. Those with the patience to puzzle out the clues in the Atticus Pünd novel-within-the-novel (alas, this is not I) will be richly rewarded. Anthony Horowitz is a great storyteller, but I'll be hoping he moves away from clichéd characters and silly stories in favor of the crisp, smart mystery so evident in Susan Ryeland #1.
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