Books: Magpie Murders By Anthony Horowitz (2017)

“When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the bestselling crime writer for years, she’s intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan’s traditional formula has proved hugely successful. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job. Conway’s latest tale has Atticus Pünd investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but the more Susan reads, the more she’s convinced that there is another story hidden in the pages of the manuscript: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder.”

Anthony Horowitz is a prolific British novelist and creator of such BBC TV series such as Midsomer Murders (adapted from the Caroline Graham Chief Inspector Barnaby book series) and Foyle’s War. He’s also written for other classic British whodunit series such as Agatha Christie’s Poirot, as well as Robin of Sherwood. He’s also well known for his James Bond inspired young adult series Alex Rider (and was chosen by the Estate of Ian Fleming to continue writing Bond inspired novels, such as 2015’s Trigger Mortis and this year’s Forever and A Day). Finally, he’s also penned two Sherlock Holms novels, The House of Silk (2011) and Morairty (2014).

So with this pedigree, perhaps, he might be one of the few writers of classic British whodunits that could de-construct and re-construct this long loved literary genre. And while 19th Century writer Wilkie Collins is considered the great-grandfather of modern English detective books, it’s early 20th Century writers like Christie and Sayers that brought the format to a wider audience. And it’s with these giants, that Horowitz gives us Magpie Murders, a brilliant whodunit wrapped within a whodunit.

So what we get is the basic Agatha Christie set-up: a sleepy English village that has an unexpected death, followed by another. Then there is a foreign detective, who has pedantic habits, who arrives and must sift through a host of potential suspects, all with secrets to hide. But while the Magpie Murders are set in 1955, Howorwitz’s also sets up another mystery within contemporary London.

What I found intriguing about the book was the subtext (and very truthful note) that the famous writers of Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, James Bond and Tin Tin creator Hergé grew to hate these literary heroes as the years passed. That while these legendary authors were hugely rewarded for their tomes –both monetarily and historically- they always felt trapped by them as well, that being singularly remembered for them was diminishing the work they thought they were meant to write (sort of like what happened to Alec Guinness who hated the idea that after his long-life in theater and Ealing films of the 1960s, he’ll always be remembered as Obi Wan Kenobi). Horowitz’s Alan Conway had the same emotional hatred for his own creation, the Germany-born Atticus Pünt.

I did figure out whodunit –at least the one set in contemporary times- mostly because it made logical sense (and this was before Horowitz did give the reader another trope of the genre, the “coincidence”. This is also, I think, a slight at the format as well; as modern mysteries tend to not have the detectives use logic and calculation to solve the murders, but there is some always some bit of convenience and happenstance that brings everything across the finish line).

I enjoyed the book immensely, even though I disliked some of the explanation of what lead author Alan Conway to divorce his wife (and it was not because Conway had come out). It seemed too typical of a trope, the woman blaming herself. Blah, it left a distaste in my mouth.

But overall, the book is pretty well constructed, a real great page-turner. It takes a classic format and gives it new life, but also gives us a dark look into popular authors who’ve created popular characters in long-running series: do some regret creating such successful novels (because it’s made them really wealthy) when they truly want to be remembered for something completely different, something where the money is not important?

Hello, George Lucas.