Magpie Murders
Anthony Horowitz
Mystery
For aficionados of the classic mystery, Magpie Murders is just glorious. Anthony Horowitz--he of Foyle's War, among other fine works--knows his stuff. He's aware of the limitations of the form, he respects them, he borrows respectfully, and he's a jolly decent writer. Magpie Murders, furthermore, is something of a tour de force, in that it presents not one but two interwoven puzzlers. There's nothing tongue-in-cheek about it, thank God, in spite of what a couple of seriously obtuse reviewers seem to have thought. It's catnip. It's the literary equivalent of an ice-cream sundae.
To say much more would be to spoil it. Just go read it, OK?
I liked it, but found the first of the interwoven puzzlers less involving. Persevering, I like the whole better than its parts. If you do find yourself struggling at the start -- keep going, your patience will be rewarded.
ReplyDeleteWhat was it about puzzle #1 that you found off-putting?
DeleteProbably over-analyzing. Because of the framing introduction, I was unable to read it for its own sake, but kept looking for how it would fit into a meta-story. Some of the things I dislike about period writing -- when a character sees/does/knows something useful which is kept from the reader by a sudden shift in PoV.
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