Allan Corduner – Carol's Notebook

Moonflower Murders is the sequel to Magpie Murders, although I think it would work well as a stand alone. Once again we have a book within the book, and the return of publisher/amateur sleuth, Susan Ryeland. 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. A hotel is hard work day in and day out, with never-ending problems, and lots of debt. 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 stay at the exclusive Branlow Hotel in order to look into the disappearance of their daughter, Cecily, it feels like just what she needs to do- and she'll be getting paid. Eight years ago, a hotel guest had been brutally hammered to...

I should have loved Magpie Murders. It's definitely a book for mystery readers. Not only does it have two well-plotted mysteries, it has some great quotes about the nature of mysteries and reading. “You must know that feeling when it's raining outside and the heating's on and you lose yourself, utterly, in a book. You read and you read and you feel the pages slipping through your fingers until suddenly there are fewer in your right hand than there are in your left and you want to slow down but you still hurtle on towards a conclusion you can hardly bear to discover.” “As far as I'm concerned, you can't beat a good whodunnit: the twists & turns, the clues and the red herrings and then, finally, the satisfaction of having everything explained to you in a way that makes you kick yourself because you hadn't seen it from the start.” The set up is great, a novel within a novel, both murder...

Narrator: Allan Corduner

Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz