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Magpie Murders is a cleverly crafted, superbly plotted, classic whodunnit mystery with a brilliant twist.

“Whodunnits are all about truth: nothing more, nothing less. In a world full of uncertainties, is it not inherently satisfying to come to the last page with every i dotted and every t crossed? The stories mimic our experience in the world. We are surrounded by tensions and ambiguities, which we spend half our life trying to resolve, and we’ll probably be on our own deathbed when we reach that moment when everything makes sense. Just about every whodunnit provides that pleasure. It is the reason for their existence.�

The story begins with Susan Ryeland, editor at a small publishing company, reading the Magpie Murders, which is latest book in the popular Atticus Pund mystery series written by Allan Conway. Susan lets the reader know that reading the manuscript caused her to lose friends and changed her life forever. The narrative then shifts into “Conway's� the Magpie Murders, which pays homage to great whodunnit authors, books, and detectives: Christie/Poirot, Conan Doyle/Holmes, etc.

Once Susan is finished reading the manuscript, the reader is jolted back into Susan’s story where we discover the manuscript is incomplete and Conway has died. Susan now must track down the missing chapters, which leads into yet another mystery. This book crosses the boundary between writer and reader, and allows the reader to come into the book andd play a part in the detective game.

“You must know that feeling when it’s raining outside and the heating’s on and you lose yourseflf, 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. That is the particular power of the whodunnit which has, I think, a special place within the general panoply of literary fiction because, of all the characters, the detective enjoys a particular, indeed a unique relationship with the reader.�

I loved all the literary references, the red herrings, and Horowitz’s sharp wit. This is such a smart, fun read. A must read for all who love whodunnits!