This was my first Anthony Horowitz novel and, while MoonFlower Murders was meticulously plotted and exceedingly clever at times, in the end it wasn’t my cup of tea for a few reasons. First off, I was not enamored of our protagonist, Susan. Horowitz more than once described a character to the reader by having Susan think something like “I hate to be unkind, but she could not be considered attractive,” etc., which made her seem judgmental and not someone with whom I wanted to spend a novel’s-worth of time. Second, I found the book to be too long; the story dragged for me until the Pund novel began. Finally, much of the climax stretched credibility for me, particularly the murderer having written—on the fly—a detailed confession that explained all of his motivations. This series is not for me, but again, one does get two well-plotted mysteries for the price of one.

Horowitz's writing is so clever; and this mystery-within-a-mystery absolutely delivers. Readers will love the creativity of the mystery and the surprising denouement.

An extremely worthy follow-up to MAGPIE MURDERS, the book flows swiftly, despite its length, and manages to be both charmingly witty and also deeply cynical and macabre at times. Susan Ryeland is a fun addition to the amateur sleuth hall of fame and the novel, like its predecessor, is admirably fair with its puzzle mystery and clues, which allow the especially observant reader to perhaps reach the solution even before Susan herself. All in all, this is highly recommended.

Susan Ryeland thought that she was finished with Alan Conway and publishing after the firm she worked for spectacularly burned down at the end of Magpie Murders. Moonflower Murders, by Anthony Horowitz, takes place two years later. Susan and her partner, Andreas, now run a hotel on Crete. Things…are not going well. The wifi and the electricity are on the blink. Guests run TripAdvisor scams. Susan and Andreas are too busy to do more than argue. When the Trehernes show up at the hotel with a strange offer that involves the deceased Alan Conway, it feels like Susan has been sent a lifeline.

Eight years before the events of Moonflower Murders, a man was brutally murdered at the Trehernes’ hotel. One of their employees was sent to prison. Sometime after that, Conway interviewed the employees of that hotel and wrote one of his celebrated novels featuring his signature detective. Years after that, Cecily Treherne (one of the owners’ daughters) read that novel and announced that the wrong man had gone to prison…only to disappear herself. The Trehernes have come to Susan, Conway’s editor, in the hope that she’ll be able to tell them what Cecily discovered in Conway’s novel. Susan accepts the job—and the £10,000 they offer—and heads off to Suffolk.

Moonflower Murders was a little slow to start. Oddly enough, I was more hooked when Susan started to read Atticus Pünd Takes the Case and I got to read it over her shoulder. I knew as much as Susan about the real murder and Cecily’s disappearance and, while Susan might have the edge because she knew Conway, I relished the challenge of trying to see what Cecily found before Susan did. The last third was electrifying. Once I got past the halfway mark, I couldn’t put Moonflower Murders down.

Really good mystery novels all teach us something, about human nature or crime. Moonflower Murders taught me how we can fool ourselves when we believe we know the facts. Sometimes these facts are a timeline that makes murder impossible. If the dog barked at this time and the phone rang at that time, how is it possible for any of the suspects to do the deed? Sometimes those facts are identities; we trust people when they tell us their names. Why would people lie about their names? All of the detectives (and me, the reader) beat our heads against those facts until a stray thought made us question everything we thought we knew.

Moonflower Murders is a challenging, exciting mystery novel, as long as you can get through the first few chapters while plot elements and characters slot into place.

The "book within a book" that worked so well in The Magpie Murders doesn't work as well in this one. It was difficult to buy into Susan, a book editor, being hired to investigate a murder. Even so, Anthony Horowitz is such a clever writer that this is a fun, engaging read.

A very engaging mystery that I look forward to recommending to readers. Anthony Horowitz has a gift for creating interesting characters we care about,, and the plot definitely moves along briskly.

This sequel to Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz is for fans of intricately plotted, classic mysteries. Horowitz brings the witty writing, and complex puzzles back in this mystery within a mystery.

Susan Ryeland lives in Crete, running a hotel with her partner Andreas. She's approached by the Trehearnes, a British couple. They offer to pay Susan to look into the disappearance of their daughter, Cecily. Why Susan? Because before she disappeared, Cecily called her parents, convinced a mystery novel written by Alan Conway revealed who committed a murder that happened at the Trehearnes' hotel, eight years prior, on Cecily's wedding day. Susan edited the book Cecily was reading, Atticus Pund Takes the Case. Conway, now dead, had visited the hotel after the murder, asking questions about it.

As part of her investigation, Susan reads the book, looking for clues - who committed the murder at the hotel and what's happened to Cecily. So the reader is treated to that mystery wrapped around the entirety of Atticus Pund Takes the Case.

Conway was notorious for working real people into his books so Susan, and you the reader, must figure out how the characters in one mystery relate to those in the other. You see where the intricately plotted part comes in - it's very meta.

The writing is clear and descriptive but avoids floweriness.

The characters are well-developed, even - maybe especially- the unlikable ones. It shows that Anthony Horowitz spent years writing television shows because he paints detailed and clear images of his characters.

This is a slow read - Horowitz wants you to pay attention as first Pund and then Susan solve their respective mysteries, Take time to appreciate all of the clever wordplay, deftly hidden clues, and brilliant reveals. Both mysteries are incredibly satisfying.

This sequel to Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz is for fans of intricately plotted, classic mysteries. Horowitz brings the witty writing, and complex puzzles back in this mystery within a mystery.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for the DRC.

Moonflower Murders just didn't live up to the quality of Horowitz's other books, at least for me. While I didn't mind the book-within-a-book story I really wanted the solution to wrap up much more quickly than it did. And the recounting of a theme in the book within the book that Susan does near the end of the book was not just tedious but a slap in the face to all those readers, including this one, who hadn't seen it. Clever? Yes. A great read? No.

This was such a slog. I've torn through all of Anthony Horowitz's recent titles, starting with Magpie Murders, but this one didn't grab me and I put it down at about 25%. But I've enjoyed this series in the past, so I forced myself to pick it up again, only to discover a novel within a novel! Ugh. The additional novel was a great tribute to Christie, there was so much Poirot in Pund that the tribute was obvious. But I skimmed it to get to the point and didn't even try to figure out whodunnit..

Moonflower Murders picks up two years after Magpie Murders and we find ex-editor Susan Ryeland now part-owner of a struggling hotel on Crete. She is approached by the Trehearns, who own Branlow Hall, a posh hotel back in England, regarding their missing daughter Cecily Trehearn. They believe her disappearance may have been the result of something she read in the book Atticus Pünd Takes the Case, a mystery Susan edited for the now-deceased author, Alan Conway.

Mr. Conway visited Branlow Hall shortly after it made news 8 years prior when a gruesome murder happened on the premises. He spent time there interviewing the owners and staff about the murder then loosely based the characters of Atticus Pünd Takes the Case on the people he met. After Cecily Trehearn read the book, she was convinced that the wrong man had been put in prison for the murder. Susan Ryeland has been hired by the Trehearns to go to their hotel, talk with the staff, and read Atticus Pünd Takes the Case to see if she can find what Cecily saw when she read the book in hopes of finding Cecily.

As with Magpie Murders, you get two books for the price of one. It does make for a long read, and for a while there I found some of Susan’s part of the story a bit tedious, especially the storyline with her sister, but I felt there was a payoff at the end and appreciated the cleverness of Atticus Pünd Takes the Case. For such a dislikeable man Alan Conway took his time and put serious thought into how he presented his books. As much as Susan said he hated writing mysteries he really enjoyed puzzles especially if they were done in malice.

Each story has two mysteries with one in each being relatively easy to solve regarding the who and the why, but the second mystery for each involved a bit of a twist that made the reads more enjoyable. Although the stories did not offer up any great surprises, I still very much enjoyed the overall book.

In Moonflower Murders Horowitz continues his homage to the mystery genre itself, with even more flair than Magpie Murders. We also get a tribute to post WWII film making, film noir, and the golden days of cinema, making the Moonflower Murders an especially worthwhile read.

I didn't think Magpie Murders would have a sequel. Glad to be wrong.

Susan's career as editor was destroyed in the last book and she left the England to start a hotel in Greece with her boyfriend. As she finds out, running a hotel isn't easy especially in a culture that isn't your own. In a low moment, a couple reaches out to her asking her to find their daughter. Their daughter was reading the third book in a famous murder mystery series that was inspired by murder what happened on the daughter's wedding when she tells her parents that correct murderer was revealed in the book. Because Susan was the book's editor, the couple hopes that would give her insight into the disappearance of their daughter. Feeling guilty and needing the money, Susan agrees.

This book is very smart with it's clues and handling mystery tropes. After reading the book within the book, I had a critique that Susan agreed with me. That left me feeling very called out. I loved how the detecting through Susan and the detecting through Atticus Pund feel completely different. Atticus Pund is written as an Agatha Christie homage while Susan's is written more realistic.

I'm not sure if there will be another book because Susan really doesn't enjoy playing detective, It didn't help that every time she detects someone tries to kill her.

This review is based on an advanced copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

Moonflower Murders
A Novel
by Anthony Horowitz
HarperCollins Publishers
You Like Them You Are Auto-Approved
Harper
Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 10 Nov 2020 | Archive Date 05 Jan 2021

This book came to me positively reviewed. I was looking for more than I received. First of all, I had not read the first book in the series so that was a problem for me. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I had. Secondly, it was a bit confusing for me. It was a great mystery and I am glad I read it. Thanks to HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for the ARC. Not the book for me at this time.
3.5 stars

What to say about The Moonflower Murders. Thank you so much to Harper Books and Anthony Horowitz for this unique book within a book. I didn’t know this was a second book in the series and I highly recommend reading the Magpie Murders first. I was immediately drawn to the premise of a book about a writer and the book within a book premise.

This book was about Susan, a woman who worked in publishing that published the book Atticus Pund Takes the Cake, a story that was written and based on a real life murder. The family who owned the hotel where the murder took place reached out to Susan to see if she could come and look in to the murder. Their daughter recently went missing and they believed she found out something new about the original murder that would exonerate the man put behind bars. Since Susan was the publisher, they thought she may know more about what happened, especially because the original author was dead. Susan goes to the hotel and begins to investigate what happened.

Thoughts: Normally I love the book within a book premise, but this was extremely confusing for me. The story was original and interesting, but there was an actual book written into The Moonflower Murders. There were two different sets of characters with different names and jobs and that became a bit overwhelming. I loved the main character of Susan and I enjoyed the characters in the story (not the book in the book). I did enjoy how the story was all connected and how it all wrapped up, but I think it could have been more clear and concise. Nevertheless, this story was one of a kind and fun to read! 3.5 stars for this book.

Only Anthony Horowitz would have a book inside of a book! I went into it wondering if the book inside of the book would be as good of a mystery as the book itself. It was. And, in fact, I got so absorbed in it I forgot to look for clues to the book. lol They turned out to be so subtle I doubt I would have noticed them anyway. As an Agatha Christie fan I enjoyed Atticus Pund Takes the Case. It had a Hercule Poirot vibe which I enjoyed. The actual book was a modern whodunit. And I enjoyed both books.

I read "Magpie Murders" the first in the Susan Ryeland series nearly 3 years ago.
This story once again features amateur detective Susan Ryeland and the fiction book within a book with Literary Detective, Atticus Pund,
I liked the Atticus story in the Magpie
In this e-book there is an actual book cover with praise for the ‘fictional novel’ “Atticus Pund Takes the Case” by fictional author Alan Conway. I believe this is very clever and don’t remember a book jacket in “Magpie!
I am a big mystery/psychological/thriller fan so I was expecting this old time mystery novel to be a great read! I got into it but it seem long … like please ~ get to the point!.

Here is no doubt this is very clever and I do like idea of ~ 'a murder mystery about a murder mystery'
. I liked it but didn’t love it…. I just read three 4++ novels so I was on a literary high and unfortunately this brought me down a few notches. I am sure it was just bad timing! I have no doubt Horowitz followers as well those new to this unique story telling will enjoy it!

Want to thank NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for this early release granted in exchange for an honest professional review. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for November 10, 2020

Moonflower Murders was every bit as enjoyable as its preceding volume. I particularly liked the way that the author nested the Atticus Pünd novel within the actual novel, and made the reader wonder in what ways the characters in the nested novel corresponded with those in the actual novel. The characters were likable without being vivid or terribly well-developed, but what was well-developed is, of course, the mystery. I absolutely gobbled this book up, could not put it down! I am not the type of mystery reader who actively tries to solve the mystery as the novel goes on, but I do get gut instincts about characters sometimes. I tend to enjoy being led along by the author, and the big reveal being just that--and, although Horowitz seemed throughout to want his readers to try to solve the mystery with him, the novel was very enjoyable even as someone who is being taken along for the ride.

Once again Anthony Horowitz had me stumped. I can never guess who the culprit is when I read these mysteries. Susan Ryeland has given up the publishing business after the death of her star author Alan Conway (Magpie Murders). She's living the good life (sort of) in Crete when she is approached by a couple from England who want her to return and help them solve the mystery of their missing daughter. The daughter had read one of Alan Conway's books which seems to contain clues to a murder which happened 8 years before. It appears that she realized that the wrong person was tried and convicted and perhaps the real killer is still on the loose. Susan can't resist and is soon back in England delving into the old case. What she discovers may put her life in danger as well.
Once again, we have a mystery inside the mystery since we also get to read Conway's book Atticus Pund Takes the Case so that we can also search for the clues.

In this sequel to Magpie Murders, Horowitz again writes a book within a book. I have read several books now by Anthony Horowitz, and I have enjoyed them all. He manages to write an Agatha Christie style book called Atticus Pund Takes the Case and include it in the mystery surrounding an eight-year-old murder and now a missing person at Branlow Hotel. I highly recommend this series as well as Horowitz's other books. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

I have enjoyed many of Anthony Horowitz's mysteries in the past and was very excited to get an opportunity to read this one. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Publishing for providing me with this ARC. The positives for me were how the ending came together (very Poirotish) and the book within a book set-up. Otherwise, I have to say I felt like I slogged through this one. It felt way too long and I never developed much care for any of the characters (alive or dead). In the end, as the mystery came together; I think I would have appreciated going back and re-reading some sections, but felt like I had already spent way too much time with this book. This author is very clever and I look forward to his next work, but this one was just fine for me.

Moonflower Murders gave me a chance to immerse myself in not just one old-fashioned English country house mystery, but two, since we get to read the mystery novel that one of the characters has written.