I confess, it took a couple of attempts to get through Magpie Murders years ago, but once I was in, I was hooked. This being the third book in the serious and having an affinity for this author's voice and characters, I knew I had to read it.

This book is somewhere north of cozy and south of thriller, which to me is classic mystery, and fittingly reminiscent of classics. The plot moves slowly but that's needed to establish two full sets of similar characters: the characters in the story, and the characters in the story inside the story. Horowitz does these fun things with narration in his books, and the embedded narration here is brilliantly used to solve layers of mysteries. Some readers may get lost with all the names and characters, but I think there are enough context clues (and the voices the narrator uses in the audio) so that you don't get lost. I love his books and this is no exception.

Love the series but this book was too much as an audiobook for me. The narrotor was great. The premise was fun as always. I love the book within in a book idea that he does so well. However, as an audio there were too many people that didn't match directly with book versions of themselves. It was hard to follow even thourgh they did a great job of explaining each person and how they looked it just didn't click for me in audio.

Freelance book editor Susan Ryeland is hoping for a new start. After leaving Greece, she returns to London to begin work with a young author, Elliot Crase, who's been assigned to write the last book in the Atticus Pund series. As Susan dives deeper into the manuscript, she is skeptical of Crase's true intention of plot, drawing similarities to his own family, which soon becomes deadly for both editor and writer. With it's refreshing brain twisting cleverness, a book within a book, Anthony Horowitz, once again, has written a show stoping whodunit.

Loved this one! I've read several books by this author, including the first two in this series, and this one may be my favorite! There's three mysteries here, and I only figured one of them out on my own. I love the book within a book. Now I can't wait for the mini series to come out! Great job by both narrators! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't mind that the characters weren't likeable, I didn't find the characters of the last one likeable, either, but in both cases I found the plot engaging... Until the Scottish detective showed up. There was something about her personality that kept reminding me I was reading a book, and pulled me out of the story nearly every time she did anything. It was super weird. I'm not going to condemn the whole book for one poorly written side character who showed up 65% of the way through the book, but I'm knocking a star off because of her and the fact that nobody seems to realize defamation of character could be a murder motive, AND my ambivalence towards everyone expecting an editor, who has never successfully babysat anyone, to babysit a rich young man who is mentally ill. The two of them together just pulled me out of the story really abruptly, though I stuck around because I absolutely needed to see how it all ended.

I recommend Anthony Horowitz mysteries to library patrons frequently. This is another great addition to the "Susan Ryeland" series. I would recommend it to patrons looking for clever, cozy mysteries. I've had some patrons find the books by watching the television series first and then coming to the library in search of the books.

Lesley Manville, the actress who plays Susan Ryeland in the television series, narrates the book and does an excellent job.