Marina Maxwell
  • Home
  • MMMusings
  • Blogs
  • About Me
  • My Books
  • Book Reviews
  • FAMILY TALES

Reviews

Categories

All


I read and review both historical fiction and non-fiction, but also enjoy biographies, crime and some contemporary fiction.
​ 

Please note that unless stated that I have received these books directly from the publisher or author in exchange for an honest review, I either purchase my own copies or source them from my local library service. 

​Links to Amazon, Book Depository or Dymocks Australia are only for the reader's reference.
(Due to some poor experiences recently with Booktopia, from 2023 I will no longer link to them.)

My reviews for Historical Novels Review, the magazine of the Historical Novel Society, can be found online here
​

The Word is Murder

1/2/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture

Anthony Horowitz's Magpie Murders was a fantastic read and I anticipated I'd be in for a great ride with this title, and I wasn't disappointed.

It has a unique structure in which Horowitz himself is the first person narrator. Not only is he involved in investigation of a crime, he also shares aspects of his life as a scriptwriter and author, with references to his books, television series and real individuals. There are even cameos from film directors, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. All this could seem like self-aggrandisement in less capable hands, but it is woven so well within the story that there is no possibility of getting the reader off-side (leastwise not any reader who can appreciate the subtle tongue-in-cheek tone).

All of this begins when a sixty-something woman, Diana Cowper, visits a funeral parlour to organise her own funeral in advance and then is murdered only a few hours later. Enter the abrasive and somewhat mysterious Hawthorne, an ex-copper whom Horowitz has known previously when he helped out as a murder consultant on the TV series Injustice.

Hawthorne wants Horowitz to write a book about him (perhaps called "Hawthorne Investigates") and in order to learn about what he does, asks him to accompany him into the murder he is currently investigating, i.e. that of Diana Cowper. There are shades here of Sherlock and Watson, in which Horowitz feels like he's the bumbling amateur next to the crafty professional but endeavours to hold his own. When a second murder takes place, all the evidence seems to point to a hit-and-run case that happened ten years earlier in which Diana was the guilty party. Or is this a whole school of red herrings and the truth is quite different?

The narrative flows brilliantly, the plotting is fantastic and as a page-turner it can't be faulted. I did not anticipate the ending although as Horowitz himself points out at the end, all the murder clues were there in the words, hence the title.

Another five stars from one of the best writers in the business.

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Booktopia



0 Comments

    Categories

    All

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015

    See
    Historical Novel Society
    ​
    for my reviews of historical fiction
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • MMMusings
  • Blogs
  • About Me
  • My Books
  • Book Reviews
  • FAMILY TALES