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Marble Hall Murders

Magpie Murders, Book 3

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

FROM BEST SELLING AUTHOR ANTHONY HOROWITZ.

Susan Ryeland has had enough of murder.

She’s edited two novels about the famous detective, Atticus Pünd, and both times she’s come close to being killed. Now she’s back in England and she’s been persuaded to work on a third.

The new ‘continuation’ novel is by Eliot Crace, grandson of Miriam Crace who was the biggest selling children’s author in the world until her death exactly twenty years ago.

Eliot believes that Miriam was deliberately poisoned. And when he tells Susan that he has hidden the identity of Miriam’s killer inside his book, Susan knows she’s in trouble once again.

As Susan works on Pünd’s Last Case, a story set in an exotic villa in the South of France, she uncovers more and more parallels between the past and the present, the fictional and the real world – until suddenly she finds that she has become a target herself.

It seems that someone in Eliot’s family doesn’t want the book to be written. And they will do anything to prevent it.

'Ingenious' Sunday Times
'Thrilling and compelling with a stunning twist' Daily Mail
'Anthony Horowitz is an absolutely exceptional writer' Daniel Mays

©2025 Anthony Horowitz (P)2025 Penguin Audio

 Amateur Sleuths Crime Thrillers Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Exciting Murder

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… which do not fit together as well as Magpie Murders. The Susan Ryeland story is so obvious all a reader can do is shout - don’t do it! The Atticus Pund story is superb, though his solution is not as good as Ryeland’s. The Crace story kept me wondering about Mary Norton, who I cannot believe was as awful as Miriam Crace, on whom the character in this novel seems to be based. I do hope this is Pund’s last case, though someone might write the original novels … that would be a good idea. The detective is charming, and really the reason why I bought this volume.

A book of 3 parts

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I really enjoyed the first book, Magpie Murders. With excellent narration by Samantha Bond. This book 3 is pretty good but hard going in places. For the modern day elements.
There are a few obvious plot mechanisms/twists which are so patently aimed at sending the book down a route. Feels like the author was under pressure to get the book finished. The main character, Susan, several times says or does stupid things to get herself into dramatic situations. Or turn the plot. Things which her character should be too clever and sensible to ever do/say.
As you'd expect Lesley Manvilles narration is excellent. But, combined with the plot, makes the character Susan unsympathetic. She's rude and arrogant and deliberately rubs people up the wrong way. Or lies. The Samantha Bond previous narration brings a bubbly naivety to the character whereas Lesley Manville is more gritty and abrasive.
The parts set in the past were excellent, for plot and narration. I ended up thinking I'd prefer to just have Atticus Pund books without the modern element. Or Susan.

Excellent narration but dodgy plot twists

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Took a while to get into the story but worth the effort and very enjoyable

Good Story

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I thought it started very strongly, excellent narration, great story but then it started to fade with parts of the story becoming a little hard to believe and somewhat formulaic.
The Author also added one or two political messages in the story regarding the prison service and Belmarsh which I felt unnecessary.

Not as good as I hoped

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Enjoyed the parallel stories.
Was worried that it was going to be terribly drawn out, thankfully it wasn’t.
Never felt it drag, in my opinion best in the series, looking forward to the tv series , good way to complete the series. Recommend

Unexpectedly enjoyed

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I really enjoyed the first two books in the series, but this one was the best of the series so far. The intricate plot is brilliantly told, and I wanted to keep listening to see how things unfolded. Would definitely recommend!

Hooked from start to finish

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Fabulous narrators that really draw you into the story. I thought the plot was great and really enjoyed the way the concept of a book within a book.

Loved it! Could not stop listening!

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Absolutely loved the story it kept me guessing all the way through, and loved the twist.
Look forward to the next one

Lesley and Tim really bought the characters to life.

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Absolutely loved this book and had been waiting for it since I finished the last one in the series. It both kept to and deveated from the previous storylines enough to keep the reader fully interested in what would happen but don't want to post any spoilers. I was only sad when it ended.

A other brilliant read from Anthony Horowitz!

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Really enjoyed - I’ve now read all the authors adults works and I’m a big fan!

Narration and story telling

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