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Moonflower Murders cover art

Moonflower Murders

By: Anthony Horowitz
Narrated by: Lesley Manville,Allan Corduner
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Summary

Featuring his famous literary Detective Atticus Pund and Susan Ryeland, hero of the worldwide best seller Magpie Murders, a brilliantly brain-teasing literary thriller by Anthony Horowitz. The follow-up to Magpie Murders.

Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is living the good life. She is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her long-term boyfriend, Andreas. It should be everything she's always wanted - but is it? She's exhausted with the responsibilities of making everything work on an island where nothing ever does, and truth be told she's beginning to miss her old life in London.

And then a couple - the Trehearnes - come to stay, and the story they tell about an unfortunate murder that took place on the same day and in the same hotel in which their daughter was married is such a strange and mysterious one that Susan finds herself increasingly fascinated by it. And when the Trehearnes tell her that their daughter is now missing, Susan knows that she must return to London and find out what really happened....

©2020 Anthony Horowitz (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"So clever, a story within a story within a story. A triumph, and a lovely way to spend a weekend...." (Kate Mosse)

What listeners say about Moonflower Murders

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Slow and over long

Why wasn’t Samantha Bond doing the narration? She brought warmth and personality to Susan Ryeland in the first book, which Lesley Manville’s rather stilted performance lacked in this one. Allan Corduner did his usual excellent job.

I thought the book would never end. It just went on and on, getting more improbable and full of unnecessary detail.

Could have done with a better editor - maybe Susan Ryeland is available? She might even get Andreas to speak instead of being a cardboard cut-out. I’ve heard of the strong silent type but he takes the biscuit.

I usually love Horowitz stories but this one is the exception. He’s thrown everything at it but ended up with a ragbag of mostly unappealing characters using every cliché in the book.

Could do better (and usually does).

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27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Magpie Murders' plainer sometime plodding sibling

Magpie Murders is one of my favourite books and I loved the unique format, the homage to Christie and other greats and the fact it was a right, riveting rollercoaster of a ride which left me mystified, thrilled, shocked, astonished and enchanted. The superb narration was the final sparkle on a dazzling gem

Oh how I longed for another Magpie Murders to emerge -though I do love "The Word Is Murder" series too. I did not really dare hope that Magpie Murders would have a sequel and pre-ordered the moment I found out.

I suppose the first disappointment was the lack of the deliciously plummy Samantha Bond who I just adore listening too. Yes her replacement had shades of her as in maybe a distant cousin or great aunt but the similarities really only were a painful reminder that this book is very different from Magpie Murders.

I really enjoyed the editorial sleuthing and insights into the world of publishing but maybe living in Crete has just taken the edge off the sharp brain we saw in Magpie Murders - I really found at times I seemed to be trudging though the deductions like a tired teacher marking homework. There was one sequence so laborious that the book (within the book) was referred to by initials.

I took about ten times longer to read this book also whereas I sped through Magpie Murders, I felt becalmed in the doldrums with Moodflower Murders. Yes it was clever and superbly written like Magpie Murders but a workhorse doing a thorough job rather than a showjumper wowing the crowds and grabbing all the prizes.

I also found it quite a breeze to spot the murderers in both the main book and the book within a book although of course the subplots and motivations for them were so tightly and intricately plotted I did not come clear to seeing the whole picture. In Magpie Murders the reveal was a huge shock to me and I had not come close to working it out - so yes for me being able to solve the murders so much ahead of time was not half as much fun either.

I still love Anthony Horrowitz's fabulous writing and amazing talent but this was a dull day for those smitten by Magpie Murders. Love the format ............. you know what they say - three is a charm so bring on the next instalment with the return of the dulcet tones of the wonderful Samantha Bond.

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17 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Very clever but

This book went on and on and on, although you know the tangled threads will come together in an elegantly worked conclusion.
But it was very very slow and Susan is very uninteresting, not helped by rather stilted narration this time round.
Did we really need to have a complete quasi-Poirot novel part way in? A novella would have sufficed, and it was even mentioned in the text as being padded out.
I love the meta referencing and analysis, as Horowitz is a master of detective fiction, but the tone was a little too smug.
Plus the portrayal of gay men had a rather negative 1980s feel, They all seemed to engage in sordid acts and be of dubious moral character.
All-in-all the book was not exactly boring but was repetitive (how many times was the Pund title mentioned?) and definitely bloated at 18 and a half hours/357 pages.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Masterpiece Writing from a master writer.

Love these books. Eighteen and a half hours of entertainment for one Audible credit. Genteel murder at its best and a story within a story with an extra one on top. Value for money.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Sequel seemed stifled by format

I liked the Magpie Murders very much indeed and am a fan of Anthony Horowitz.

This book is perfectly decent entertainment but I felt it was unable to replicate the ’story within a story’ structure with the same success.

The Atticus Punt book is very well written and a great homage to the genre. The wider Susan Ryland story was, in my opinion, nowhere near as satisfying.

It felt that the author, having written a gem, was bound to try to repeat the trick. Magpie Murders could perhaps have stood alone: was there really a need to do more? Horowitz has another series ( which is great ) so this book is in many ways unnecessary.

It certainly is not a bad book but diminished the original slightly. As other comments have stated, it would have benefitted from a more enthusiastic editor.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Hm

Starts well, Manville is a super narrator. However, the book within a book is quite dull. Overall a bit disappointing.

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6 people found this helpful

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  • CM
  • 27-08-20

So Clever !

I was really looking forward to this book coming out. I always enjoy Anthony Horowitz writing and loved Magpie Murders. This second book did not disappoint , it is again two books in one. With some of the characters from the previous book but with a whole new plot. His writing is so good and the plot so clever. The narrators were also very easy to listen. At times I wished I’d had the book in front of me to refer to as there are many characters and names to remember as the plot unfolds.

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5 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars

Not very good

I quite enjoyed the first of the series, where the novel-within-a-novel is integrated into the plot of the contemporary story. Here, it’s entirely superfluous. The plotting is complex and clever but also absurd. Would the police ever allow an Agatha Christie-style get-together of the suspects for a big reveal? Would any sane person employ a literary editor to conduct a missing persons enquiry? There’s a slightly distasteful aspect in the depiction of gay men, all rapacious and controlling, and the only black character is a really unpleasant stereotype: dim-witted and inexplicably angry. All-in-all, didn’t enjoy it.

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4 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointing sequel

I really enjoyed Magpie Murders, I enjoy comforting mystery stories that are rich and well written and that was a real treat. This follow up feels silly, hollow and boring. I was really enthusiastic to get into it but lost interest by half way through. The characters are all so one dimensional they seem like afterthoughts. It’s as considered as an Agatha Raisin ie not very but unfortunately it’s not funny either. How the killer was discovered was also totally unbelievable, it was lazy sounding writing. Other irksome points; the narrator can’t hold a candle to Samantha Bond and her accents are really bad, especially Scottish which really made me cringe. Hate to insult anyone’s work but overall such a let down.

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, disappointing reading.

Excellent sequel to Magpie Murders - another superb plot. But where was Samantha Bond?

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4 people found this helpful