Marble Hall Murders

Anthony Horowitz has returned with protagonist Susan Ryeland, book editor, who has just separated from her Greek boyfriend and the hotel on Crete that they ran together. She wants to re-establish herself in the publishing community so reluctantly agrees to take on a project she would just as soon avoid--a continuation of the Atticus Pünd series that she formerly edited for her previous employer. She knows the author, Eliot Crace, who is the grandson of a deceased children's books author. He has been a troubled youth and his marriage hasn't seemed to be the stabilizing force that many had hoped for. It quickly becomes apparent that the book he is now writing is intended to stand in for what he believes was actually the murder of his grandmother. He has captured the series' author's knack for inserting anagrams, tricks and clues in the text of the book and Susan fears he will put himself in danger by pursuing this. "Desperately, Susan tries to prevent Eliot from putting himself in harm's way--but his behaviour is becoming increasingly erratic. Another murder follows . . . and suddenly Susan finds herself to be the number one suspect. Once again, the real and the fictional worlds have become dangerously entangled. And if Susan doesn't solve the mystery of Pünd's Last Case, she could well be its next victim"--" (Library Journal). 

Publishers Weekly open with this praise: "Horowitz dazzles with the brilliant third entry in his Susan Ryeland series..."  (see also Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders), and closes with this: "Horowitz throws down a gauntlet for the reader: will finding the killer in Eliot’s novel, which takes up a solid chunk of this book’s page count, translate to a conviction in the frame story? Horowitz is at the top of his game here, linking past and present in a virtuoso finale worthy of Agatha Christie. Fans will clamor for the sequel." Kirkus also recommends the books suggesting the challenges that readers will find within: "Sharpen your mental pencils. Editor Susan Ryeland is taking on her most baffling mystery-within-a-mystery....Susan’s third metafictional whodunit is Horowitz’s most extended and intricately plotted yet—at least until next year."