Moonflower Murders hit my radar as I saw the dramatised version of its predecessor, Magpie Murders on the BBC, starring Lesley Manville. The great link is that she narrates this audiobook, so the Susan Ryeland character I saw her bring to life on screen seamlessly translates to audiobook and immerses me right back into the story.
Opening sentence: The Polydorus is a charming family-run hotel, located a short walk away from the lively town of Agios Nikolaos, one hour from Heraklion.
Moonflower murder and mysteries
This is a direct follow on from book one, so it does help to have read (or watched!) that first. Moonflower Murders has an interesting structure – a book within a book. And it is literally the length of two novels at 608 pages.
Susan Ryeland is an editor, best known for her work editing a famous series of books by Alan Conway, all focused on the great detective, Atticus Punt. However (after dramatic events in Magpie Murders), she has left her life as an editor to run a hotel in Crete with her boyfriend, Andreas.
That is, until one day she is tracked down by the Trehearnes, fellow hotel owners (theirs is the Branlow in England), with a very specific, literary related, request…
Back to England… and Atticus
Their daughter, Cecily Treherne is missing. She has an interesting back-story: on the day of her wedding to Aiden, a man staying at the hotel, Frank Parris, was murdered and, some time later, author Alan Conway visited the hotel. He took a lot of inspiration from the situation, the Trehernes and other people who work at the hotel for his next novel, Atticus Pund Takes the Case.
Just before she goes missing, Cecily reads Atticus Pund Takes the Case and declares that it reveals the true identity of Frank Parris’ murderer and the man currently in jail for the crime is innocent.
The Treherne’s think a person with expert knowledge of the Atticus Punt books would be best to look into this further – step forward Susan Ryeland.
A book within a book
As part of her process Susan re-reads Atticus Pund Takes the Case and so, we get the transcript of the novel about mid-way through the book. In that story, an American movie star gets murdered and Punt is called on to discover who did it. A lot of enemies are set up initially, so there are a cast of characters at play. All very Poirot.
When the story cuts back to present day, I have to admit there’s a part where Susan lists all the names now verses the characters in the Atticus book and there’s a lot to take in and digest when you’re listening! I definitely had to concentrate. But that’s not a bad thing.
Love an Agatha nod
I did love the nods to the Golden Age of detective fiction running through this novel. From Punt being a Poirot homage to the structure – such as when Susan gathers all her suspects in room to run through with them what happened and reveal the true murderer. One of Agatha’s most classic moves.
If you love your detective novels with lots of clever plot strands and references then Moonflower Murders is definitely one for you. The fact you get two very distinct stories that wonderfully complement each other is another bonus.
I highly enjoyed listening to this book – and it’s great to have had my first Anthony Horowitz read too.
- Audiobook narrated Lesley Manville and Allan Corduner
- Running time: 18h 29 mins
- Get your copy of Moonflower Murders here;
- Published by Arrow Books 2020;
- 608 pages;
- My rating:
Books on the 7:47 
One thought