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Book Review of Magpie Murders (Susan Ryeland, Bk 1)

Magpie Murders (Susan Ryeland, Bk 1)
cyndij avatar reviewed on + 1032 more book reviews


I liked the first half of this book quite a lot, although I was aware while reading it there were a lot of references to other works - not to mention clues - going right over my head. The second half really felt too long, although I liked Susan, who edits mystery novels, having to solve a mystery of her own. At one point she says something about how in a novel you know everything you read is relevant somehow, and the detective puts it all in order, but in real life it's a lot harder to sort the clues from the chaff. I did guess Alan Conway's murderer fairly early on, but not from any logical reasoning, it was just a guess.
I'm not a very analytical reader. I like lots of action and I'm not always good at picking up small clues in the text. If I were more of a student of the traditional mystery, I think I'd have enjoyed this a lot more, because it felt like there were a lot of clever things happening with the plot that I didn't get. So I see why this one got so much praise. I did like it, but it won't be one of my favorites.