Well, I'm super behind on posting about our November Book Club pick, Magpie Murders. Better late than never I guess!
The first in a new mystery series for Horowitz, Magpie Murders is the first murder mystery novel we have done for book club. I enjoyed that it was a quick, easy read compared to all the Victorian novels I had been reading for my graduate class this fall.
The ratings from the club for this book were a bit all over the place. Two of us voted high and two voted in the mid-range. Overall though, it was a decently liked book, even if some found it had too much filler and was a bit boring. Carmen did it as an audiobook and said that kept it fast-paced and enjoyable for her. The rest of us were reading hardcopy, so perhaps that might have made a difference for others if they had also done it as audio.
The thing we all liked was the book-within-a-book device. We all agreed it was well done for a mystery novel. The clues from the in-text book were used in the overall story of Susan Ryeland and it worked. As she worked through the clues herself, the reader could also start to piece things together. I wasn't able to figure out who had done it before her and I was still surprised at who it ended up being. I don't know if I've read many other book-within-a-book novels or not...
I'm sure we've discussed it before, but again, we came to the conclusion that we all prefer character driven stories, and this one was very much plot driven. Which is typical of murder mysteries; you're supposed to be more invested in the outcome than those involved in it. All the characters in Magpie Murders were trying to be complex, but only some succeeded. There were no likable ones, but I have to say I felt the most pity for Joy Sanderling because she was just trying to do the right thing and it backfired, horribly.
I definitely had a few gripes about the book even though I quite liked it, but isn't that what critical reading is for? Particularly, I pointed out a few instances where there were some unnecessary comments written about Susan Ryeland's body. They comments didn't add to the story, and there would not have been something crucial missing from the book if they had been left out. I can't say I'm surprised though... the book is written by a man, and those are standard fare comments it seems. Sigh.
The other thing I griped about was the ending and the reveal of who the killer was in both the in-text book and the overarching story. The reveal of the killer Susan was dealing with in reality was so out there and their attacking her made no sense. I was so frustrated. Like WHY? It could have been done so much better. Again, we chalked that up to inconsistent character development in a plot driven book. We even talked a bit about how there really needed to be more separation of in-text book and the reality that Susan was living in. It could have made the book a lot stronger.
The last thing I noted was that, sub-textually, Magpie Murders can be read as a commentary on the publishing industry. It deals with a small publishing house and their struggles, the main author in question writes a series of whodunnits that he doesn't like and didn't want to do, the nepotism within the industry, plagiarism, notoriety and other aspects. I actually picked up on this aspect because of the class I had just been taking on Victorian literature which contained a section on sensationalist novels. Janean also noted that, for her, she could also see it because of being involved in the Bookstagram community and its focus on the fight for equality in our own real publishing industry.
I am looking forward to reading the follow-up novel that continues Susan Ryeland's story, Moonflower Murders. Carmen has already read and said she enjoyed it as well. Going to add it to my TBR and maybe get to it eventually, or maybe sooner. Who knows.
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