I was looking forward to reading this novel, the third in the series of Atticus Pund and Susan Ryeland. The plot was slow for the first few chapters. Susan Ryeland returns to London from Crete where she was working as a freelance editor but it was not working out for Susan. She decided to return to London and was invited by Michael Flynn, publisher of Causton Books to work as freelance associate editor on a ‘continuing’ novel, Pund’s Last Case, by author, Eliot Crace. Things do not go to plan and Susan finds herself in dangerous situations. The plot has twists and turns on every page. There are lots of interesting characters to love and to hate. I enjoyed the writing style.

I give a 4 star rating. I would recommend this book.

My thanks to the author and publisher for the opportunity of reading an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

This book was such a good read. I loved the concept of a book within a book continuing, I enjoyed the insights into publishing and how the story had developed from the previous in the series, It is almost annoying how good Anthony is as a writer and continuously writes such superb stories. Highly highly recommend.

I absolutely adore Susan Ryeland!!!

This book follows Susan back in London and working for a publishing company. Susan is asked to come in for a meeting. The meeting is regarding Atticus Pund, the company have the rights to do another three books. Elliot Crace is going to write them. He is relatively unknown as an author but his Grandmother Miriam Crace is a world famous author of the Little People books. Elliot starts making wild claims about the Crace family, secrets people in the family do not want revealed. The legacy left by Miriam is worth millions of pounds. A legacy to someone worth killing for.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I love reading about Susan's life and then having Atticus story thrown in. The books are just so good!! I can't wait to watch this one on TV. The TV series has been done brilliantly and I kept picturing Lesley Manville as I was reading this book. In my opinion she was a fabulous choice for Susan. I really, really do hope this is not the end of Susan, I need more, please and thank you! But if it is the end, she got the ending she deserved.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Random House UK and Cornerstone for allowing me to read this fabulous book.

Another excellent murder mystery from Mr Horowitz. I look forward to watching this one on tv in due course.

I did guess a bit of the mystery and had an inkling about the rest but that in no way spoiled the pleasure.

I'll be sad to see Susan and Atticus Pund go, though.

Absolutely loved this book, very well crafted storyline, brilliant characters, I have always enjoyed Mr Horowitz but this’s is my first outing with this series as a reader, I did enjoy the television series but this’s is so much better in print. I loved the back and forth between the real time story and the story in the forthcoming book, very cleaver, I do hope this will develop into a series rather than just a one off book. I don’t want to give you any spoilers but trust me this is a fabulous read, I am very confident you will love it too!

This was a delicious, wholly absorbing read from the talented Anthony Horowitz. It uses the same principle as his previous books with the character-editor Susan Ryeland caught up in another round of editing and murder.The format of a book within a book and murders with puzzles to be solved remains fresh and as expected from a writer of such distinction ,the whole book is polished and accomplished . Indeed it is difficult to find anything critical to say about it if you are a fan of this type of genre.The filmic descriptions of the south of France are begging to be made ( which I understand they will be) and the Christie style characters are reassuringly familiar.
I loved it!

Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for this ARC

A third outing for fictional editor Susan Ryeland as editor of the fictional detective novel about Atticus Pund and a new author of the books about him, who is the grandson of a famous author of a much loved children’s series. It may surprise some that Ms Ryeland is back for more when the last two outings have almost resulted in her demise, however she is back as is Atticus, although this may be his final hurrah.

The way the author tells the story of Susan and her life while editing the book and at the same time hearing the words written by the fictional detective are a good combination and make for an entertaining and interesting read. The plot is good for both parts, characters too and these weave together as ones mirror others as the story unfolds.

A good mystery and the author uses wit and excellent storytelling to keep interest and delivers two good endings.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I tried to stop and savour this, I really did, but I fear I have no self restraint. I smashed through it and couldn’t put it down. Atticus is back, the book within book format sings, and the plot completely fooled me. Can’t wait to see the adaptation now - it’s so rare to see a TV series that’s just as good as the book, but having pulled it off with the first two books I’ve no doubt they’ll do an amazing job with this one too,

Absolutely brilliant! I have been hooked since watching the magpie murders and I am so thrilled to have the chance to read this final chapter. Just superb. #MarbleHallMurders #NetGalley

Marble Hall Murders is the third book in the Sue Ryeland series. You can, as I did, quite easily read and enjoy this without having read the previous two instalments - but be warned that the conclusion of Moonflower Murders is revealed in detail within these pages.

Like its predecessors, Marble Hall Murders features a book within a book. Susan Ryeland is tasked with editing the next novel in the Atticus Pund murder mystery series, this time a continuation novel written by the troubled grandson of a famous author of children’s fiction. Both storylines – that of Atticus Pund and of Susan – are full of mystery, intrigue and suspense.

I couldn’t put this book down – highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers, Century, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third book in the series (and apparently the last one sadly!) and Susan Ryeland is back and in more ways than one - she is back living in the UK having realised that life in Greece wasn’t really the life for her. She is back working as a freelance editor for a small publishing company and hoping to move forward with her life following the events of the previous books (if you haven’t read them, then the events and spoilers are mentioned in this book!) and also looking forward to life without Alan Conway who although dead, seems to continue plaguing her from beyond the grave!

However, this is easier said than done and when she is asked to edit the last book in the Atticus Pund series (created by the aforementioned Conway) she isn’t sure she wants anything to do with it all but is persuaded to read the first part of the book, written by a young author called Eliot Crace. He is the grandson of an incredibly famous children’s author, Marian Crace who had died some years ago.

When Susan meets with Eliot she is perplexed to hear that he thinks his grandmother was actually poisoned and that the Atticus Pund novel he has penned is actually based on this. Although the names have been changed, the characters are actually based on his family.

I absolutely loved how this was written and the plot within a plot kept me fully invested, despite the book actually being over 600+ pages long. We read the Eliot Crace book along with Susan (and I have to admit I didn’t really pick up the red herrings, clues or anagrams!) and learn more about his family through the characters he portrays them. There are quite a few characters to get used to and a nasty bunch of people they are too!
When Eliot himself is killed in a hit and run before he can finish the book, Susan starts to think that maybe the sometimes odd ramblings of Eliot are actually true and when she is framed, she realises she has to solve the case and almost become Atticus Pund herself.

I couldn’t put it down and I think I was nearing the end and still completely unsure about how things would turn out – the big reveal at the end completely surprised me!

Thoroughly enjoyable!

This is the third book in the series of fiendishly clever detective novels featuring Susan Ryeland, the editor of a series of novels about a fictional detective Atticus Pünd. The stories were written by Alan Conway, who was knocked off in an earlier instalment, Magpie Murders. After the cataclysmic ending to that book, Susan has returned to London from Crete where she is asked to edit an “continuation” novel, Pünd’s Last Case, written by a protégé of her former editor Charles Clover. Eliot Crace is a troubled soul, the grandson of the famous children’s writer Miriam Crace, whom he believes was murdered 20 years earlier. Susan soon realises that Eliot’s novel is a thinly disguised retelling of the suspicious circumstances surrounding Miriam’s death and someone in his family will go to any lengths to ensure the story doesn’t see the light of day. Susan soon finds herself in mortal danger and the victim of a stitch-up that could see her sent to jail for years. Can she unpack the novel’s clues in time to save herself and unmask a ruthless killer. Agatha Christie fans will be in seventh heaven reading this hugely enjoyable page-turner.

Marble Hall Murders is the third book in the series featuring Susan Ryeland and the fictional detective Atticus Pund. This time she is tasked with editing a book called Pund’s Last Case by Eliot Crace which is to be a continuation of the books of Alan Conway with the famous detective and of course she ends up trying to solve a real-life murder mystery involving the Crace family who bear a resemblance to characters in the fictional book she is editing.
I liked it a lot and I think it may in fact be the best of the series so far. It’s difficult to describe the plot without including spoilers but suffice it to say that there’s extracts of the Pund book interspersed with Susan’s dealings with the members of the Crace family and both parts involve mysteries. It was very enjoyable to see how the two narratives worked together and the character of Susan is terrific. Of course the TV dramatisation with Lesley Manville in the role means that Susan is always as portrayed by Manville in my head but this is no bad thing and I can clearly visualise her in the adaptation of this book, which no doubt will also appear on TV screens soon.
Both the plots are well worked with twists and interesting characters which kept me reading to find out the solutions to both mysteries. The Pund plot is set in the south of France, in and around Nice and the Susan part is in London.
It will be interesting to see if the series can continue beyond this book which may be difficult unless Pund disappears as this one was to be his last case. But I’m sure the author has some good ideas how it can be achieved!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher Penguin Random House for an ARC in return for a fair and honest review.

Anthony Horowitz has transformed from a children's author of long-standing through his Sherlock Holmes books, Daniel Hawthorne and the Magpie Murders series. All are well written, traditionally styled great stories.

Marble Hall Murders is the the third Magpie Murders book, and possibly the final one. I read it over tree days, staying up late one night to finish it, which shows how good the writing it. There are two main stories running through the book, with several sub-plots which switch from past to present.

The third ‘book in a book’ of this series. It can get a little confusing, but it’s such a clever device to be able to weave two stories together that the additional thought required from the reader is worth it. Can be read as a standalone, but it does reveal spoilers to the earlier books.
I’m a fan of Susan and her independence - although the victim blaming aspects from her towards herself and others towards Gillian are frustrating and disappointing. The book felt quite mysogynistic at times, but not in a deliberate way.
I would recommend the book and would certainly read more in the series.
I am grateful to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in return for this honest review.

In Marble Hall Murders, Susan’s back in England after separating from Andreas and leaving him behind in Crete. Now freelancing as an editor, she gets an interesting proposal from Michael Flynn, the publisher of Causton Books. They’ve commissioned three new continuation novels in the Atticus Pünd mystery series, and since Susan worked with the late Alan Conway on the originals, she’s the obvious choice to edit them. She’s keen on the idea at first, but when she finds out Eliot Crace will be writing the books, her enthusiasm wanes. Eliot’s previous works didn’t do so well, and she remembers him as unreliable and unpleasant. Still, that was a long time ago—perhaps he’s changed.

When Susan receives a manuscript from Eliot for Pünd’s Last Case, the first of the continuation novels, she’s pleasantly surprised. It’s better than she expected and perfectly captures Conway’s style. But soon enough, she realizes something else—Eliot seems to be including coded messages in the manuscript, much like Alan Conway did: anagrams, characters based on real people, and perhaps even clues to a crime that happened two decades ago.

The plot of Pünd’s Last Case itself is set in 1955 in the South of France, where the brilliant private detective Atticus Pünd and his assistant James Taylor are investigating the death of Lady Margaret Chalfont. She drank poisoned tea just before her lawyer was meant to arrive to discuss her will. At first glance, the case seems straightforward, but Pünd senses there’s more to the story than meets the eye. As Susan digs deeper into Eliot’s manuscript, she becomes convinced that the mystery bears a striking resemblance to the death of Eliot’s own grandmother, the famous children’s author Miriam Crace. Wanting to uncover more, she visits Miriam’s former home, Marble Hall, which is now a popular tourist spot. But what she uncovers is a secret that everyone seems eager to keep hidden.

I enjoyed this book just as much as the first two. The Atticus Pünd story alone is so compelling that I’d have happily read it on its own, without the surrounding narrative. I loved the dynamic between Pünd and Frédéric Voltaire, the Parisian detective investigating the case, and the French setting was delightful—though Susan Ryeland wasn’t too keen on it and hoped Eliot would switch the setting back to England. She has her reasons, of course, as both an editor and a reader, and Horowitz takes this opportunity to explore the nitty-gritty of the editing and publishing world, which was a nice touch. The mystery surrounding Miriam Crace and her family was also intriguing. Miriam’s a fictional character, but her story seems inspired by Enid Blyton—a beloved author whose books have enchanted generations of children, yet she was seen as cold and distant by her own family.

Atticus Pünd returns with another tricky case, and Susan Ryeland is back in London working as a freelance editor. It is mind-blowing the skill that goes in to writing these two mysteries together.

I adores this book and read it in two days as I couldn't put it down. I love the main characters, and the clever plots, and I am amazed at the skill with which the two stories are blended together. I would happily read more books about Susan Ryeland and Atticus Pund, but I suspect this won't happen. I will definitely be recommending this book widely.

My favourite part of the Magpie Murders series is definitely how unique and well-executed the premise is, and how each book in turn has a slightly different twist on the original - and this one was no exception.

Susan Ryeland is back, and as a freelance editor has been given the job of working with Eliot Crace, who is writing the next novel in the Atticus Pund series. Eliot Crace has fully embraced Alan Conway's writing style and has left his own clues to his real-life growing up with his family at Marble Hall. Susan then find herself caught up in another mystery within a mystery.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, both mysteries were compelling and I loved getting to have another book with Susan. Overall, I'd give this 4.5 stars and would highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Susan Ryeland finally decided where she wanted to be, and it wasn't in Crete with Andreas. Back in London, and living alone, she's found herself back in the world she loves, publishing, but Atticus Pünd is never far away. Alan Conway may be dead, but that's never stood in the way of publishers. Holmes, Poirot, Bond and many other literary characters have lived on long after their creator's deaths and Pünd is no different. The publisher she's freelancing for has picked up the option for three continuation novels and wants her to edit the first, Pünd's Last Case, which is being written by an author she has history with: Eliot Crace. Reluctantly she agrees, but as she reads what Eliot has written notices striking similarities between the characters in the book and Eliot's family. Including the murder victim and the death of his grandmother. Investigating his family's history, it becomes clear that Eliot, like Conway before him, is hiding clues to what he perceives to be a real-life murder, but before long Ryeland yet again finds her own life under threat.

There was always the possibility that Anthony Horowitz would write a third Susan Ryeland/Atticus Pünd mystery, but I always imagined it would involve one of the Alan Conway books we were already aware of. That he chose to use the concept of continuation fiction, something he's more than familiar with, cleverly allows for the introduction of a different authorial foil for Ryeland, one who's more sympathetic to the reader. It's a pity the threat to Susan's life this time around is as predictable as it is, but the Atticus Pünd mystery at the heart of Marble Hall Murders is as enjoyable as those in Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders before it.

I wouldn't say no to more of Pünd and Ryeland were Horowitz to write more, but there is a very real sense of closure for both characters. Something we never really got from either of the preceding volumes.

Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Random House UK and the author for an advance copy.