Review: Magpie Murders---The Book Read After Starting the PBS Adaptation

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having started the PBS Mystery series adaptation of the book for TV by the actual author, Horowitz, I wondered how he handled the intertwined murder mysteries on the page. It is every bit as satisfying as the TV version, but a bit less confusing. The first half of the book is the " fictional " book written by Alan Conroy and ends as submitted manuscript ends. That is to say, missing its final chapters. The second half of the book is dedicated to the editor's ( Susan Ryeland's ) unauthorized investigation into the suicide of Conroy which she believes is actually the murder of Alan Conroy.

All of the same characters appear in the book, although Horowitz has brought the TV version up to the 20's attitudes of political correctness. Far more minority characters, especially the one of Joy as a black woman whose intended mother-in-law opposes the marriage to her son based on the color of her skin. All well and good, I suppose, except that weakens the book's plot. The written objection is based, supposedly, in the possibility of her grandchildren being born with Down's Syndrome, an inherited disease. In today's view that is unreasonable and shows bias. Yet, when one finds the real objection, at the end of the book, it fits far more with the supposed case than a racial prejudice.I love the references to other authors and British whodunnits on BBC, all of which I've watched and loved,even Bergerac!!

Still, both book and adaptation are excellent and each of the mysteries are satisfyingly hard to resolve. Atticus is a wonderful sleuth and Susan is no smuck, though not as intuitive. Now, I'll have to wait and see how the TV series ties up the loose ends in both tales--there are a couple more installments to go.

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