Magpie Murders, by Anthony Horowitz

 

Characters
Magpie Murders	Cloverleaf Books
Pye Hall – Saxby-on-Avon Sir Magnus Pye Frances – wife Freddy – son Jack Dartford – affair with Frances   Clarissa Pye – sister, really born first   Mary Blakiston – housekeeper, died falling down steps Matthew – husband, separated Robert – son Tom - younger brother drowned while playing with Robert, parents blamed each other Bella - killed Joy Sanderling – Robert’s girlfriend, works for Dr. Redwing   Brent – groundskeeper, Pye Hall   Reverand Robin Osborne Henrietta - wife   Dr. Emilia Redwing Arthur – husband, painter Sebastian – son, not in touch Dr. Edgar Rennard – delivered Pye twins   Johnny and Gemma Whitehead – antique shop   Atticus Pund – private detective James Fraser – secretary and assistant   Dingle Dell – woodland, Magnus Pye might be sold for new development   Raymond Chubb – police detective	Charles Clover – owner Elaine – wife Jemima – secretary Bella - dog   Alan Conway – author James Taylor – partner, James Fraser modeled after him Melissa – ex wife The Slide – unpublished book   Donald Leigh – waiter who dropped plates, Alan stole his book idea   Susan Ryeland – Head of Fiction Andreas - boyfriend

 

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2017 hardback edition.

1.      Did you like how Susan Ryeland organized the characters and clues on pages 6 – 11?  Did you pick up on all the clues she listed?

2.      Mary Blakiston kept a diary of the faults of everyone in the village.   Have you ever met someone who collected “bad” things about other people and enjoyed it?  (No names!!)  Why do you think she did that and why did it bring her pleasure?

3.      Did you like all of the references to other books, TV shows, and movies such as “Midsomer Murders?”  Horowitz wrote some of the scripts for that movie.

4.      Matthew Prichard (pages 92 – 96) is a real person and is the only grandchild of Agatha Christie.  Did you pick up on any of the hidden references to Agatha Christie?

5.      “Why is it that we have such a need for murder mystery and what is it that attracts us – the crime or the solution?” (page 70).

6.      Susan Ryeland thought, “Whodunnits are all about truth: nothing more, nothing less.  In a world full of uncertainties, is it not inherently satisfying to come to the last page with every i dotted and every t crossed?” (page 183).  Do you think this is a reason for their popularity?

7.      Conway did not like his main character, Atticus Pund, and in fact planned the clue in the book titles as well as the anagram of his name (Atticus Pund = a stupid c---) from the very beginning.  He said that many authors grew to hate their main characters, including Agatha Christie and Poirot.  If this is true, how do you think they coped to continue writing?

8.      Were you surprised at the solutions to both the crime in Magpie Murders and the one in the publishing part of the book?  Did you guess them ahead of time?

9.      Did you read the story straight through or skip to the end to finish the novel?

10. Did you like the novel and the way it was organized?  Why or why not?