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Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

A famous mystery writer dies before finishing his latest novel—leaving an editor to unravel a puzzle hidden between the lines. Magpie Murders is a cunning, twisty homage to classic whodunits that doubles as a love letter to the genre’s most delectable tricks.

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In Magpie Murders, did you enjoy ...

... a book-within-a-book mystery where literary clues in an old manuscript mirror a present-day investigation?

The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

If you loved how Susan Ryeland sifted Alan Conway’s Atticus Pünd manuscript—spotting hidden games in chapter titles and marginal clues—then you’ll click with Lucas Corso’s chase through rare editions in The Club Dumas. Corso hunts for a possibly forged chapter of The Three Musketeers while decoding a diabolical text, “The Nine Doors,” whose illustrations may conceal the truth behind a collector’s death. Like the way Saxby-on-Avon’s fiction bled into real motives, the stories Corso studies start steering his own case, rewarding every close, puzzle-minded read.

... a self-aware deconstruction of Golden Age whodunits embedded inside the narrative?

The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi

Enjoyed how Magpie Murders played with Christie-era conventions—Atticus Pünd’s “fair play” clues, Susan parsing Conway’s tricks? In The Eighth Detective, editor Julia Hart interviews reclusive mathematician-author Grant McAllister about seven old detective stories that supposedly prove the geometry of murder. As they read each tale together, their commentary exposes planted misdirections—until Julia notices the kind of off-kilter details Susan found in Conway’s pages, hinting at a hidden confession that reframes everything you’ve read.

... multi-voice testimony that assembles a whodunit piece by piece?

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

If toggling between Susan’s first-person sleuthing and the Atticus Pünd narrative kept you hooked, The Moonstone builds its mystery through a chorus of narrators—faithful Betteredge, pious Miss Clack, the lawyer Jennings—each adding and distorting the truth. As with Conway’s missing final chapter, crucial testimony arrives late and upends earlier assumptions. You’ll get that same pleasure of sifting contradicting accounts the way Susan sifted Saxby-on-Avon’s gossip to pierce the polished surface.

... clues hidden in documents, media fragments, and typographic artifacts that extend beyond the main text?

Night Film by Marisha Pessl

Poring over Alan Conway’s manuscript for ciphers? Night Film lets you play that game across faux news clippings, photos, web pages, and case files as reporter Scott McGrath investigates the death of Ashley Cordova, daughter of a cult-film director. Like Susan tracing the secrets behind Atticus Pünd’s final case, McGrath chases patterns through ephemera that may be staged—or deadly real—forcing you to read between formats for the answer.

... a high-concept puzzle-box whodunit packed with fair-play reveals that recontextualize earlier chapters?

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

If the missing-final-chapter twist and Atticus Pünd’s reveal made you rethink every Saxby-on-Avon scene, The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle delivers that rush on repeat. Aiden Bishop must solve Evelyn’s murder at Blackheath Manor, reliving the day in different hosts; each shift exposes new angles on the same conversations and alibis, turning throwaway moments into crucial tells—just as Susan discovered hidden meanings in Conway’s pages.

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