I often get annoyed when amateur sleuths get involved in more than one murder, as it isn't plausible - but I can absolutely forgive it when it comes to the Susan Ryeland novels. I just love the character and concept and Horowitz always writes such a good whodunnit. 'Marble Hall Murders' sounds like it's the last of the three, and it's probably the right place to stop although I'd gladly read another if it was written. Plausible? Not even remotely. But I loved it anyway.

Susan Ryeland, the viewpoint character, is living back in London and in need of money. That's why she reluctantly agrees to edit a 'continuation novel' (sequel by a different author) in the 'Atticus Pund' series, despite her traumatic history with the novels and their deceased author. The new author is a troubled soul, grandson of a famous children's author whose legacy is closely guarded. Soon Susan is dragged back into trouble when the new scribe confesses that, like original writer Alan Conway, he intends to fill his manuscript with clues to the identity of real-life uncaught murderer. Can Susan rein him in and prevent another real life tragedy?

The plot is barmy when you think too much about it (or even a little about it) and I did guess the murderers in both the book itself and the book-within-a-book. But I can't deny I really enjoyed it. I always like the insight in this series into how editors work and how books are written - something that as readers we tend not to think much about, but is quite fundamental to our hobby. Susan is a great character - everyone wants to feature 'strong female leads' these days, but Susan manages to fit that box better than most whilst still seeming completely normal. Susan isn't trying to be some sort of hero, she's really just an average person doing a job and trying to live her life. Also she is that bit older than your average 'feisty heroine' type (they tend to be young). As a fellow single professional woman approaching middle age I like to see a character like this - so many female 40/50 something characters in books talk about nothing but the menopause as if that's all there is to life once you get past a certain age. Clearly that's an important topic, but in their eagerness to discuss it and stop it being a taboo subject, authors have gone too far the other way recently I feel. I applaud Horowitz as a male writer in particular for creating this character, and I think that his characterisation has been influenced and improved in this third book by the TV portrayal of Susan by Lesley Manville (a much older actress than the character, and how refreshing that is!). In fact, he credits Manville in the acknowledgements with inspiring him to continue/finish the series.

If you've read the first two novels and enjoyed them, I'm sure you will like this one as well - it's a good quality, if daft, story. If you've not read the previous novels, you definitely need to read at least 'Magpie Murders', as this book is packed with spoilers for that one. So it makes most sense to read the three in order - and you're in for a treat if you have all three to read.

I’ve been waiting for this book for five years and here it is at last: the third (and it seems, final) book in Anthony Horowitz’s Susan Ryeland series. Apparently we have the actress Lesley Manville to thank for the fact that it’s been written at all – after starring as Susan in the recent BBC adaptations of Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders, she told Horowitz she was desperate for a chance to play the character for a third time! If you haven’t read the previous two books I would recommend at least reading Magpie Murders before this one (there’s a note at the start of the book to warn us that it does contain spoilers).

In Marble Hall Murders, Susan is back in England having separated from Andreas and left him behind in Crete. Now working as a freelance editor, she attends a meeting with the publisher of Causton Books, Michael Flynn, who suggests an exciting new project to her. Three new continuation novels of the Atticus Pünd mystery series have been commissioned and as Susan had worked on the original novels with the late author Alan Conway, she’s the obvious choice to edit the new books as well. She agrees to take the job, but when she hears that Eliot Crace will be writing the novels, she’s less enthusiastic. Eliot’s previous novels were failures and the man himself she remembers as unpleasant and unreliable. That was a long time ago, though, so maybe things have changed.

When Susan receives a manuscript from Eliot containing the first part of the first continuation novel, Pünd’s Last Case, it’s much better than she expected and perfectly captures Alan Conway’s writing style. However, Susan quickly spots another similarity. Like Alan before him, Eliot appears to be putting coded messages into the book: anagrams, characters based on his own family members – and maybe even clues to a twenty-year-old real life crime.

Pünd’s Last Case is set in 1955 in the South of France where private detective Atticus Pünd and his assistant, James Taylor, are investigating the death of Lady Margaret Chalfont, an Englishwoman who drank poisoned tea just before her lawyer was due to arrive to discuss her will. The culprit seems obvious, but Pünd is sure there’s more to the situation than meets the eye. As Susan reads the manuscript and watches Pünd’s Last Case unfold, she becomes convinced that Eliot is drawing parallels with the death of his own grandmother, the world-famous children’s author Miriam Crace. Hoping to find out more, she travels to Miriam’s former home, Marble Hall, now a popular tourist attraction, where she discovers that although Eliot may want the truth about his grandmother made public, everyone else wants it to remain a secret!

I enjoyed this as much as the first two books. As usual, the Pünd story is so good I would have happily read it as a standalone without the framing story around it. I liked Pünd’s relationship with Frédéric Voltaire, the police detective from Paris who is conducting the official investigation, and I loved the French setting – although Susan Ryeland doesn’t and wants Eliot Crace to switch it back to England. She has her reasons for this, as she’s looking at the book from the perspective of an editor as well as a reader (something which gives Horowitz lots of opportunities to explore various aspects of the editing and publishing process). The mystery surrounding Miriam Crace and her family is also fascinating. She’s a fictional character but surely inspired by Enid Blyton – an author whose books (in Miriam’s case a series called The Little People) have delighted generations of children, but who is considered cold and unloving by her own children and grandchildren.

I picked up on some of the clues in both the Atticus Pünd story and the contemporary one before Susan did, but there was still a lot that I didn’t guess and the solutions to both mysteries weren’t quite what I’d expected. I was happy with the way the book ended, but also sorry if this really is the final one! I do love Horowitz’s Daniel Hawthorne series as well, so I hope there’ll at least be more of those on the way. Meanwhile, I’ll look forward to the TV adaptation of Marble Hall Murders, having enjoyed the first two!

I read Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders a while back, and I've literally just finished watching both TV series, so Marble Hall Murders came at the perfect time. (And hurrah for another future small screen outing for the fabulous Lesley Manville as Susan Ryeland!)

In the third instalment of Susan's adventures (publishing being a way more dangerous occupation than one might expect), she's not quite done yet with fictional detective Atticus Pünd. Even though author Alan Conway is dead, and Atticus himself was all but killed off in the final book, there's still room for another entry in what we might, but perhaps had better not, call the Pündverse.

Eliot Crace, grandson of the late, legendary, beloved children's author Miriam Crace, has been commissioned to write a new Pünd novel in the style of Alan Conway. And Susan has been asked to be his editor, a much more challenging task than one might think. Because Eliot has his issues, and his own agenda, and characters in his book bear a suspicious resemblance to his troubled family....

Getting mixed up with Eliot and the Craces leads Susan into perhaps more bother than ever before.

Excellent as always, and I look forward to the TV adaptation!

I’m a huge Anthony Horowitz fan and was so excited to read Marble Hall Murders, the final part in the Susan Ryeland trilogy.

This books sees Susan back in London working as a Freelance Editor. Eliot Crace has been commissioned to write an Atticus Pund book. As Susan Ryeland knows the Atticus Pund books inside-out, she has been asked to work with Eliot and help edit his book Pund’s Last Case.

As with the other books in the series, there are two strands - the Pund book within a book, and also the story unfolding from the perspective of Susan who is trying to make sense of the Pund book.

Susan is reticent about being drawn into working on another Atticus Pund book, especially after everything that happened with Alan Conway and at Cloverleaf Publishing. But, she needs work and to pay her bills in London.

As she reads the book she can’t help but notice that there are similarities between Chalfont family in the books and Eliot Crace’s real-life family. Is she reading too much into it, or is another case of art imitating real life.

As with the previous books, this is a very pacy and engaging book - an absolute page-turner. There are red herrings and twist and turns.

As much as I loved reading this book, I was also really sorry when the story came to an end because it’s an end of an era.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Random House UK, for making this e-ARC available to me in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I wondered whether there was any way Horowitz could get a credible third novel out of this series. Wonder no longer - he's smashed it out of the park...again!

Susan Ryland is back in London, swapping the mediterranean sun and managing a hotel for a small flat and freelancing for a new publisher. Keen to make her job permanent, she agrees to edit a new Atticus Pund novel, a "continuation novel", written by Eliot Crace.

That should be easy, but all of Susan's antennae soon start to twitch. She finds Crace is as obnoxious as the late Alan Conway and in true Conway style, Crace has seeded clues into the book about a real life murder. Susan tries to find out more, until Crace is killed in a hit and run accident. Suddenly it's Susan that's in the frame for his murder. Unless she works out what's really happened, it'll be her going to jail

I love both the Hawthorne and Ryland series. Horowitz has hit his stride in both sets of novels and, this one too, is simply bang on the money. Great characters, story and writing. I really, really enjoyed reading it.

Final verdict - A top pick - fab novel, fun to read, highly recommended.

PS - I think you could read this as a stand alone, but if you're new to this series, start with Magpie Murders.

I love this series and I always cannot wait to read more about them! Truly hoping we will get another installment

Once more, Susan is dragged into a murder case, this time involving the poisoning of a childrens book writer, whose grandson is now writing the latest Atticus Pund novel.

The story grabs you by the throat and does not let go, I could not put this down

A book within a book,a mystery within a mystery. An intriguing story with twists and turns in both.A good,compelling read.

I loved this. He writes in such a unique way that it often jars with me for a few chapters - and then I get into it. I stayed up in the early hours of the morning finishing it as it was so good. Definitely worth a read and thanks to NetGalley for the early copy.

Plus ca change!

Susan Ryeland has returned to England after her romance in Crete had run its course. She is freelancing as an editor when she is asked to assist a writer with a continuation of the Atticus Pünd series, originally penned by the loathsome Alan Conway. Susan is reluctant, not just because her last involvement with the series almost got her killed by her then boss/business partner, but also because the young author, Eliot Crace, is known to be a party-boy, drug addict, and drunk whose previous literary attempts sank without trace. In fact his only merit is that he is the grandson of one of the world's most beloved children's' authors (think Enid Blyton/Beatrix Potter) Miriam Crace.

However, Susan is desperate for a permanent job, not least to pay the mortgage on the flat she has bought in Crouch End, so she agrees to read the first 30,000 words Eliot has produced. Despite herself, Susan is impressed. Eliot has captured Alan Conway's writing style effortlessly and the plot draws Susan in, however, she is suspicious that (much like Alan Conway's books) some of the characters may bear a striking resemblance to people close to Eliot and the book may indeed be a thinly veiled story about his grandmother, alleging that she was murdered.

I haven't read either of the two previous books but I watched and enjoyed both the TV series, although I did find them somewhat confusing at times. I found reading this novel much easier than watching the TV series, whether that is just because I found it easier to distinguish between Susan reading the novel and 'real life' in print I just don't know.

There was a lot of self-referential inside jokes/snide comments about authors who continue series after the original author's death - because of course Anthony Horowitz has done just that with Sherlock Holmes and James Bond, I don't know if that is a feature of previous novels or just this one - I did worry that the novel might disappear up its own posterior but luckily point made he moved on.

I feel very proud of myself for guessing whodunnit, both in Eliot's book and in real life, although I didn't necessarily have the how I definitely got the why - yay me!

Anyway. Kept me enthralled right to the end, thoroughly satisfying.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

From The Cover📖

Susan Ryeland has had enough of murder.

She’s edited two novels about the famous detective, Atticus Pünd, and both times she’s come close to being killed. Now she’s back in England and she’s been persuaded to work on a third.

The new ‘continuation’ novel is by Eliot Crace, grandson of Miriam Crace who was the biggest selling children’s author in the world until her death exactly twenty years ago.

Eliot believes that Miriam was deliberately poisoned. And when he tells Susan that he has hidden the identity of Miriam’s killer inside his book, Susan knows she’s in trouble once again.

As Susan works on Pünd’s Last Case, a story set in an exotic villa in the South of France, she uncovers more and more parallels between the past and the present, the fictional and the real world – until suddenly she finds that she has become a target herself.

It seems that someone in Eliot’s family doesn’t want the book to be written. And they will do anything to prevent it.

Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

First off I need to disclose I am huge Horowitz fan so this was never going be less than four stars for me. For he is a true master when it comes to writing he is a genius. Without doubt he is one of my favourite authors of all time. This particular series of books are among some the best books I've ever read. Susan Ryeland is one of my favourite books, the recent tv series starring the wonderful Lesley Manville have only cemented my view that she is sharp, smart, biting and more than a bit spiky and a sharp and resourceful investigator her narrative is a pleasure to read full of wit and intelligence. This book may be her last outing( Horowitz mentions the authors note this book wasn't planned but he was pushed by Lesley Manville to give Susan another outing) If this is to be the last Susan Ryeland book it’s a very satisfying way to end things but I hope it's not however given Horowitz fabulous writing he ends it in such way it's probably best it is as am not sure sure where she could go from there, tho as said Horowitz being the writer he is he could am sure take her anywhere and give us another satisfying gem of a book.

As this is third and most likely final novel in the series please do read the two previous books before this final one to really appreciate both this novel and the previous as this one does contain spoilers and kindling the background will add to your enjoyment.


Within Marble Hall Murders we get a novel in two parts: one part the plot of the book Susan has been tasked with editing, one part the real-world mystery of the Crace family…and there are dead bodies, red herrings,dark humour, a cast of horrible characters and if course mystery a plenty. From London to the French Rivera we explore who killed who, the why and everything in between. Revenge is the theme that simmers in both parts, the sections parallel and complement each other perfectly.


It takes skill to balance a book like this – to make both come alive and set along side each other but at the same time make each part work as solid 4 star standalone. Horowitz has perfected and both are satisfying: one as the more ‘golden age’ style, the other a contemporary thriller. Along the way there’s the humour, meta commentary around publishing and sly winks. I love all his little in jokes about society now and then, he has witty tongue in cheek tone, that works so well. echoes of vintage period Christie and Horowitz's genre- bending brilliance of mixing a story within a story in a contemporary setting he is just such a smart writer. The Pund sections read like sections from the very best of Christie’s Rivera books. The ‘real life’ sections are among some the best of modern fiction I just love the full tongue in cheek style of writing

I read a lot crime fiction and so much of it takes it's bare bones from the great Agatha Christie however not many manage the greatness, Horowitz is the master when it comes to this not only in the Susan series but in his other intuitive work in the Hawthorne series, he like Christie plants little clues and sparks of genius thought out among rich characters and plots, the books read themselves and leave you wanting more and more.



This is Superb - a highly recommended read- certainly going to be one of the top crime books of 2025 - no doubt at all- it's is without doubt my book of 2025.
A beautiful puzzle: fiendishly clever and hugely entertaining. It is an Ingenious
masterpiece that is thrilling and compelling with a stunning twist.
Anthony Horowitz is an absolutely exceptional writer -who never fails to entertain and marvel me -and this is an exceptional book. A stunning finish to the series 5 star plus ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️➕

After a brief time in Crete, it seems that Susan Ryeland cannot escape both the series that she edited - Atticus Pund - and the death and chaos that seems to follow it. She's freelancing back in London when her boss asks for a meeting - he's just commissioned a continuation novel for the Atticus Pund series, and who better to edit it than Susan?

The new author is someone she's met before - Eliot Crace, scion of the Crace family. Unfortunately for Susan, history may be repeating itself - as Eliot has an axe to grind with the people around him and he's chosen the same method of retribution as Alan Conway - writing a novel! Can Susan work out who killed Eliot's grandmother - a legendary childrens' author - before she becomes a target herself?

I'm a huge fan of Anthony Horowitz's work over the years, and Marble Hall Murders is a fantastic third book in the Magpie Murders series. The book is whip-smart and so cleverly written that it was a joy to read - 5*.

Extremely enjoyable third instalment in the series, and alas it's the last. Fast paced with twists and turns, I did guess the identity of the perpetrators quite early on but it didn't affect the overall page turning. Thank you netgalley for the advanced copy

Terrific stuff! Anthony Horowitz is in strong form here with the third in the Atticus Pund series, the first two of which were so well dramatised by BBC. I am a committed Horowitz fan, and thoroughly enjoyed this well-constructed tale within a tale. Give it a go. You won’t regret it. Many thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and enjoy a pre-publication copy.

always readable but for the first time I guessed the identities of the killers - so not quite a clever and unpredictable as Horowitz usually is

An excellent third book in the series. Exciting, fast paced, and incredibly clever. Lots of nods to classic crime novels, and books in general. Another must read from Anthony Horowitz.

Hurrah, another – and possibly the final – novel starring Susan Ryeland, whom we’ve already met in Moonflower Murders and Magpie Murders. Susan is back from Crete in London and has been persuaded to work on an additional Atticus Pund novel. Yes, the one not written by the original author (see book one for more), but by a younger writer, someone who’s had a brief taste of what life is like for an author. However, Eliot Grace causes drama for Susan by announcing that not only does he think that his grandmother – a legendary author – was murdered, but that he’s peppered his novel with clues as to the culprit. Susan is thrust back into Pund’s Last Case and taken to a coastal retreat where she has to figure out who’s telling the truth or merely their version. Such an inviting read and one that is full of puzzles. Brilliant.

Delicious..
The third instalment in the Susan Ryeland/ Magpie Murders series finds Ryeland back in England, already having edited two novels about detective extraordinaire Atticus Pund and having now agreed to a third - a new continuation novel. It appears that the name of a killer has been hidden away in the book and, so, she may well have inadvertently put herself in danger yet again. Someone, somewhere does not want this book to come to light and they may just go to great lengths to make sure that it doesn’t. A wonderful third outing in this superlative series with a complex puzzle at its heart, a credible and well drawn cast and an entertaining plot bubbling with twists and a lively narrative. Delicious.

I loved the last two in this series and this didn't disappoint. I was gripped from the off. It.folows the same format as the previous two of having a book within a book. It works well and I like the nods to classic crime fiction with Atricus Pund sections.
The puzzle element of the book was hard to solve but met the brief of it having being possible.
This is high quality crime fiction written with style

Anthony Horowitz’ new novel Marble Hall Murders follows on directly but with a big life decision change after Moonflower Murders. Susan Ryeland is back in England, having left her partner Andreas and their Greek island, and working as a freelance editor where she’s been asked to work on a ‘continuation’ novel of Alan Conway’s Atticus Pund series.
Readers of the first two books (and it’s recommended you do read the first two books before starting this one as there are both spoilers and key threads from them picked up in this third instalment) will be well aware of Susan’s troubled past with the books: books that changed and nearly ended her life so will appreciate the tough decision she has to make in agreeing to work with Eliot Crace, a young author and grandson of one of the most successful children’s authors ever, the late Marian Crace.
As Susan reads, with an initial scepticism, the part-finished book she finds Pund’s Last Case is well written and in the spirit of the original series…but as readers of THIS series will know that’s not necessarily a good thing. Like the original author of the books, young Eliot Crace seems determined to weave in personal vendettas through characters crafted from real people in his life…
What we get is a novel in two parts: one part the plot of the book Susan has been tasked with editing, one part the real-world mystery of the Crace family…and there are dead bodies to be had in both.
It takes skill to balance a book like this – to make the story-within-a-story seem real (and fleshed out) enough to be believable while making it interesting enough for us the reader to want to know what happens next in it: it’s a trick Horowitz has perfected and both are satisfying: one as the more ‘golden age’ style, the other a contemporary thriller. Along the way there’s the humour, meta commentary around publishing and sly winks one has come to expect from the author.
If this is to be the last Susan Ryeland book it’s a very satisfying way to end things.

A new Anthony Horowitz crime novel is always good...but knowing that this new book follows on from the incredibly fascinating and brilliant Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders ( No" The " please) means it was a must-read !

Susan Ryeland returns and with that a final case for Atticus Pünd. Interweaving a crisis for Susan with a Pünd story set in the south of France then this is a fast paced adventure. Anthony Horowitz has this talent to pull you into a book then there is no stopping- you are gripped.

In this case, Susan Ryeland is asked to edit a new Pünd story written by a different author- Eliot Grace. Grace's grandmother Miriam Grace became globally renowned as the writer of The Little People books - a series of tales for children.

But Eliot believes his grandmother was murdered- poisoned twenty years earlier; it soon becomes clear to Susan that Eliot's new Pünd novel is giving clues to her murderer and echoing events in the family home of The Crace's - Marble Hall.- where the matriarch kept her family under a rod of iron through bullying and coercion.

As ever, the plotting is intricate and many a red herring is put into the mix leading the reader in different directions whether it be determining the murderer of Miriam Crace or the killer in the Anticus Pünd story- puzzles and anagrams pervade. As in the previous stories, Susan Ryeland finds herself in some tricky situations but her perseverance and determination never fail.

With echoes of vintage period Christie and Horowitz's genre- bending brilliance of mixing a story within a story in a contemporary setting , this third and most likely final novel in the series is excellent - do read the two previous books before this final one for full impact.

Superb - a highly recommended read- certainly going to be one of the top crime books of 2025 - no doubt at all