Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Anthony Horowitz’s Moonflower Murders is an ingenious continuation of the metafictional crime series that began with Magpie Murders (2016). Reintroducing Susan Ryeland—the editor-turned-hotelier we met in Book One—Horowitz spins another intricately structured tale of death, deception, and detective fiction, rich with the self-referential cleverness that’s become his signature. The novel deepens the series’ commentary on storytelling itself, while delivering a satisfying if not quite perfect mystery.

Book Three, Marble Hall Murders (2025), just released this spring, and with it, this trilogy confirms Horowitz’s mastery of both homage and reinvention.

Setting the Stage: Return of Susan Ryeland

Eight years after the murder of Frank Parris at the luxurious Branlow Hall hotel, his case is presumed closed. Stefan Codrescu, a Romanian handyman, confessed to the crime. But when the victim’s daughter, Cecily Treherne, reads Atticus Pünd Takes the Case—a novel penned by the late Alan Conway and edited by Susan Ryeland—she becomes convinced that Stefan is innocent and that the novel contains the truth.

When Cecily mysteriously disappears, her parents seek out Susan, now running a boutique hotel in Crete. They believe only she, with her editorial insight into Conway’s fiction, can decode the hidden truth embedded in its pages.

Plot Structure: A Mystery Within a Mystery

Like Magpie Murders, Moonflower Murders operates on two levels:

1. The framing narrative featuring Susan Ryeland’s real-world investigation in Suffolk.
2. The novel within the novel, Atticus Pünd Takes the Case, a vintage-style whodunit set in a fictional 1950s hotel, eerily paralleling the Branlow Hall murder.

The metafictional conceit serves as both a literary treasure hunt and a forensic analysis of fiction itself. The complexity it brings is one of the book’s greatest strengths—but also its Achilles’ heel.

Praise: Craftsmanship and Cleverness

Horowitz’s strengths are on full display here. The book is brilliantly plotted, with multiple timelines, character doppelgängers, and thematic overlaps. Consider the highlights:

• Susan Ryeland remains a refreshingly unconventional protagonist. She’s older, skeptical, no-nonsense, and quietly introspective—a crime-solver not by trade but by reluctant talent.
• Atticus Pünd, the Poirot-inspired fictional detective, offers a masterclass in old-school deduction. His inclusion as a character inside Conway’s novel is a love letter to the Golden Age of detective fiction.
• The hotel setting—Branlow Hall—is a wonderfully atmospheric backdrop. Between its aristocratic façade and its secrets in the walls, it becomes a character in itself.
• Themes of identity, authorship, and justice pervade the novel, inviting readers to question not only who committed the crime, but also who gets to control the narrative.

Some of the most resonant passages come from Susan’s reflection on fiction and truth:

“Writers don’t steal, exactly. They absorb.”

Horowitz also continues his literary trickery—anagrams, acronyms, word games—and invites readers to become active participants in the mystery.

Critiques: Where the Puzzle Wobbles

Despite its brilliance, Moonflower Murders isn’t flawless. A few points of critique:

• Pacing Issues: The middle section, particularly Susan’s investigations at Branlow Hall, can feel sluggish. The layering of so many character interviews and side plots momentarily dulls the momentum.
• Too Clever for Its Own Good? The novel occasionally seems more focused on its intellectual gymnastics than its emotional resonance. Readers unfamiliar with the premise or who skipped Magpie Murders might find the nested structure overwhelming or contrived.
• Overuse of Metafiction: While inventive, the dual narratives sometimes dilute each other. The “book within the book” (Atticus Pünd Takes the Case) is so extensive that it threatens to eclipse the main story.
• Underdeveloped Villains: When the truth does emerge, some of the antagonists lack sufficient psychological depth. Their motivations feel more mechanical than emotionally grounded.

Notable Characters

• Cecily Treherne: The missing woman whose curiosity unravels the mystery. Her voice haunts the story, even in absence.
• Lawrence and Pauline Treherne: Her parents, whose desire to find their daughter leads them to the reluctant Susan.
• Stefan Codrescu: The wrongly convicted handyman, whose Romanian background adds a layer of implicit bias to the investigation.
• Eloise, the enigmatic nanny, and Lisa, Cecily’s scarred sister, are standouts among a diverse and suspicious ensemble.

Literary Lineage: Echoes of Agatha Christie, But Postmodern

Horowitz doesn’t just mimic Agatha Christie—he engages in a dialogue with her. In the Pünd novels, readers will recognize:

• The cozy yet claustrophobic English setting.
• The socially stratified guest list.
• The clue-based, fair-play format. But Horowitz then pushes further. He questions how stories are told and who gets to write them. He deconstructs the very tools he uses—sometimes to dazzling effect, sometimes at the risk of alienating readers looking for a more traditional mystery.

This makes Moonflower Murders feel at once like an homage and a critique. It is both a classic murder mystery and a commentary on the genre itself.

The Series So Far

1. Magpie Murders (2016): The original tale that introduced readers to Susan Ryeland, Alan Conway, and Atticus Pünd. A stunner in structure and a commercial success.
2. Moonflower Murders (2020): A richer, more layered, but slightly more unwieldy sequel.
3. Marble Hall Murders (2025): The long-awaited third book, released just this spring. While not part of this review, its existence adds weight to Moonflower Murders, reinforcing the trilogy’s long arc of literary puzzles.

Readers will enjoy Moonflower Murders most if they’ve already read Magpie Murders. While technically standalone, the character development, meta-literary references, and emotional stakes are far more effective when the whole narrative is considered as a continuous journey.

Similar Reads

• The Word Is Murder and The Sentence Is Death by Horowitz (the Hawthorne series) for another metafictional twist.
• The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton for readers who enjoy genre-bending, puzzle-box mysteries.
• The Man Who Didn’t Fly by Margot Bennett – another complex, nested mystery with rich layers of misdirection.

Final Verdict

Moonflower Murders is a triumph of structure, language, and storytelling—though one that asks more of its readers than your average whodunit. Anthony Horowitz masterfully combines the cerebral pleasures of classic detective fiction with the intellectual inquiry of modern metafiction.

Recommended for:

• Lovers of Golden Age crime fiction
• Readers who enjoy literary puzzles
• Fans of Magpie Murders looking for a deeper dive

Avoid if:

• You prefer straight-line mysteries without metafictional layers
• You’re looking for a fast-paced thriller or emotionally raw character drama