The author Anthony Horowitz has written over 100 books, being best known for his bestselling teen spy series Alex Rider. Magpie Murders is a stand-alone novel, published in 2016, which we’ve both read recently and this is what we thought about it.
Liz – Anthony Horowitz has written a tour de force, sharp and funny being a whodunit within a whodunit and oh so clever! A book editor narrates her experience whilst reading the final draft of a book written by her publishing house’s best-selling author. Magpie Murders is a homage to the mystery writers of mid 20th century Britain. The protagonist, Atticus Pund, is a detective in the manner of Hercule Poirot, although German not Belgian. He undertakes the investigation of two deaths in the peaceful West County village of Saxby on Avon. Of course nothing is as it seems. The draft comes to a sudden end with the solution left hanging. The editor is then drawn into a voyage of discovery to track down the missing chapters. Full of word play and anagrams, with the editor’s story shadowing the book draft this novel is nothing short of delicious.
Mike – Although I enjoyed reading this book I found that I faltered about half-way through, and it took considerably longer to read than I expected. It’s certainly clever and well-written but I think perhaps a novel within a novel makes it just a touch too complicated for my taste. Despite my reservations I would certainly recommend it as a worthwhile, and of it’s kind somewhat different, read.
Please note that there probably won’t be any Sofa reading posts for the next few months as it’s taking a summer break.
Happy reading, and have a good weekend!
Her third novel, published last year, was 
Liz…Has a book landed in your lap and the stars aligned for it to be just what you were ready to read. This happened to me when I picked up a copy of Laura McBride’s book 
Mike…
It was certainly the weather to do plenty of sofa reading during February, and especially this week.
The noted author Val McDermid says that
Liz thinks that she is a clever writer and 
Last week I was pleased to borrow a recently acquired copy of 
The last 
Liz… My book club assigned a mystery for this month and although I’m not a regular reader of them I was in the right mood and found 
Mike…Rather surprisingly I don’t think that I’ve read any Charles Todd books so I’ve decided to read the first ones in both these series as it’s a period which I find interesting.
It is an award winning memoir written when, after the sudden death of her father to whom she was particularly close, she attempts to assuage her grief by acquiring, then training, a young goshawk.
Sold for a Farthing by Claire Kipps is a small, 72 page hardback published in 1954 and tells the tale of a poorly infant sparrow found on the author’s doorstep in July 1940. She nursed it back to health and it then shared her home until it’s death from old age in March 1952. It couldn’t be released back into the wild as it had a deformed right wing and faulty left foot.
Flighty's plot 