Moonflower Murders

After the events of Magpie Murders, Susan Ryeland is living in Crete with her fiancé Andreas, running a struggling hotel. She is approached by Lawrence and Pauline Treherne, owners of a hotel in England, because she was the editor of deceased mystery author Alan Conway. Conway uses the people present when a murder occurred at the Treherne’s hotel eight years ago, and models several characters on those people, in his mystery novel, Atticus Pünd Takes the Case. The Treherne’s daughter Cecily called her parents after reading the book, telling them that the book proves that the man in jail for the murder, Stefan Codrescu, is innocent. Shortly after that phone call Cecily disappears. The Trehernes offer Susan ten thousand pounds to return to England, stay at their hotel, and use any insight she may have by editing the book to find Cecily. Needing the money to help with the struggling hotel, Susan agrees and heads back to England to help.

While at the hotel Susan finds that there are many suspects, as the murder victim Frank Parris was reportedly unpleasant to the point where even his sister actively disliked him. Further, Alan Conway’s heir James Taylor tells Susan that Conway told him the police had taken the wrong person as killer, yet never told the police.

The most prominent suspects are Cecily's husband Aiden, Frank's sister and her husband, and Cecily's sister Lisa.

Susan analyzes the novel closely, adds the information learned from James Taylor, and uncovers both the true killer of eight years earlier and where Cecily is.

In a meeting with all persons present, Susan reveals the true murderer. Susan uncovers that Aiden killed not only Frank Parris, but also his wife Cecily. In his past he had worked as a male prostitute named Leo out of desperation. Frank had frequently hired him to engage in BDSM, taking joy in humiliating Aiden. Conway was in the circle of these men, after divorcing his wife. Aiden had quit working as a prostitute or “rent boy” and married Cecily, not out of love but because she was wealthy. When Frank came to the Treherne's hotel he tried to blackmail Aiden, and was instead murdered by Aiden, who carefully set up Stefan, another hotel employee.

Immediately aware that Cecily has uncovered his crime, Aiden murders his wife. Soon after confessing every detail, Aiden escapes the police and commits suicide by jumping in front of a train.

Conway had put clues to the true murderer throughout the novel. The most direct clue is in the dedication, to Frank and Leo. The names of many people and places were tied to the word “lion”, as in astrology.

The Moonflower Murders proceeds as a present day story, people have mobile phones and e-mail. When Susan Ryeland sits down to read the Conway novel, the full text of that novel set in the 1950s, is inserted in the text. At the end of that novel, the 21st century story continues to its conclusion, as Susan Ryeland analyzes the Pünt mystery for useful clues.

This novel was well received, with strongly positive reviews from published reviewers.

Michael Dirda writing in The Washington Post calls this novel one of the “metafictional mysteries” by Horowitz. The plot is complex while the writing moves at a brisk pace. The structure of this literal “novel within a novel” is presented clearly in the review, indicating one aspect of complexity of the plot.[4]

Publishers Weekly considered it “a flawless update of classic golden age whodunits.”[3]

Kirkus Reviews noted all the same features of the complex plot and clear prose, yet felt it was “over the top”: “The novel within a novel is so extensive and absorbing on its own, in fact, that all but the brainiest armchair detectives are likely to find it a serious distraction from the mystery to which it’s supposed to offer the key.“ Thus does Kirkus Reviews limit the audience of this novel to only the brainiest readers.[5]

Sarah Lyall writing in The New York Times remarked it as a classic golden-age mystery novel, with a modern or postmodern take, and was impressed by the continual flow of high quality writing from the author. This novel was “a richly plotted, head-spinning novel about a present-day disappearance, a murder eight years earlier and a fictional murder that may be relevant to both.”[2]

Moonflower Murders earned a "Rave" rating from the book review aggregator Book Marks based on six independent reviews.[6] The six reviews include the four highlighted above, plus a review in The Wall Street Journal by Tom Nolan and a review by Beth Kanell in the New York Journal of Books. Extracts from the six reviews are posted, with links to the full reviews. Four reviews were marked Rave, one Positive and one Mixed.

• Official website