"Marble Hall Murders" by Anthony Horowitz

Thank you, Lesley Manville!  

British actress Manville has played book editor Susan Ryeland in both "Magpie Murders" and "Moonflower Murders" (among many other great roles) -- the TV adaptations of two mystery novels by the same names by Anthony Horowitz (both of which I've read and enjoyed -- reviewed here and here -- and also watched on TV). 

Apparently Manville enjoyed playing Susan so much that, on the last day of shooting "Moonflower," she expressed an interest in playing Susan one more time to Horowitz.  

And voila! "Marble Hall Murders" was published last year, and a six-part TV version -- once again starring Manville as Susan -- will be airing on PBS in September.  I picked up the book recently, in anticipation of watching the series this fall.  

Susan has ditched her Greek boyfriend, Andreas (sob -- I always liked him -- especially the very handsome and charming TV Andreas!), as well as the hotel they ran together in Crete, to resume her old life as a book editor (now freelancing) in London. Her first assignment is familiar territory -- a continuation of the highly successful Atticus Pund mystery series by the late Alan Conway -- a work in progress by a talented but troubled young writer named Eliot Crace. 

Eliot's grandmother, Miriam Crace, was a beloved and wildly successful children's author who died 15 years ago -- murdered, according to Eliot.  Susan soon realizes that the characters in the book Eliot is working on are thinly disguised versions of his own family members, and the mystery depicted reflects what may have happened to his grandmother.  But Eliot dies suddenly and mysteriously before he can finish the novel and reveal whodunnit. Not only does Susan find herself trying to solve three mysterious deaths/murders (Miriam's, Eliot's, and the fictional Miriam's in Eliot's unfinished book), she's become both a suspect and a potential target herself.   

Like its predecessors, "Marble Hall Murders" contains a book-within-the-book. We get to read the Atticus Pund novel (in draft version) at the same time Susan does. It's a lot of fun -- perhaps a little long with a little too much unnecessary detail? (some characters' speeches go on and on and on...) -- but very well done and very entertaining overall. I did guess one of the whodunnits, but there were enough surprises and twists to keep me turning the pages. And I love Susan (for many reasons, but for me, it's especially notable that she's in her 50s, unmarried and childless, and loves books.  :)  )  

It might not be necessary to have read the previous two books in the series, but both are referenced here ("Magpie Murders" in particular) and you will probably enjoy and get more out of "Marble Hall Murders" if you've read at least that first book already.  

I rated Horowitz's two previous Susan Ryeland books 4.5 to 5 stars.  This one gets 4.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded up to 5 on Goodreads.  

This was Book #17 read to date in 2026 (and Book #3 finished in July), bringing me to 43% of  my 2026 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 40 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 5 books behind pace to meet my goal.  :(  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2026 tagged as "2026 books."