Moonflower Murders

Have you been watching Magpie Murders?

A few weeks ago I found it was on and I'd missed the first episode so I started watching it on iPlayer. I then binged watch the entire series over a couple of evenings, even though the series is still being broadcast on Saturday nights. I loved it, especially its use of Kersey as a location and the attention to detail in the Suffolk accents. The interleaving of the present with a murder mystery set in the 1950's is very clever.

Then I discovered there is a sequel which is being filmed this year and will be broadcast next year - see here. I decided not to wait and got the book from the library. This is what Anthony's site says about it...

At 580  pages it is not a short read, but I was hooked straight away and ended up reading the second half of it in one go one evening last week, finishing at 2am. 

Rather spookily, the missing woman disappeared after parking at Woodbridge station and walking her dog along the River Deben to Martlesham Creek, a walk that mirrored part of one we had done the previous week (see here). And furthermore, when Susan is London she marvels at the developments at Battersea Power Station as we had done just a few weeks earlier.

There are plenty of other local references which added to the enjoyment with Woodbridge, Framlingham, Snape, Westleton and Thetford all featuring, along with Honey and Harvey.

Wonderfully clever, the book includes (rather than interleaves with) a second book, a complete Atticus Pund crime novel, Atticus Pund Takes The Case, (hence the large overall page count) in which the author leaves a clue as to the murder on Cicely's wedding day.

Quite brilliant and highly recommended. I'll be taking my copy back to the library tomorrow, if you want to borrow it.

You can read about the author's connection to Suffolk here.