I'm not one to shy away from a good murder mystery book. Hell, those Bryant and May series is all about them. I usually need some sort of hook in order to be reeled in (see what I did there?) and Magpie Murders has got a beautiful set up:
The story is about a book editor named Susan who oversees the successful crime novels by Alan Conway about a Holmesian detective named Atticus Pünd. In his latest manuscript, Susan begins to suspect there's more to the story than just another Pünd mystery, but a true story of greed and murder.
This book was a bit stiff to get into - there's one brief opening chapter where Susan implores the reader to read Conway's latest book and that he's a bastard that ruined her life. And it quickly jumps into the Pünd story, set in a quaint English village, Saxby-on-Avon in the 50s. The problem is that each beginning chapter is dedicated to a prominent figure (and possible suspect) in the story and there's at least half a dozen, if not more. So it's really just a dreg to get through the exposition and set up.
I still don't know how this all ties to the present day and Susan's troubles, but I assume once I finish the manuscript, I'll get to know more.