Soon after, she discovers that Alan Conway supposedly committed suicide. Upon finishing the manuscript, Susan discovers that the last chapter of the novel is missing. Magpie Murders ends just as Atticus is about to reveal the murderer’s identity.

Atticus investigates each of the suspicious villagers, piecing together the events surrounding the two deaths. Two weeks later, an unknown suspect murders wealthy local Magnus Pye. On the night of Mary’s funeral, someone burgles Pye Hall.

Mary Blakiston, a local busybody and housekeeper of Pye Hall, dies in what seems like an accident. Although Atticus is terminally ill, he travels to the town to unravel the mystery in a last act of detective work. In Alan’s latest story, Magpie Murders, Atticus investigates two related deaths in the small town of Saxby-on-Avon. The novels pay homage to the greats of crime fiction, including Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. Atticus solves grisly mysteries in these sleepy, secret-harboring communities. Alan’s novels are set in small English villages where everybody knows everybody. After working with Alan for years, Susan is intimately familiar with his classic detective character, Atticus Pünd. The story begins when book editor Susan Ryeland receives a manuscript for bestselling author Alan Conway.

Atticus pund