“As far as I'm concerned, you can't beat a good whodunnit: the twists and turns, the clues and the red herrings and then, finally, the satisfaction of having everything explained to you in a way that makes you kick yourself because you hadn't seen it from the start.”

Ah yes, the whodunnit: Brit. Lit’s favorite past-time. Like the U.S. and baseball. Whodunnits are made up of motives and suspects, each the spoke of a bicycle wheel, turning and turning, rattling down the lane. “Magpie Murders” takes this genre to a deeper, meta level: a book within a book, a mystery within a mystery, and…you get the point. Self-aware editor turned detective justifies the answer being in front of you the whole time, as she cautiously reminds herself, and readers, she’s not a professional. Gum can stick to anyone’s shoe and I’m pleased to inform you: I’ll be reading the next Susan Ryeland case.

4.5/5 The magpies didn’t even murder anyone and I had to Google where Crete is