Magpie Murders

 Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

I've been searching for a book to get lost in for a while, and thought that a murder mystery might do the

trick. Can't say I was wrong. This one started conventionally enough. It tells the tale of an unexpected death in a small English town, Saxby-on-Avon, that soon attracts the attention of a renowned sleuth named Atticus Pund. Set in the years after World War II, it reads much like the many British murder shows my parents like to watch. And with good reason: Horowitz is the creator of a couple of them (Midsommer Murders included). 

All of this hits the spot -- but just as you are enraptured in the mystery there comes a twist! The book is actually a red herring -- or is it? The actual murder involves the author of the book, and it falls to his editor to solve the crime. Very meta.

For what it is worth, I actually picked the eventual murderer, which I won't reveal in the off chance that someone who might want to read the book finds themselves on this post. But suffice it to say that it wasn't someone under suspicion and therefore seemed like an obvious choice. 

No profundity from this book, but it was certainly fun to read. And it felt like two books in one by the end.