Moonflower Murders. (Susan Ryeland #2) Anthony Horowitz. 2020. 608 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: The Polydorus is a charming family-run hotel, located a short walk away from the lively town of Agios Nikolaos, one hour from Heraklion. Rooms cleaned daily, all with Wi-Fi and air con, some with sea views. Coffee and home-cooked meals served on our lovely terraces. Visit our website or find us on booking.com. You have no idea how long it took me to write that.
Premise/plot: Moonflower Murders is the sequel to Magpie Murders. Susan Ryeland (editor/amateur detective) is now living on Crete running a small hotel with her boyfriend Andreas. Two of their guests have arrived with a proposition for Susan. Their daughter, Cecily, has gone missing. Before Cecily disappeared, she'd called her parents saying that reading Atticus Pund Takes The Cake has changed her mind about who murdered their own guest so many years before. Stefan Codrescu may have been convicted of the crime and may be in prison, but, he's innocent. The proof is hidden within Alan Conway's mystery novel.
The Trehernes are offering to pay Susan to investigate both crimes. Perhaps as Alan's editor she can spot what Cecily spotted in the text. And she did have success in solving who murdered Alan, after all. Susan takes the case for two reasons--she's TIRED and worn down from running the hotel and misses her old life, and the MONEY will prove useful whether she stays or goes.
As she begins detecting the two cases--surely Cecily disappeared because she knew too much--Susan tries to sort out where she belongs and what she really wants.
About three-quarters through this one, Alan Conway's novel ATTICUS PUND TAKES THE CAKE is embedded.
My thoughts: What a wearisome novel this was!!! The pacing was all over the place--and obviously not in a good way. I didn't mind Alan Conway's novel kicking off the first book. The fact that the missing end chapters was the literal conflict (or one of them) in the "main" story helped me stay engaged. It was a fun, premise-driven novel. I didn't love, love, love it. But it always kept me reading.
Moonflower Murders doesn't have a great premise working on its behalf. Susan is retired. She is no longer an editor; she is no longer in the book business. If Susan had been less bored or less in need of money, chances are she'd not left the island or her boyfriend to play detective.
My biggest issue with this one, however, is that almost all the characters are so unlikable and in some cases so disgusting. It's hard to spend HUNDREDS of pages (felt like thousands of pages) with characters that you despise/dislike. My neutral feelings for Susan and Andreas weren't enough to really rescue this one.
I don't know that this one needs a trigger warning exactly. But so much of the unfolding mystery surrounds adult men (aged 50+) engaging with very young barely-legal (and perhaps not legal) young teen male prostitutes. And it gets descriptive/graphic. Okay, that may not be fair. I don't think it's meant to be graphic in a romantic/sensual way. But it's a LOT to process.
I wrestled with whether to keep reading this one or to abandon it. It was just so wearisome.
© 2023 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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