NEW BRITISH CRIME FICTION 2025: MARBLE HALL MURDERS By ANTHONY HOROWITZ and THE OTHER PEOPLE By C. B. EVERETT

April brings us two clever British crime novels that play around with the conventions of the genre!

The exquisitely produced Moonflower Murders was one of my favourite television shows from 2024. Based on Anthony Horowitz’s eponymous novel, it was a delightful mystery featuring book editor Susan Ryeland and the fictional amateur detective Atticus Pünd. 

Now we have a literary follow up to Moonflower Murders and a new television series on the way!

Marble Hall Murders, (Century, 8 April 2025), finds Susan back in England and back in the editing game. Susan’s previous experience with the late Alan Conway’s novels about the famous detective, Atticus Pünd, resulted in her nearly being killed, twice! Now she has reluctantly been persuaded to work on a Pünd ‘continuation’ novel. The new book is by Eliot Crace, grandson of Miriam Crace who was the biggest selling children’s author in the world until her death exactly twenty years ago. Eliot believes that Miriam was deliberately poisoned. And when he tells Susan that he has hidden the identity of Miriam’s killer inside his book, Susan knows she’s in trouble once again.

As Susan works on Pünd’s Last Case, a story set in an exotic villa in the South of France, she uncovers more and more parallels between the past and the present, the fictional and the real world – until suddenly she finds that she has become a target herself. It seems that someone in Eliot’s family doesn’t want the book to be written. And they will do anything to prevent it.

Marble Hall Murders is great entertainment. The novel within a novel approach by Horowitz once more works a treat. Both stories are captivating, and the reader is quickly caught up in the dual mystery solving. Atticus Pünd and Susan are marvellous characters and they are ably supported by a great supporting cast. Susan is a terrific creation, and her spiky reaction to people and situations is a treat to read, as are her astute observations on writing, editing and the crime genre. I particularly liked her views on continuation novels, especially given Horowitz’s own experiences with them.

“I had no love of continuation novels. Even the name put me off. There can be historical novels, romances, science fiction stories. All of these give you an idea of the authors’ interests and what inspires them. But who wants just to continue? What exactly is the point?“

As with the other books, the plotting is intricate and Horowitz smoothly weaves in many a red herring to trick and bedazzle the reader. The Atticus Pünd mystery is nicely worked out, while the contemporary story finds Susan in some tricky situations that add some good suspense to the plot. It too is surprisingly resolved.

Marble Hall Murders is a thick book, but it never seems long, and the story really flew along for me. Early on I gave up trying to work out the murderers, and just enjoyed the story and Susan’s amusing reflections on crime stories:

“It’s what makes a murder mystery unique in the world of popular fiction. It may seem brilliant, but an awful lot depends on the last chapter. Only when you get there do you find out if the book was worth reading to begin with.“

Marble Hall Murders is one of my favourite books of the year so far. It is released in Australia and the United Kingdom on 10 April 2025. Thanks to the publisher for an early copy of the book.

The Other People, (Simon & Schuster, 10 April 2025), by C. B. Everett, aka Martyn Waites, is one of those books that readers are going to either love or hate. For most there will be no middle ground.

The story starts in an intriguing manner. Ten strangers wake up to find themselves in an old dark house with no way to get out. They have no recollection of how they got there. In order to escape, they have to solve the disappearance of a young woman. It seems like an impossible task, even more so with a killer stalking the halls of the house. As the body count rises, the surviving members of the group become more and more desperate. Meanwhile a seemingly omnipresent voice, called ‘The Beast In The Cellar’, provides a running summary of what is happening and offers amusing asides and philosophical reflections.

Pretty early on in the book it is clear that something is not quite right here; voices that no one else can hear and the lack of curiosity by the ten about how they got to the house for example, but Everett keeps the story flowing well and most readers will keenly keep on reading to find out what is going on. Popular culture aficionados will probably work it out beforehand, but others will be surprised by the outcome, which is actually very well done.

Overall, The Other People is quite good fun. The pacing is reasonably brisk and the frequent cliffhangers and surprises make it easy to keep on reading. Character depth and appeal are issues, and there is one scene towards the end which will produce strong reactions.

Probably not one for the crime purist, but those who like something a little different should give it a go.

The Other People was released in Australia on 2 April 2025. It will be released in the United Kingdom on 10 April 2025. Thanks to the publisher for an early copy of the book.