‘Magpie Murders’ has everything you want in a British mystery – suspense, mystery, suspense, murder – and it’s narrated by a man who looks like he’s been hit by a bus.
It is the second in the “Ladies’ Magpie Murders” series, but there are differences. The first was written by a woman and the second by a man.
This time the title is “The Ladies’ Magpie Murders”.
The author is a man of mystery and suspense. He lives in a lovely cottage surrounded by fields and hedges. In the front garden there’s a statue of the Virgin Mary – she’s a black marble statue in gold, white and blue. A gold cross is on her forehead. She looks like she’s been run over.
The garden is full of statues which represent the various things that can kill us: poison, fire and car accidents. At one end there’s a little statue of a man and woman kissing, with angels for eyes and hands. The couple look as if they’ve just met. In the middle, near the statue of the Virgin Mary, is a statue of a blue and white striped swan in a garden, and on the other side, there’s a statue of a black leopard.
I was looking at all the statues when my telephone rang. It was the author. I told him what I’d been doing out in the garden and he said: “You’ve done very well.”