Anthony Horowitz: Magpie Murders

Author Anthony Horowitz has brought us some of the finest murder mysteries including Agatha Christie, Midsomer Murders, and Sherlock Holmes – all of which he first wrote as novels and then adapted for the screen. In 2016 he published the novel Magpie Murders, which he adapted for TV in 2022 with Lesley Manville in the lead role.

“I love the whole art of creating a murder mystery. I love laying the foundations, the clues, the red herrings, the suspects, the twists, the turns, the surprises at the end,” says Horowitz in a PBS “Writing Magpie Murders” clip. “It’s my favorite genre, simply because if two people meet, and one murders the other, you’re not dealing with superficial or light emotions. You’re dealing with passion, with anger, with fear, with jealousy, with rage. Everything is amplified in the world of murder mystery. You get straight into the character of people because, actually, murder mystery is not about murder, it is about the reasons and the motivation for doing the murder.”

In Magpie Murders, a mystery author dies under suspicious circumstances, with his last book seemingly unfinished. This leaves two mysteries: What happened to him? And how does his latest potboiler end? Magpie Murders revolves around the character Susan Ryeland, an editor who is given an unfinished manuscript of author Alan Conway’s latest novel but has little idea it will change her life.

Magpie Murders airs in its entirety Sunday, May 14 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

To watch the full PBS “Writing Magpie Murders” clip with Horowitz in which he describes the difference between writing Magpie Murders as a book vs. a television series, visit WXXI.org/magpie.

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