Nothing excites me more than a classic fictional murder mystery. From clues to conviction, I love piecing together the details of a complicated crime. And no one weaves intriguing webs of mystery quite like author Anthony Horowitz, whose latest release, “Marble Hall Murders,” is my favorite book of 2025.
In 2025, I found the time to read 22 books by November. My reading selections centered on one theme: scavenging for an escape, searching for worlds so perfectly built that I forget which one I am living in. Horowitz’s “Marble Hall Murders,” the third installment of his “Susan Ryeland” (2016-) series, succeeded in immersing me in a world far more devious than my own.
“Marble Hall Murders” builds on the first two novels in the series, which broke the confines of the whodunit genre by weaving together two intertwined realities: one in fiction and one in reality. The first novel in the “Susan Ryeland” series follows the fallout from the murder of Alan Conway, an insufferable detective fiction author, whose last book is missing its final chapter. Conway’s editor, Susan Ryeland, searches for this lost conclusion, only to realize that the answer to Alan’s death is hidden in his final book, with the missing chapter revealing his killer. The book is split into two realities that constantly switch. One is the real world Susan lives in, and the other is the book she reads.
In “Marble Hall Murders,” Susan returns to England after living in Crete, Greece. This time, she teams up with another author, Eliot Crace, to attempt to finish Alan’s series. Eliot follows in Alan’s literary footsteps, hiding the truth behind his grandmother’s murder within his own fictional novel, only to end up dead, just like Alan.
The most frequent trap murder mysteries tend to fall into is predictability. While I found Eliot’s death easier to solve, because it falls into classic tropes such as hidden parentage, the murder Eliot wrote is anything but predictable. First, the reader must decipher which of Eliot’s fictional characters corresponds to the individuals in his and Susan’s reality. Then, the task of solving the murder can begin.
Blending two storylines not only differentiates “Marble Hall Murders” from other novels in the genre but also makes for an unforgettable reading experience. The plot is engaging, as there are two sets of characters, settings and plots to keep track of. Not only is solving the murder of Eliot’s grandmother difficult because of the case’s complexity, but Eliot, the writer of the fictional storyline in “Marble Hall Murders,” holds the narrative power. Readers must consider what Eliot thinks of the people around him and whether he hates an individual enough to reveal their crimes to the world through his writing, simply out of spite. This fragmented reading experience adds depth, curiosity and complexity to the plot, creating a confounding thought experiment. If mystery books are like puzzles, Horowitz dumps two different sets onto one table, mixes the pieces, then tells his readers to put both together somehow.
Horowitz knows how to craft a reading experience, with world-building akin to that of a detailed fantasy novel. Each world, both the one that Eliot wrote and the one Susan lives in, is dynamic, and the absurd, caricature-like nature of the characters in Eliot’s 1950s story balances the normalcy of those in Susan’s modern reality.
The ending of a murder mystery is its most crucial component, as hundreds of pages culminate in one conclusion. In “Marble Hall Murders,” having two distinct whodunit revelations mitigates this problem, prolonging the reveal's conclusion and further satisfying my literary cravings. Anyone can solve the crime in Horowitz’s latest novel if they look closely enough. Clues and easter eggs sprinkled throughout the book make the murder approachable.
“Marble Hall Murders” still has its flaws. Horowitz fails with Susan’s character development, as she endures a breakup that seems unnecessary and overly convenient. This plot point also thrusts Susan into an entirely new, unmemorable relationship with the detective, Ian Blakeney, — one that appears to occur simply because Susan and Ian are two single individuals working together. With this inclusion, Horowitz undoes strides he made in the previous novels to deepen her character, only to give Susan a cliché romance that falls flat compared to the witty, dynamic relationship she had with her previous boyfriend, Andreas Patakis.
Despite Susan’s flawed character arc, “Marble Hall Murders” is still a strong third installment in the winding “Susan Ryeland” series. Horowitz settles into the two-stories-in-one premise he began with the first book in the series, and by now, readers know what to expect. When I first started the series, I felt cheated by the constantly shifting plot. Now, beginning “Marble Hall Murders,” I found myself eagerly awaiting Horowitz’s new settings and literary challenges.
Not every novel needs to be life-changing or profound to be worth reading, but Horowitz’s consistent creativity and ingenuity feel revolutionary. With the twists and turns in “Marble Hall Murders,” Horowitz creates a masterpiece by blending traditional detective fiction with head-scratching, modern whodunit tropes.
Amelia Bush (28C) is double-majoring in English and PPL (philosophy, politics and law). She is from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and enjoys walking around its many lakes. Outside of the Wheel, you can find her reading, scrapbooking, or attempting a New York Times crossword.
