A Murder of Magpies

Deviating from her bestselling nonfiction, Flanders tries her hand at mystery in this debut. Susan Duerden gives voice to Flanders's first-person protagonist, publishing editor Samantha Clair. With consistency and emotion she creates a high level of authenticity in the reactions of a woman unaccustomed to big-money book sales, let alone murder and mayhem. Duerden maintains a swift pace without hurrying, and her accents are distinct as Sam travels by foot, rail, and air throughout Europe, searching for clues about her missing author, Kit Lowell. The only disappointment in this enjoyable narration is a flat delivery of the audiobook's sharp humor. However, Duerden's light tone works well for a book that is edgier than a traditional cosy, and she delivers the occasional profanity with spunk. J.F. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

December 1, 2014
Social historian Flanders (The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens’ London) makes her fiction debut with an amusing mystery set in the eccentric world of British book publishing. Samantha “Sam” Clair, a snarky middle-aged editor at London publisher Timmons & Ross, faces serious problems when gossipy journalist Kit Lovell delivers a potentially libelous manuscript with new revelations about the death of fashion icon Rodrigo Alemán. Soon a courier is killed and residences are burgled in attempts to swipe the manuscript, and Sam’s encounters with suave and seedy lawyers as well as Alemán’s brother hint at criminal activities connected to Alemán’s fashion house. When Kit disappears, Sam joins in the investigation with Helena, her elegant solicitor mother, and attractive Insp. Jacob “Jake” Field (a nod to Insp. Charles Field, the model for Dickens’s Inspector Bucket). The array of delightful and believable characters, as well as a neat turn at the end, will leave readers well satisfied and anticipating the next installment. Agent: George Lucas, Inkwell Management.

April 27, 2015
The good news is that Flanders’s humorous debut thriller about the perils of a British book editor is filled with wit and snarky comments, along with shrewd insight into London’s apparently cutthroat publishing scene. The not-so-good news is that reader Duerden has a singsongy manner of speech that eventually detracts from
the cleverness of the writing. Otherwise, her delivery—British, breathy, confidential—is a proper, pleasant enough match for Samantha “Sam” Clair, the self-effacing book editor who is the novel’s often-imperiled protagonist and narrator. And Duerden suitably adapts her voice to fit Sam’s glam, glib, razor-sharp corporate attorney mum; her eager and efficient goth assistant; an elderly, gentlemanly upstairs neighbor; and the blasé, slightly short-tempered Insp. Jake Field, who, in the course of searching for an author of Sam’s who’s gone missing, becomes her love interest. A Minotaur hardcover.