Susan Ryeland books in order

Read Anthony Horowitz’s Susan Ryeland novels in publication order: Magpie Murders (2016), Moonflower Murders (2020), then Marble Hall Murders (2025). Each contains a substantial Atticus Pünd mystery as well as Susan’s investigation. The sequence introduces Susan’s professional and personal life before asking you to follow its consequences.

1. Magpie Murders — 2016

Susan is editing the latest manuscript by Alan Conway, whose detective Atticus Pünd has a devoted readership. Within it, the village of Saxby-on-Avon and the household at Pye Hall provide the setting for a period murder mystery. Outside it lies the contemporary publishing world in which Susan works. The inner novel is also called Magpie Murders: remember that the same title can mean Conway’s manuscript, Horowitz’s actual book, or the television adaptation.

This is the best starting point because it establishes the relationship between an editor, a difficult author and an extraordinarily successful fictional detective. Let the book introduce its structure in its own time. Looking up the missing pieces while you read is likely to answer a question you would rather solve yourself.

2. Moonflower Murders — 2020

Susan has left publishing for a life in Crete with Andreas. An approach from the owners of Branlow Hall draws her back to England and a mystery involving their missing daughter, Cecily. The important book this time is Conway’s Atticus Pünd Takes the Case, which Susan previously edited. The contemporary setting centres on the Suffolk hotel; its fictional counterpart is the Moonflower Hotel in Pünd’s world.

The pleasure of this second book is rereading with a purpose. Susan has handled the text before, but a new question makes familiar material look different. Keep the two hotels and their separate inhabitants distinct when making notes. Similarity is an invitation to investigate, rather than a guarantee that every detail has a direct equivalent.

3. Marble Hall Murders — 2025

Back in England, Susan takes on a continuation of the Pünd series. Its author is Eliot Crace, grandson of the famous children’s writer Miriam Crace. He believes a family secret is encoded in the story he is writing. The manuscript is Pünd’s Last Case, set at a villa in the South of France in the novel. The television adaptation moves that inner setting to Corfu, so keep the book’s geography separate from the screen-location guide.

Read this one after the first two to understand why returning to an editorial desk is a consequential decision for Susan. The change of manuscript author also gives you a fresh question: what should remain the same when someone else continues a beloved detective’s adventures?

More Horowitz

The Hawthorne and Horowitz mysteries are a separate series. Begin with The Word Is Murder; the later books develop the narrator’s working relationship with detective Daniel Hawthorne. They are another route into stories about storytelling, but they are not missing chapters of Susan’s life. Keep them on a separate reading list.

For younger spy-fiction readers, Stormbreaker introduces Alex Rider. Follow the main adventures in publication order; Russian Roulette is the Yassen-focused prequel published after Scorpia Rising. For Sherlock Holmes, read The House of Silk and then Moriarty. Horowitz’s Bond books offer a different ordering choice: publication order begins with Trigger Mortis, while internal chronology runs Forever and a Day, Trigger Mortis, then With a Mind to Kill.

Reading alongside the television series

Match one novel to its complete adaptation before moving on to the next. Our trilogy guide explains the screen sequence, while the Pünd library separates the manuscripts inside the stories from the books you can actually buy. Closed book-comparison sections on episode pages are best saved until you have finished the relevant novel.