Summary

In “Crouch End, London,” the narrator prepared to read Magpie Murders, the ninth book in the Atticus Pünd series. She was alone in her Crouch End apartment; her boyfriend, Atticus, was in Greece with his family. She warns the reader that it was because of this book that she had to move, lost her job with her publishing company and lost many friends. She blames the changes in her life on Alan Conway, the writer of the novel.

The text includes next a description of Alan Conway and his life as well as quotes from a variety of sources, like newspapers, praising the novel.

The opening of “One: Sorrow” tells the reader that there was about to be a funeral in the fictional village of Saxby-on-Avon. It was 1955. The funeral is described as being an economy one for 68-year-old...