74 pages • 2 hours read
Marble Hall Murders
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Important Quotes
Content Warning: This section contains discussions of death, graphic violence, and death by suicide.
“Is there really such a thing as a happy ending?”
(Chapter 1, Page 1)
This is the first line of the novel and speaks to how it is a book about books. In order to continue the series, Susan can’t live happily ever after at the end of Moonflower Murders, Horowitz’s previous novel about her. This installment begins with her being dissatisfied with her supposedly happy ending in Crete.
“When I think about the books I’ve loved throughout my life, it’s always the final chapter that has left me with a sense of completeness, that has made the whole story worthwhile.”
(Chapter 1, Page 1)
This foreshadows how Blakeney completes Pund’s Last Case after Eliot dies. Only when Susan sees Blakeney write the ending Eliot planned is she certain that the novel is good. The man she ends up loving writes an ending that she loves.
“It is astonishing how many thieves and murderers do not resemble thieves and murderers.”
(Chapter 11, Page 115)
Here, Atticus notes that criminals do not have a certain look; they are diverse. This develops Horowitz’s idea that murder mysteries illuminate how anyone could become a murderer.
