Marble Hall Murders

Books symbolize myriad things in Marble Hall Murders. While she is in Crete, Michael gives Susan Nordic mysteries to edit. After she starts working with Eliot, Michael gives her “a second manuscript to edit—another piece of Nordic noir” (206). These represent income for Susan; editing them is a way to earn money. The Atticus novels that Susan edits are more complicated. She says, “Why was it that whenever Atticus Pund came into my life, I inevitably found myself somewhere I didn’t want to be?” (348). Alan’s novels cause problems for her and lead to the destruction of Cloverleaf Books.

Eliot’s new Atticus Pund novel is a way for him to get revenge on Miriam for mistreating him and his family, as well as get revenge on Roland for sleeping with Gillian. It symbolizes his anger toward the Crace family. It is also a way to redeem himself as a writer after his previous novels, Gee for Gunfire and Gee for Graveyard, were unsuccessful. Eliot dies before completing his Atticus novel. When it is completed by Blakeney under his pseudonym, Pund’s Last Case is a way for Blakeney to achieve his dream of becoming a writer.

There is a book inside Pund’s Last Case.