Susan Ryeland is an editor. Her life revolves around books. She works for a small publisher. Her star author is Alan Conway. Conway is famous for detective novels. His hero is Atticus Pünd. Pünd is a 1950s investigator.
As Susan investigates, she "sees" Atticus Pünd. He stands beside her. They compare notes across time. Pünd hunts a killer in 1955. Present: Susan hunts a killer in the modern day.
Susan tries to call Alan. She finds out he is dead. The police say it was suicide. He jumped from his tower. Susan doesn't believe it. She thinks the ending of the book holds a clue.
Alan delivers a new manuscript. It is titled Magpie Murders . Susan begins to read. The Story Within the Story