The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

Meet the Author:

"Welcome to my Amazon author page. It's strange to think that when I wrote my first book, there was no Amazon - in fact there was no internet, no computers. That doesn't make me particularly old. It just shows how quickly times have moved.

In fact I wrote my first book when I was ten, stuck in a miserable, north London boarding school where reading and telling stories were my only lifeline. Every time I write a new book, I have the same sense of urgency that I had then. I knew without any doubt that I would be an author. Perhaps it helped that I wasn't much good at anything else.

Cut forward to the present and now I have over forty-five published novels to my name. The game changer for me was Stormbreaker, the first Alex Rider adventure, published in 2000. There were eleven more books in the series - the latest, Never Say Die, was published in 2017 - and they are now being developed for TV. I have plenty of other children's books out there - I was delighted to discover my Power of Five series (Raven's Gate, Evil Star etc) on sale in a tiny bookshop in Elounda, Crete only a few days ago.

But as I grew older (and my original audience entered their twenties) I felt a need to move into adult writing. This began with two Sherlock Holmes continuation novels, The House of Silk and Moriarty, followed by my entry into the world of James Bond with Trigger Mortis. A second Bond novel is on the way. An original thriller, Magpie Murders was published last year and got some of the best reviews I've had. One of the joys of Twitter, incidentally, is that it allows readers to contact me directly and these 140-character exchanges are as valuable to me as what the professional critics have to say.

I also write for TV. After cutting my teeth on the hugely popular show, Robin of Sherwood, I moved on to work with David Suchet and his brilliant portrayal of Hercule Poirot, writing about nine or ten episodes of Agatha Christie's Poirot. I was the first writer on Midsomer Murders and then went on to create Foyle's War which I worked on for the next sixteen years. Somewhere along the way, I also created a five-part series for ITV called Injustice which very much influenced the book I'm publishing now.

The Word is Murder is hopefully the start of a long-running series. It introduces a detective by the name of Daniel Hawthorne - a rather dark and dangerous man whom I actually met on the set of Injustice. At least, that's my version of events and that's what counts here because, very unusually, I actually appear in the book as his not entirely successful sidekick; the Watson to his Holmes.

The whole point of being an author is that you're in control. But here I am, writing a book in which I have no idea what's going on, following in the footsteps of a character who refuses to tell me anything. What I'm trying to do is to give the traditional whodunit a metaphysical twist. I hope, if you read it, you'll enjoy all the clues, the red herrings, the bizarre range of suspects and the occasionally violent twists. With a bit of luck you won't guess the ending (nobody has so far). But at the same time, The Word is Murder offers something more. It's a book about words as much as murder, about writing crime as well as solving it.

Do let me know what you think. I really hope you like the book. If you do, you can tweet me your thoughts at @AnthonyHorowitz. I hope to hear from you!" ~Amazon

SHE PLANNED HER OWN FUNERAL. BUT DID SHE ARRANGE HER OWN MURDER?

"New York Times bestselling author of Magpie Murders and Moriarty, Anthony Horowitz has yet again brilliantly reinvented the classic crime novel, this time writing a fictional version of himself as the Watson to a modern-day Holmes.

One bright spring morning in London, Diana Cowper – the wealthy mother of a famous actor - enters a funeral parlor. She is there to plan her own service.

Six hours later she is found dead, strangled with a curtain cord in her own home.

Enter disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne, a brilliant, eccentric investigator who’s as quick with an insult as he is to crack a case. Hawthorne needs a ghost writer to document his life; a Watson to his Holmes. He chooses Anthony Horowitz.

Drawn in against his will, Horowitz soon finds himself a the center of a story he cannot control. Hawthorne is brusque, temperamental and annoying but even so his latest case with its many twists and turns proves irresistible. The writer and the detective form an unusual partnership. At the same time, it soon becomes clear that Hawthorne is hiding some dark secrets of his own.

A masterful and tricky mystery that springs many surprises, The Word is Murder is Anthony Horowitz at his very best." ~Amazon

Numeric Breakdown:

1: didn't like it/skip it
2: it was okay/it wasn't for me
3. liked it/worth a read
4. really liked it/loved it
5. it was amazing/must read!

Brilliant!!

Even though I didn't know it, I've been a fan of Anthony Horowitz's work for a long time. An admirer of Agatha Christie's Poirot series starring the estimable David Suchet, I've already witnessed Horowitz's hand in the creation of scripts based on Christie's most popular detective. Add to this my having watched a few of the Midsomer Murders and having Foyle's War listed on my to-watch queue, and I feel very confident that I'm at least familiar with some of this author's work. 

Although I haven't read any of his Alex Rider books, I did watch the first series which premiered on Amazon Prime, and I'm eagerly awaiting the second series arriving this December. Despite these multiple introductions to his work, I've only added Author Anthony Horowitz to my to-read list, and I had not yet tackled any of his written work. This changed about two weeks ago, now, while I was at work. 

His third installment for the Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery series had just arrived in our library. My supervisor requested having it checked-out to her once it had been processed in our system, and it was then that I was able to read the blurb of this new book. Immediately, my interest was sparked. I recalled writing this series down on my never ending list of to-reads. I'd watched an interview with the author months ago discussing his first or second book in the series, and that's when I wrote it down. However, between then and now, I've added at least fifty more books. Hence, the "never ending" list. 

However, with the introduction of this latest book, I promptly searched the shelves to see if they housed his first two books in this series. Of course, they did. I checked out the first book, The Word is Murder, immediately. It was a Friday, and I knew I'd have the chance to read it over the weekend. Excited to get started, I began reading it that Saturday.

I couldn't put it down. 

I finished it the same day I started it.

I checked out book two posthaste!

First, I commend Author Anthony Horowitz for putting himself literally into his book. This mix of autobiography and fiction makes me think of a narrative nonfiction or true crime novel. I'm impressed and amazed at how the whole story flows. You'd think it was all based on true life events, and while a lot of it does center on Horowitz's life and "inner thoughts," the murder itself is fictionalized. 

Anthony Horowitz has "worked" with ex-detective inspector Daniel Hawthorne on the set of Injustice. A mini TV series (this is one of his actual shows) that centers around a defense barrister who has to decide what to do when faced with the knowledge that his client is guilty. Hawthorne was the guy they have on set to let you know if their officers and detectives would say and do the things Horowitz had written out for the characters. He's sharp, detail-oriented, and in Horowitz's opinion "menacing, borderline racist, chippy, and aggressive." Although, Horowitz does state after his initial onslaught of feelings that, "to be fair," Hawthorne is "none of those things." 

Yet, as they dive into Hawthorne's proposition - for Anthony to write about him and the crimes he solves and split the money 50/50, our valiant author begins to gain new insights into who Hawthorne is, but he's still miles away from actually knowing anything about the guy. Horowitz has to pull every single word out of Hawthorne. The PI won't give the author any information about his private life very willingly, will skip subjects if he doesn't want to discuss them, lies about where he lives and possibly on other pieces of personal data, and doesn't let Horowitz know who the killer is. He works it out and keeps the answer to himself or until he's ready to reveal it. 

This is definitely a Holmes and Watson relationship if I've ever seen one. I love how accepting Horowitz makes his character be about not having all the answers, being kept in the dark, making mistakes, and putting up with Hawthorne's not-too-public-friendly-personality. I would explain more of the story here and about how a woman goes to plan her funeral and ends up dead the same day, but I feel as if you MUST read it yourself. The humor, idiosyncrasies, the love/hate relationship you feel toward Hawthorne's character, and how incredibly human the characters are is exquisite. 

There is a feeling of captivation and respect building in me as I read about Horowitz's life: his script writing for Foyle's War, the deliberations he has to make with changes, his marriage, his exasperation pairing up with Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne, and how writing a story about someone you know and something that really happened is so much harder than writing fiction. Basically, his entire book has me hooked from beginning to end, and I love getting this glimpse into his world even as its set in a fictional plot. Sometimes, it's difficult to know where the truth ends and the fiction begins. 

He's a master of story-telling. Horowitz's portrayal of himself on the page and his relationship with the grumpy Hawthorne is sensational. I don't even know how to describe it or what to say in order to do it justice. The author's inner conflict as he works with the private detective to solve the murder that Hawthorne was brought in on is equal parts hilarious and relatable. The ending isn't what I expected, and it's more creepy than I would have suspected.

If you want a fun-filled, adventure-leading, humorous, empathetic, and character-driven plot, then you've come to the right place! Give The Word is Murder a try and see how you feel about this new duo-team of Horowitz and Hawthorne! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have and give it a 5/5 too. 

Thanks for joining me, and as always, Happy Reading!! :)

~Rebecca Reddell, Author