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The Word Is Murder: A Novel (A Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery, 1) Paperback – May 7, 2019
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"One of the most entertaining mysteries of the year. It’s also one of the most stimulating, as it ponders such questions as: Which is of greater interest to the reader, the crime or the detective? And: Is the pencil truly mightier than the butcher knife?” — Wall Street Journal
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.
A woman crosses a London street. It is just after 11 a.m. on a bright spring morning, and she is going into a funeral parlor to plan her own service. Six hours later the woman is dead, strangled with a crimson curtain cord in her own home.
Enter disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne, a brilliant, eccentric man as quick with an insult as he is to crack a case. And Hawthorne has a partner, the celebrated novelist Anthony Horowitz, curious about the case and looking for new material. As brusque, impatient, and annoying as Hawthorne can be, Horowitz—a seasoned hand when it comes to crime stories—suspects the detective may be on to something, and is irresistibly drawn into the mystery.
But as the case unfolds, Horowitz realizes that he’s at the center of a story he can’t control, and his brilliant partner may be hiding dark and mysterious secrets of his own.
- Print length432 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarper Perennial
- Publication dateMay 7, 2019
- Dimensions5.31 x 0.97 x 8 inches
- ISBN-100062676806
- ISBN-13978-0062676801
- Lexile measure740L
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Actually, the word is not murder, it’s ingenious. . . . A masterful meta-mystery.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Sharp-witted readers who think they’ve solved the puzzle early on can rest assured that they’ve opened only one of many dazzling Christmas packages Horowitz has left beautifully wrapped under the tree.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Deduction and wit are well-balanced, and fans of Peter Lovesey and other modern channelers of the spirit of the golden age of detection will clamor for more.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Horowitz is undeniably brilliant.” — Metro London
"The beguiling whodunit plot is dispatched with characteristic élan as Horowitz blurs the line between fiction and reality… there is no denying the sheer ingenuity of the central notion.” — The Financial Times
“The Word Is Murder is an intriguing labyrinth of whodunnits and a true page-turner throughout .” — Real Crime Magazine
“An ingenious funhouse mirror of a novel sets a vintage ‘cozy’ mystery inside a modern frame.” — Wall Street Journal
“Irresistible … What can’t this supremely versatile writer do?” — USA Today
“Horowitz succeeds with The Word Is Murder by simultaneously adhering to and defying the rules of a traditional mystery.” — Christian Science Monitor
“The Word Is Murder is full of surprises and suspense…hugely entertaining. It is a special treat for those who want to read crime mysteries.” — Washington Post Book Review
"The Word Is Murder, with its dry tone and insider anecdotes about publishing and the movie business, is certainly one of the most entertaining mysteries of the year. It’s also one of the most stimulating, as it ponders such questions as: Which is of greater interest to the reader, the crime or the detective? And: Is the pencil truly mightier than the butcher knife?” — Wall Street Journal
From the Back Cover
A woman crosses a London street.
It is just after 11 a.m. on a bright spring morning, and she is going into a funeral parlor to plan her own service.
Six hours later the woman is dead, strangled with a crimson curtain cord in her own home.
Enter disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne, a brilliant, eccentric man as quick with an insult as he is to crack a case. And Hawthorne has a partner, the celebrated novelist Anthony Horowitz, curious about the case and looking for new material.
As brusque, impatient, and annoying as Hawthorne can be, Horowitz—a seasoned hand when it comes to crime stories—suspects the detective may be on to something, and is irresistibly drawn into the mystery. But as the case unfolds, Horowitz realizes he’s at the center of a story he can’t control . . . and that his brilliant partner may be hiding dark and mysterious secrets of his own.
A masterful and tricky mystery that operates at many levels, The Word Is Murder is Anthony Horowitz at his very best.
About the Author
Anthony Horowitz is one of the UK’s most prolific and successful writers, unique in being active in both adult and YA fiction, TV, theater, and journalism. Several of his previous novels were instant New York Times bestsellers. His bestselling Alex Rider series for young adults has sold more than nineteen million copies worldwide and has become a hugely successful show on Amazon Prime TV. His breakthrough murder mystery Magpie Murders was adapted into a miniseries for PBS. He lives in London with his wife and dog.
Product details
- Publisher : Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (May 7, 2019)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 432 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0062676806
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062676801
- Lexile measure : 740L
- Item Weight : 11 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.31 x 0.97 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #17,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #153 in Traditional Detective Mysteries (Books)
- #278 in Historical Mystery
- #509 in Amateur Sleuths
- Customer Reviews:
About 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!
Anthony Horowitz
Crete 2017
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In amongst the fiction, Horowitz opens up about his own experiences as a writer of screenplays and novels, while dropping names and background information. It’s a clever way of writing an autobiographical work and anyone interested in learning more about the craft of writing for TV, film and books will find lots of inside info! Very enjoyable!
At first, Horowitz is nonplussed. His previous experience working with Hawthorne on a TV series was not exactly pleasurable. The men constantly fought over whether the main character, a detective, would do this or that. Horowitz found Hawthorne to be rude, aggressive, and insufferable. But…Horowitz knows that Hawthorne is brilliant at his job, and the Cowper case is intriguing. When giving a book lecture, an audience member asks why Horowitz never writes about actual crimes. That seals it. Horowitz calls Hawthorne and says he will work with him. Thus begins a Sherlock Holmesian partnership with Horowitz as Watson and Hawthorne as Holmes. In this case, though, Horowitz is less an amiable sidekick and more of a sorely put-upon partner. The dialogue between the two men is reason enough to read the novel, not even figuring in the exciting mystery.
As the men interview people close to Cowper, they are pulled into a baffling set of circumstances. Diana Cowper was the mother of a famous Hollywood actor Damien Cowper. The son is set to inherit millions through his mother's estate, and he is having money problems, which pique the two investigators' interest. There is also the issue of a car accident that happened years ago when Diana hit a child running across the street and didn't stop. The child had a permanent brain injury, and the parents were inconsolable. They never forgave Cowper for the accident and running away. These are just a few of the suspects and red herrings for the reader to consider.
I found the novel to be delightful. The crusty character of Hawthorne is the perfect foil for the urbane Horowitz. I plan to read every one of the books in this series. Mystery lovers who enjoy a tongue-in-cheek style will not be disappointed.
I enjoyed the scenes when they were working together. Anthony would teach Daniel how to write the book to make it appealing to readers while Daniel would teach Anthony how to notice the details. When the story was focused on the variable of the case I was most invested. At times Mr. Horowitz would go off on a tangent regarding plays, directors, and producers all of which didn’t aid in the progress of the story.
While I appreciate the concept of bridging a detective and a writer together to solve a crime, I’m not really invested in the process in which this concept was delivered. It read like a tutorial on how to write an adult detective story. It was difficult to follow this story as a investigation when it was being crowded by the concept of writing what was taking place. Instead of giving the reader investigative information pertinent to the crime the reader had to evaluate not only the work of the detective but the work of the writer as well. It was very overwhelming.
Originally I thought it was an interesting concept that Anthony used himself as a character. For awhile it worked. Later I grew tired of the overanalyzing of writing the detectives story by dissecting his character plucking away at the way he communicated with others, the way he read the scene of the crime, or the way he viewed others giving his opinion freely. I didn’t like the crassness of pushy judgement on the character. I just wanted to explore the different variables used to solve the crime not pick apart the detectives persona. I’m not sure why Mr. Horowitz had to make such a big deal about Hawthorne’s character. It wasn’t relevant to the story where he lived. Trying to characterize him was unnecessary.
Exploring every avenue meant an extensive list of suspects. While I usually struggle with character driven stories this one was quite easy to follow.
Anthony has come a long way from writing the Alex Rider series. As an adult I enjoyed that series. But this one doesn’t hold the same flare and style of writing. I was hoping to get some of that Diamond Brothers writing style. Those books were fantastic.
The story really came alive when the crime was solved and all the unexpected truths were announced.
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Why?
Thanks to Deadpool we all know about breaking the fourth wall and going 'meta'. This novel, which is as brilliant as they can be, does the same in terms of a crime thriller. It's a 'procedural' about writing a murder mystery, with the author "showing us the ropes" while moving step-by-step towards an inexorable, and yet rather surprising climax. The narrative, despite being laced with murders, grim undercurrent of violence, and a simmering tension between the protagonists, gets elevated by a wry British humour and straightforwardness.
We all know that Horowitz creates beautiful characters. Combined with that you have lots of 'real stuff' infused into the narrative, and his own solid, practical, and very-very real presence in the story. This makes the reading experience a mind-boggling adventure, akin to some virtual reality game, where the viewer, or reader in this case, doesn't know what or whom to believe.
And, befittingly, Horowitz does a 'Christie' again, but in a different manner than 'Magpie Murders'. How? To know that you have to read the novel, I must say.
Overall, a brilliant novel. I would consider it as a must-read for lovers of crime thrillers, detective stories, and in general, good, lucid, literary writing in any form.
Highly Recommended.