The Word Is Murder (Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery #1)

by Anthony Horowitz Narrated by Rory Kinnear

Overview

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.

Editorial Reviews

JUNE 2018 - AudioFile

Rory Kinnear flawlessly performs this entertaining metafiction in which the real mystery writer Anthony Horowitz is persuaded by a fictional investigator called Hawthorne to shadow him as he solves a murder so Horowitz can write about it and make them rich. This is mad fun, especially if you are a fan of “Foyle’s War,” “Midsomer Murders,” or other of Horowitz’s work, since real movie folk (Spielberg!) from Horowitz’s actual life become part of the story. It’s a fresh and diverting spin on the classic scenario: eccentric-but-brilliant master sleuth with earnest-but-bumbling sidekick. Sherlock Holmes, anyone? (Horowitz has written that character, too.) Kinnear is so good you forget he’s there; instead you feel as if you’ve seen this as a movie on some screen in your intercranial theater. B.G. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

From the Publisher

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

Metro London

Horowitz is undeniably brilliant.

Washington Post Book Review

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.

Wall Street Journal

An ingenious funhouse mirror of a novel sets a vintage ‘cozy’ mystery inside a modern frame.

USA Today

Irresistible … What can’t this supremely versatile writer do?

Christian Science Monitor

Horowitz succeeds with The Word Is Murder by simultaneously adhering to and defying the rules of a traditional mystery.

Booklist (starred review)

Actually, the word is not murder, it’s ingenious. . . . A masterful meta-mystery.

The Financial Times

"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.

Real Crime Magazine

The Word Is Murder is an intriguing labyrinth of whodunnits and a true page-turner throughout .

Wall Street Journal

An ingenious funhouse mirror of a novel sets a vintage ‘cozy’ mystery inside a modern frame.

USA Today

Irresistible … What can’t this supremely versatile writer do?

Bookish

…fiendishly clever new thriller…In true Conan Doyle tradition, all the clues are skillfully hidden in plain sight, but readers will sail right past them until a shocking twist forces them to replay the entire sequence of events in their heads, begrudgingly admiring the author for his audacity.

Edinburgh Evening News

A page-turner that is exhilarating and infuriating in equal measure.

Huffington Post

A book firmly rooted in the style of Doyle, faithful to the character as created and with just enough wiggle room to allow the author to say all the things he’s been longing to say about the world of 221B Baker Street...THE HOUSE OF SILK will satisfy.

Seattle Times

Great fun . . . [for] readers who can’t get enough of James Bond at his coolest and suave-est.

Simon Schama

Horowitz has written a humdinger of a Bond story, so cunningly crafted and thrillingly paced that 007’s creator would have been happy to have owned it. . . . From his brilliant first chapter on, Horowitz is a pitch-perfect mimic of the Fleming one-line punch.

Irish Independent

A no-nonsense writer Horowitz proceeds briskly and ladles out spills and thrills with aplomb.

Columbus Dispatch

Praise for Moriarty: “[A] deliciously twisty new novel.

Irish Times

A compendium of dark delights. . . . A brilliant pastiche of the English village mystery and a hugely enjoyable tale of avarice and skullduggery in the world of publishing.

The Guardian

Horowitz . . . delivers the tersely precise prose that makes Bond so compelling, but more than that, he also supplies touches of Fleming’s cruel poetry. . . . A brisk and effective ride.

NPR

[In The House of Silk,] Watson’s elegiac voice should silence the objections of even the most persnickety Sherlock scholar.

JUNE 2018 - AudioFile

Rory Kinnear flawlessly performs this entertaining metafiction in which the real mystery writer Anthony Horowitz is persuaded by a fictional investigator called Hawthorne to shadow him as he solves a murder so Horowitz can write about it and make them rich. This is mad fun, especially if you are a fan of “Foyle’s War,” “Midsomer Murders,” or other of Horowitz’s work, since real movie folk (Spielberg!) from Horowitz’s actual life become part of the story. It’s a fresh and diverting spin on the classic scenario: eccentric-but-brilliant master sleuth with earnest-but-bumbling sidekick. Sherlock Holmes, anyone? (Horowitz has written that character, too.) Kinnear is so good you forget he’s there; instead you feel as if you’ve seen this as a movie on some screen in your intercranial theater. B.G. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170356201
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	06/05/2018
Series:	Hawthorne and Horowitz Series , #1
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	325,051

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