The Word is Murder

HER OWN FUNERAL WAS PLANNED. Nevertheless, did she plan her own murder?

Anthony Horowitz, the New York Times bestselling author of Moriarty and the Magpie Murders, has once again masterfully reimagined the traditional mystery thriller. This time, he writes a fictionalised account of himself as the Watson to a contemporary Holmes.

The affluent mother of a well-known actress, Diana Cowper, walks into a funeral home one sunny spring morning in London. Her purpose is to arrange her own service.

She is discovered dead in her own house, strangled with a curtain string, six hours later.

Here comes former police detective Daniel Hawthorne, a bright, quirky detective who can solve a case as quickly as he can offend someone. To chronicle his life, Hawthorne need a ghost writer—a Watson to his Holmes. And he goes with Anthony Horowitz.

Unwillingly drawn in, Horowitz quickly finds himself at the centre of a narrative he cannot stop. Even though Hawthorne is harsh, erratic, and obnoxious, his most recent case, with all of its twists and turns, is compelling. The investigator and the writer strike up an unlikely alliance. However, it quickly becomes apparent that Hawthorne is also concealing some sinister secrets.

Anthony Horowitz is at the top of his game in The Word is Murder, a brilliant and complex mystery full of surprises.