The Word Is Murder
"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.
Reviews
Brilliantly constructed novel from a unique viewpoint. Highly recommend.
By Stephen Loughrey
This is a great read. The characters are authentic, the story, intriguing and the plot, devised with the fine threads of deception, marvelous. Total winner!
By She She 1192
This is the first book I read by this author and I really loved it . It was entertaining from the beginning and had me wanting to keep turning the page to find out more . I found the concept so very interesting by the author inputting himself into the book. I loved it, all of it !
By Nikkivnac
I loved it! As an avid reader of fiction, spy thrillers and mysteries, this book was all of that and more. Charming, so well written and a pleasure to read. Bravo!!
By Vassmy
Incredibly entertaining from start to finish. The author’s love of Sherlock Holmes stories was evident in the dynamics of the main characters. The author does an inventive take on the traditional “who done it” by writing himself into the story; a move which could have fallen flat but it’s pulled off in a self deprecating and often laugh inducing fashion. I highly recommend the audio version- one of the best narrations I have ever heard.
By Lo Scho