The Word Is Murder

I've watched so many police procedurals and murder mysteries that it sort of surprised me that this is the very first murder mystery I've ever read, or at least added to LibraryThing. I couldn't have picked a better first book.

Horowitz is an amazing author, I couldn't believe how refreshing it felt to read something that felt like a true treat - I had to stop myself from blowing through the entire thing in one sitting. Hawthorne is a great anti-hero, and I loved the meta style of Horowitz putting himself into the story. Enjoyed all the twists and turns, I never felt the story lagged for a moment. Absolutely brilliant!

A murder mystery novel with an odd little gimmick: The author writes himself as a character in the novel, pretending that he's been approached by an oddball detective who wants him to write about a case he's currently working on. And, boy, does Horowitz commit to the bit. Parts of the novel read like he's writing his autobiography, as he talks about his writing process, his other novels, real TV shows he's worked on, real famous people he knows, etc. More than that, one of the characters involved in the murder mystery is a supposedly famous actor, and Horowitz casually inserts him into actual TV shows and movies. And I have to say, there's something about that blurring of the lines between reality and fiction that kind of does my head show more in. It's one thing if the reality in question is far enough in the past that I can think of it as historical fiction, but telling me that a guy who doesn't exist had a major part in a movie I've seen just kind of makes me want to yell at the author to stop messing with my mind, even if intellectually I can concede that the conceit is at least kind of interesting.

The murder mystery plot is also kind of interesting, with an intriguing setup and at least one moment where, after a lot of thought, I got to put together one little piece of the puzzle myself and have a nice little "aha!" moment, even if it didn't actually get me any closer to knowing whodunnit. Sadly, though, it all falls apart a little bit at the end, with the clue to who the real killer is coming as part of a big, weirdly out-of-nowhere exposition dump, followed by a very eye-rollingly cliche "Now, before I kill you, let me tell you my life story and explain all my villainous plans!" speech from the bad guy.

Despite all of which, it was still reasonably entertaining, for the most part, but I'm definitely not feeling any great urge to read the rest of the books in this series. show less

Making fiction sound like fact is the goal of most novelists, but few writers succeed in this objective better than Anthony Horowitz in “The Word Is Murder” (2018). The story seems so real that readers will be tempted to double-check the cover to make sure it really does say "a novel."

This is because Horowitz makes himself the narrator and a major character, and he goes into some detail about his career as a novelist (“The House of Silk”) and as the writer of the Alex Rider books for children and “Foyle's War,” shown on BBC and PBS. He even makes characters out of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson when he has a conference with them about a movie script he has been working on. The line between truth and story becomes show more something of a blur.

A former police detective named Daniel Hawthorne comes to Horowitz with a proposition. He asks Horowitz to write a true-crime book about a murder he is investigating as a police consultant. He wants Horowitz to be the Watson to his Sherlock Holmes, in other words.

Hawthorne was fired for reasons he declines to explain, but because of his exceptional skill he is hired whenever a difficult case comes along. Such a case is the murder of Diana Cowper just hours after she had made her own funeral arrangements. Horowitz doesn't like the idea of writing a true crime book and sharing royalties with someone else, and he likes Hawthorne even less, yet the case sounds too intriguing to pass up.

Ten years previously Diana Cowper had been the driver in a hit-and-run accident in which one boy was killed and his brother permanently disabled. Does her murder have something to do with this? Or is it somehow related to her son, Damian Cowper, a major Hollywood star? Like the cops, conducting their own investigation, Horowitz has his own theories about the murder, and like the cops he is always wrong.

Horowitz has written novels featuring Sherlock Holmes, and now he gives Hawthorne Holmes-like abilities. Mystery lovers will enjoy this tale, and they will be happy to know Hawthorne returns in “The Sentence Is Death.” show less

Good plot, timing and dialog. But...having Horowitz as a silent partner with Hawthorne, while brilliant, threw me for a loop. At first I didn't care for Hawthorne because he was clearly using Horowitz to get a book out of this particular case. But as Horowitz along with the reader finds out more and more about Hawthorne, he becomes, not totally likeable, but more human.

I'm trying to recall if I read of any mysteries in which police investigations were conducted by anyone other than detectives/cops. So far the only one that comes to mind is Nicci French's Frieda Klein, an experienced and insightful psychologist who works as a consultant, and freely asks questions of witnesses and others involved directly or peripherally with a crime. show more

This bizarre partnership is so unusual and distracting that it is all I am writing about. As though the crime is secondary. And that may be Horowitz's plan, point all along. It certainly makes me wonder and think.

Give the book a try and see what you think. show less

Diana Cowper, eine elegante ältere Dame, geht zu einem Bestatter, um die Details ihrer Beerdigung zu besprechen. Dies ist nicht so ungewöhnlich, aber dennoch kommt das eher selten vor. Am selben Abend jedoch wird sie in ihrem Londoner Haus ermordet. Daniel Hawthorne, ein ehemaliger Detective der Londoner Metropolitan Police, hilft bei den Ermittlungen. Er bittet den Autor Anthony Horowitz seine Nachforschungen zu begleiten und ein Buch darüber zu verfassen. So kommt der berühmte Schreiber dazu, eine echte Ermittlung live mitzuerleben. Allerdings scheint der Fall ins Nichts zu führen. War alles nur purer Zufall und Mrs Cowper schlicht das Opfer eines Raubüberfalls? Als ihr Sohn Daniel jedoch erstochen in seinem Apartment show more aufgefunden wird, ist es offenkundig, dass der Tod der Mutter kein Zufall gewesen sein konnte. Alle Zeichen weisen auf einen Autounfall 10 Jahre zuvor, bei dem Mrs Cowper einen Jungen tötete. Aber irgendwie wollen die Puzzlestücke nicht so recht zusammenpassen. Das eigenwillige Team von Ex-Detective und Autor muss tiefer graben, bis sie sich selbst in große Gefahr bringen.

Auch nach Ende des Buchs bin ich nicht ganz sicher, ob irgendetwas Wahres an der Geschichte ist oder alles nur der Phantasie eines genialen Autors entspringt. Wie auch immer, es kommt eigentlich nur darauf an, dass man unterhalten wird und das war auf jeden Fall hier gegeben. Der Mordfall war clever konstruiert, überraschend, einfach genial.

Der Roman beginnt unerwartet. Die Planungen der Beerdigungen irritieren schon etwas, dann kommt ein harter Bruch und der Autor spricht zum Leser und es wird klar, dass man nur eine Geschichte in einer Geschichte gelesen hat. Ein recht ungewöhnlicher, aber doch kreativer Start, der bestens zur ganzen Geschichte passt.

Der Mordfall bietet alles, was man erwarten und wünschen würde: mehrere Verdächtige, alle mit zweifelhaftem Verhalten und offenkundigen Motiven. Sehr ungewöhnliche Charaktere, die einem reichlich Material zum Grübeln liefern. Nichtsdestotrotz greift am Ende alles perfekt ineinander, wenn auch die Motivation etwas überrascht, allerdings ist sie in der Gesamtschau plausibel und passt zum Plot.

So entstand ein humorvoller Krimi, der einmal mehr Horowitz‘ meisterhaftes Schreibvermögen unterstreicht. show less

When author and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz is approached by a police consultant to collaborate on a true crime account of a murder investigation, Horowitz’s curiosity overcomes his initial reluctance. Just hours before the murder, the victim, mother of a famous actor, had visited a funeral home where she planned and paid for her funeral. Did she suspect that someone wanted her to die? Daniel Hawthorne, the former police officer turned private detective, gets under Horowitz’s skin, and to be fair, most people find Hawthorne highly annoying. But Hawthorne is brilliant, and the unlikely pair make a 21st century Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

The line between fact and fiction blurs in this novel. Horowitz drops tidbits throughout on show more his real life projects, particularly Foyle’s War. Arthur Conan Doyle did it first with his fictional Dr. Watson as the first-person narrator of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Horowitz gives it a new twist by inserting himself into the story. I think it’s fun. YMMV. show less

It isn’t often that someone arranges their funeral in the morning and is found dead in the evening. In this particular case, the someone is Diana Cowper, mother of the famous actor Damian, and she’s not just found dead: she’s found murdered. The police are at a loss and bring in ex-CID man and “consulting detective” Daniel Hawthorne to crack the case. But what’s a Holmes without a Watson? And Hawthorne has the perfect man in mind: Anthony Horowitz.

Yes, Anthony Horowitz is a character in his own novel. This is gloriously bananas and I loved it. All the details ring just true enough that I had to stop and think, “This IS fiction, right?” I loved the nods to Foyle’s War, the Alex Rider series, Tintin, and his sending up show more of the writing scene and writers’ needs in general. I’d definitely recommend this if you liked the similarly playful Magpie Murders, but I’d also recommend it if you didn’t! The books come from a similar place but feel different enough that you could easily enjoy them separately or in combination. I’m looking forward to seeing what mischief Horowitz gets up to next! show less