Author:Anthony Horowitz
A welcome new instalment in this series of murder mystery novels, in which the author himself appears as a character playing the ‘Watson’ role to ex copper Daniel Hawthorne’s ‘Holmes’. The first book in this series, The Word Is Murder, is being filmed for a movie adaptation, but when the pair arrive to visit the set they find a far from happy camp. The two stars hate each other due to incidents in their past, the director is pretentious, the screen writer is an eco warrior determined to impose their views on the script, and to cap it all the producer is about to run out of money. It seems things can’t get any worse until the actor playing Hawthorne is fatally stabbed, leaving the real life Hawthorne with no choice but to step in and investigate his own murder! The plot is as convoluted as the many suspects’ intertwined pasts, but along the way we are given some more tantalising glimpses into Hawthorne’s puzzling private life and his rather mysterious childhood. A very entertaining and captivating read that really keeps the pages turning, and leaves the reader eagerly hoping for further revelations in the next novel.
Length of Read:Medium
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
Murder mysteries, cryptic clues, the previous titles in this series.
One thing you’ve learned
Another thoroughly enjoyable read from this prolific author who so rarely disappoints. This can be read as a stand-alone work, but as it’s the sixth in an ongoing series, it really works best if you’ve read the others first.
My love for Anthony Horowitz is significant but the Hawthorne series is my favourite of his stuff. I’m counting the days for the audiobook to drop on Thursday.
only finished the third of the Susan Ryland ones last week. Hawthorne ones are great.
Not by Horowitz but I’m currently enjoying the George Cross ones; the gimmick here is that he’s a DS with ASD. Actually it’s interesting, he started having Aspergers and when that term kinda went out of favour, it was dealt with in the books by the main character announcing that he’d be more Autistic than anything else.