If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes, whether the original Doyle stories or the Benedict Cumberbatch show, then The Word is Murder is for you.
Reading a brief summary doesn’t do the story justice, particularly when you have to start with the fact that Anthony Horowitz, the author, is also the narrator and main character. Horowitz is already an establish crime thriller novelist in real life, but with this book, he writes himself into the story as a proverbial Watson when a fictional Sherlock-type comes knocking at his door.
One morning, Diana Cowper, mother to a famous British actor, walks into a funeral parlor and prepays for her own service. That afternoon, she’s found dead in her home from an apparent murder.
To crack the case, ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne (the obsessive, crazy-smart Sherlock type) enlists the help of Anthony to document the investigation for the sole purpose of writing a book about it. After a series of “thanks, but no thanks,” Anthony eventually bends to the will of the persistent detective and the pair goes off to figure out who murdered Diana.
Not only is the plot clever and classically Sherlock, but it also has the sort of twists and turns that make for a good crime thriller. I listened to it in a matter of days because I couldn’t wait to find out what happened to Diana. Also, I so enjoyed the banter between Hawthorne and Horowitz, as it is pitch-perfect to Holmes and Watson.
Now I need to go back and read the rest of Horowitz’s work since I learned that he was commissioned by the Conan Doyle Estate to write two Sherlock Holmes novels – The House of Silk, which was mentioned in The Word is Murder, and Moriarty. He was also commissioned by the Ian Flemming folks to write a James Bond novel. All of the personal references in The Word is Murder
What’s fictional, however, is the murder of Diana and Daniel Hawthorne as the investigator. But from the way it’s written, you surely wouldn’t know it.