Author front and centre

Horowitz writes himself into the narrative

IN THIS eccentric and cleverly written novel it is not just the murder investigation that will keep you guessing. The author, Anthony Horowitz, puts himself at the centre of the investigation and provides a first-person narrative throughout.

It is an unusual, but effective, literary device whereby Horowitz narrates the novel and takes the reader to the heart of the action in a sort of faux-non-fiction fashion.

To be honest it took me a few pages to realise what was going on and that it was the author talking to me.

And even then I had to double-check some of the facts he was claiming to be true, to verify that it really was him and he had done what he was claiming.

For example, he claims he wrote the Alex Rider books, that he is also the writer and creator of award-winning detective series Foyle’s War, and has written episodes for Poirot and Midsomer Murders, among others. All perfectly true.

In this novel, he is working with (or should that be for) former detective Daniel Hawthorne, who is fictional, but Horowitz weaves in so much truth and is such a big part of the action that the line between fact and fiction quickly blurs.

Like for example when the often-annoying Hawthorne bursts into a meeting Horowitz is supposedly having with Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson.

As one person described the book, it is like “reading an Agatha Christie novel if Agatha Christie placed herself at the centre of the action and engaged with Sherlock Holmes”.

A fitting description given that in 2011 the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle chose Horowitz to be the writer of a new Sherlock Holmes novel (House of Silk), the first such effort to receive an official endorsement from them.

In this novel Horowitz makes mention that he has just finished House of Silk and should really be researching his next novel but instead gets caught up, somewhat reluctantly, with Hawthorne and his investigation.

Basically, Hawthorne wants Horowitz to write a book about the investigation into the murder of Diana Cowper, a wealthy woman who is found strangled six hours after she arranged her own funeral.

Is a death she is responsible for in the past connected to her death? Is her famous son involved?

This page-turner will keep you enthralled and by the end of it you will hope the author brings the private detective Hawthorne to life again in future novels. The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz, RRP $32.99, is out now through Century.