MYSTERY MAN

Anthony Horowitz’s bestselling novel Magpie Murders is coming to Masterpiece (Oct. 16 on PBS) in an adaptation that stars Lesley Manville. It’s no secret that the prolific man of mystery, 67, holds top honors in the U.K.— OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) and CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire)—for services to literature. Here are some fun facts about the writer and creator of the WWII series Foyle’s War.

 He wrote the screenplays for six episodes of the popular Midsomer Murders

series (which has been renewed for a 23rd season).  His new series featuring Detective Hawthorne and a sidekick called Anthony Horowitz has three books so far: The Word Is Murder, The Sentence Is Death and A Line to Kill. The fourth, The Twist of a Knife, will be released on Nov. 15.

 His mother introduced him to classic films, including Frankenstein and

Dracula, and presented him with a human skull for his 13th birthday.

 He continued the legacy of the world’s most dashing superspy with the novels James Bond: Trigger Mortis (2015), Forever and a Day (2018) and

With a Mind to Kill (2022), commissioned by the estate of Bond creator Ian Fleming.

 Horowitz is currently working on a 10-part TV mystery series, Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue.