The Word Is Murder

A Novel

By: Anthony Horowitz

Narrated by: Rory Kinnear

The New York Times best-selling author of Magpie Murders and Moriarty brilliantly reinvents the classic crime novel once again with this clever and inventive mystery starring a fictional version of the author himself as the Watson to a modern-day Holmes, investigating a case involving buried secrets, murder, and a trail of bloody clues.

A woman crosses a London street.

It is just after 11 a.m. on a bright spring morning, and she is going into a funeral parlor to plan her own service.

Six hours later the woman is dead, strangled with a crimson curtain cord in her own home.

Enter disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne, a brilliant, eccentric man as quick with an insult as he is to crack a case. And Hawthorne has a partner, the celebrated novelist Anthony Horowitz, curious about the case and looking for new material.

As brusque, impatient, and annoying as Hawthorne can be, Horowitz - a seasoned hand when it comes to crime stories - suspects the detective may be on to something, and is irresistibly drawn into the mystery. But as the case unfolds, Horowitz realizes he’s at the center of a story he can’t control...and that his brilliant partner may be hiding dark and mysterious secrets of his own.

A masterful and tricky mystery which plays games at many levels, The Word Is Murder is Anthony Horowitz at his very best.

©2018 Anthony Horowitz (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

A great story, well-narrated

It took me a little while to become interested in Anthony Horowitz because his reviews are all over the place. People seem to have strong views on his story-telling abilities...…..

In my humble opinion, this is an intelligent, imaginative and humorous story. It took me a while to figure it out. I like that.

I'm glad I don't often agree with other people's opinions because I may have missed out on this book.

Amusing

I guessed the murderer but enjoyed the story. Fun audio book. Tony, first calls author.

Hawthorne really annoyed me...

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I had not read any of Horowitz’s other books, but I plan to now. The way Hawthorne treated Antony made me crazy. Anthony kept telling him to forget the whole thing, but kept caving in. Too weak of personality, but in the end it all came together and I really liked it. But I found myself getting annoyed with Hawthorne so often that I couldn’t give it 5 stars.

A Jolly Good Read….Um, listen!

I enjoyed every minute and found myself laughing aloud, as well as “solving” the who done it multiple times, only to be wrong right up to the reveal. The performance by Rory Kinnear is superb… Spot on. Mr Horowitz innovatively casts himself as the protagonist and I found myself Googling his many works along the way. A vanity project that is sublimely and unabashedly carried out. Every writer puts him/herself into the characters. Mr Horowitz grandly owns it. I made my living as Broadway performer and gobbled up the Show Biz business. My next listen shall be the next in this series. Kudos Mr Horowitz. You’ve done it!

fantastic narration and very good story

Kind of a retake on sherlock holms and Watson. The narrator does a fantastic job making it even more interesting. The ending was ok, but the entire journey was great.

Great read

When it started I didn’t think I would want to hear the story. After about 15 minutes I was hooked. The performance is done very well. Dry humor throughout the story. You’ll be glad you decided to hear it.

captivating

loved every minute of this story! narrator is excellent....i liked the pacing of the story, easy story to listen too and hope he wtites more with Hawthorne

Good characters good twists

The book is interesting and original. Except for the end when it becomes a tad predictable and almost absurd.

Granted endings are always a bit of formula but an otherwise really fun read/listen was tarnished. I’ll definitely read another of his books and hope his editor pushes for something more in line with the quality of the rest of a very good story.

I want to see this show!

Hawthorn and Horowitz would make an AMAZING TV show. This is a perfect mystery. Perfect detective. Surprising as hell. I loved this book and hope he writes more.

New narrator needed but loved the story

I really enjoyed this book, which is a good thing since the narrator was very unsatisfying and felt deadpan. Instead of enjoying the overall experience, I was kept interested only by the story itself. Seeing as the same person is narrating the second book in this series, and narration reviews are poor as well, I will most likely not purchase the audible version, but the kindle book.