The Word is Murder

I cannot say enough good things about Anthony Horowitz and his mystery novels for adults.  I absolutely loved Magpie Murders.  I have been using quotes from that book when I lead book discussion groups about other mystery novels.  I willl be leading a discussion group about that book this summer and I have recommended it multiple times.

Horowitz has outdone himself with this new book, The Word is Murder.  I really kept wanting to google the characters in the book, thinking they were real people.  I was almost completely convinced that he was writing a non fiction account of following a detective as he solved a case.  It is so convincingly written.  Such clever prose and so entertaining at the same time.

I do not want to give too much away so I will just tease the plot by saying that in this novel, Horowitz places himself as the sidekick to the ex policeofficer, Hawthorne, who is extremely secretive, but wants to have Horowitz accompany him as he solves the murder of a woman who had just planned and paid for her own funeral that afternoon.  The storyline just gets more convoluted as we go, but the reader is so drawn in you cannot stop reading.

I do not think I can say enough complimentary things about this book, but more importantly about this author in general.  I said it when I reviewed Magpie Murders, that I needed to go back and House of Silk and Moriaty but now more than ever I must go back and read these while I wait for Horowitz to think up his next clever mystery novel.