Anthony Horowitz is a screenwriter and novelist. Although he writes mystery novels, even novels about Sherlock Holmes. and adapted the British television show Midsomer Murders from the novels, he himself is not an investigator. He doesn’t work with the police. He doesn’t solve crimes. So when former police officer Hawthorne came to him and asked Horowitz to write a book about him solving a murder, he didn’t know what to say at first.

Hawthorne was persistent, though, and Horowitz decided to take a shot on the book. “Hawthorne Investigates,” he insisted it be called, and they would split the proceeds 50/50. What helped sell Horowitz on the idea was that he already had a case. A woman went to a funeral home to pre-plan her funeral. That evening, she was killed in her own home. And Hawthorne had been asked to help solve the murder.

Horowitz was slow to jump on board, in part, because Hawthorne was not easy to work with. They knew each other from the shows that Horowitz wrote for television. Hawthorne was a paid consultant, helping keep the fictional detectives as close to the truth as he could. Now he was tempting the writer with a story of his own. The catch? It wasn’t written yet.

Horowitz decides to take the chance and finds himself in a real-life murder investigation as he and Hawthorne make their way around London and throughout England to track down all the clues. There is a car accident, another murder, a missing woman, and another attempted murder or two before Hawthorne can get to the bottom of the mystery and give Horowitz an ending.

The Word Is Murder is a most unusual murder mystery for many reasons, the first being that the author is a character in his own book. By making himself, or a version of himself, the (sometimes bumbling) assistant, the Dr. Watson, Horowitz creates an intriguingly different type of mystery novel. At the same time he offers us a unique vision of an author creating a book, as he pulls the curtains back and lets us see the actions and thoughts of the detective as well as the actions and thoughts of the novelist. It’s not just a murder mystery, it’s a meta murder mystery, and a wild thrill ride of a story to boot.

I listened to the audiobook of The Word Is Murder, and narrator Rory Kinnear made the experience so beautifully rich. His voice took me straight to England (not an easy task, as I would listen on my way to and from work in a Toyota Matrix), and I appreciate the nuance and the emotions he infused into the story. I definitely recommend this one on audio!

Galleys for The Word Is Murder were provided by Harper through Edelweiss, with many thanks, but I bought the audiobook myself through Audible.