Book: The Word is Murder
Author: Anthony Horowitz
My Rating: 5 Dry Witted Stars
Hey there bookworms! I have a confession to make this week. Sometimes, I have all my ducks in a row and write my reviews weeks in advance, and sometimes I just review whatever I finished most recently. It’s just who I am. With that being said, I started a great sci-fi novel that I am really excited to review for y’all…but it’s so long, as sci-fi novels often are, and I realized in the middle of the week I wasn’t going to finish it in time. So, two days ago I frantically searched for a book to read and review quickly and I landed on the audiobook of The Word is Murder. Which I just finished, like less than 24 hours ago, so please accept this last minute review and standby for a sci-fi review in the near future!
I can always get lost in a good murder mystery, so I wasn’t surprised when this one sucked me in fairly quickly. A woman goes to a funeral parlor to arrange her own funeral and is murdered six hours later. Too coincidental to actually be a coincidence, right? That was enough to get me interested, but that wasn’t all this story had to offer… the investigator, Detective Hawthorne, hires an author to shadow him on the case and write a book about it. Which is also pretty interesting…and at risk of sounding like a late night infomercial, “But wait! That’s not all!”
The author that our fictional Detective Hawthorne hires is none other than Anthony Horowitz – as in the actual, not fictional, author of this book. Maybe it’s genius to write yourself into your own novel as a character, or maybe it’s an astronomical amount of hubris? Either way it’s such a fun addition to the crime novel genre. I loved it immediately. His seamless blending of fiction and reality is impressive and captivating.
Horowitz mentions Sherlock Holmes early in the book which I think was definitely foreshadowing of the Holmes & Watson-esque relationship between him and Hawthorne. Even though Hawthorne is a no-nonsense character that doesn’t waste his time with frilly words, and has some pretty obvious flaws, I somehow couldn’t help but like him immediately. Even Horowitz explicitly saying he didn’t like the man made me like him more for some reason.
The “character” of Horowitz was a little more difficult for me to classify because I was constantly wondering how much was real life and how much was fictional character. Really, in my mind “Hawthorne and Horowitz” seemed like one character to me. I think alone, they both lacked something, but together they made a great duo.
As far as the mystery was concerned, I really thought I had it solved…until I didn’t. Then I thought I had it again, but nope. Finally, I just gave up and waited for Hawthorne to put all the puzzle pieces together for Horowitz and me in the end. There were tons of red herrings that Horowitz threw into the story, but he, himself, as a character fell for them all as well. Which somehow lessened the sting when I discovered I had fallen for them.
If you love murder mysteries, you should definitely check this one out. I highly recommend the audiobook because there’s something about these British characters being read in British accents that made it that much more enjoyable for me. And it’s only nine hours long! You can finish it in a couple of days like I did. I’m delightfully surprised that my last minute, panicked book choice turned out to be so good! I’ve already got my eye on the next book in the series.
Krystle Goodman is a crazy cat lady, who loves to drink exorbitant amounts of coffee, and read a shocking amount of books. She lives in Benton with her husband Josh, her son Roman, and their two cats Roxanne and Abby. When she isn’t reading, you’ll find her cooking, painting, or watching true crime shows. Watch for Krystle’s book reviews every other Friday. Send fanmail to: [email protected]
See more of Krystle’s reviews at www.mysaline.com/krystle.