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The Word Is Murder

Hawthorne, Book 1

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The Word Is Murder

By: Anthony Horowitz
Narrated by: Rory Kinnear
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About this listen

Now available to preorder: Moonflower Murders, the latest fiendish murder mystery from Anthony Horowitz
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SHE PLANNED HER OWN FUNERAL. BUT DID SHE ARRANGE HER OWN MURDER?

A woman is strangled six hours after organising her own funeral.

Did she know she was going to die? Did she recognise her killer?

Daniel Hawthorne, a recalcitrant detective with secrets of his own, is on the case, and he's found himself a sidekick – popular crime novelist Anthony Horowitz, who's struck a deal with Hawthorne to turn his latest case into a true crime bestseller.

But the case is twistier and bloodier than Hawthorne had bargained for, and the unlikely duo of detective and writer find themselves neck deep in danger. When the written word is your only defence, you know you're in trouble when the word is murder...
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Buried secrets, murder and a trail of bloody clues lie at the heart of Anthony Horowitz’s page-turning new detective series. If you enjoyed BBC’s Sherlock, you’ll LOVE The Word is Murder.

Chosen as one of Crime Time's books of the year

'Raises the game-playing to Olympic level' – Guardian Books of the Year

'A real page-turner. I loved it!' – ALED JONES (ITV, Weekend)

'The beguiling whodunit plot is dispatched with characteristic elan as Horowitz blurs the line between fact and fiction' – Financial Times

'Splendidly entertaining, absorbing and difficult to put down. Hawthorne is an intriguing character' – Daily Express

'Sharp-witted readers who think they've solved the puzzle early on can rest assured that they've opened only one of many dazzling Christmas packages Horowitz has left beautifully wrapped under the tree' – Kirkus Reviews

'Deduction and wit are well-balanced, and fans of Peter Lovesey and other modern channelers of the spirit of the golden age of detection will clamor for more' – Publishers Weekly

 Amateur Sleuths Crime Thrillers Detective Fiction Mystery Private Investigators Psychological Suspense Thriller Thriller & Suspense Crime Murder

Critic reviews

Ingenious twist on the classic whodunnit
Splendidly entertaining, absorbing and difficult to put down. Hawthorne is an intriguing character
Horowitz is strong on plot … and infectiously zestful
A real page-turner. I loved it! (ALED JONES (ITV, Weekend))
Raises the game-playing to Olympic level.
Actually the word is not murder, it's ingenious ... A masterful meta-mystery.
The beguiling whodunit plot is dispatched with characteristic elan as Horowitz blurs the line between fact and fiction
There is plenty of metafictional fun to be had
Fast-paced and full of unpredictable twists and turns.
Horowitz has put together a cleverly twisting mystery featuring plenty of suspicious characters and more than a few red herrings
All stars
Most relevant
I started this with some trepidation, the idea of a novel with its own writer as a character in a fictional story had the potential to be a bit of a car crash. But he really did pull it off. The elements of reality and fiction were pulled together neatly, and I really enjoyed all the overt, and the more subtle, nods to the conventions and the works of the Greats of the Detective genre.

Enthralling

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Where does The Word Is Murder rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Am new to audio books so was enthralled by thus new experience.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Det. - so intriguing a character and so sharp. An enigma of a man.

Have you listened to any of Rory Kinnear’s other performances? How does this one compare?

No. In my opinion, brilliantly read - clear enunciation, wonderful grasp of dialects and accents. A masterful performance.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The playing of the child's nursery rhyme in the coffin.

Any additional comments?

Good PR for Horowitz referring to his numerous other works. But I found the character disarming and charming.

Unputdownable

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Now and again a book comes along which makes you want to listen at any spare moment you can get as at no point it loses pace or becomes boring. This is one such book - a page turner for sure. With a clear elegant writing style, excellent narration and a plot that keeps you guessing, whats not to like? Just going to download another title by the same author as I was very impressed with this book. A most enjoyable listen.

Smashing read!

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I enjoyed the author’s ingenious approach to creating a detective story in which a crime writer is approached by an ex-detective to write a book about the process of detecting a real crime. It is a welcome deviation from the plethora of detective novels that can be formulaic. It’s an interesting twist for the author to be one of the characters in the story. His first-person account gives the impression that this is a real-life investigation into murder. The details about author’s life and work appear to be largely autobiographical and he weaves this into what turns out to be an imagined crime story. The latter is a gripping narrative with false trails and believable characters. For most of the book I wondered if the detective story was true (I even checked some of he names on Wikipedia!) until I realized that having a final scene of cliff-hanger jeopardy followed by explanations for the crimes that were as clever and contrived to be worthy of an Agatha Christie story meant that this was enjoyable fiction.

Rory Kinnear does a great job of creating a range of voices that add to the seeming veracity of the story.

Clever and intriguing book within a book

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Very clever, keeps you thinking and a nice dry humour. I highly recommend it : sadly the narrator didn’t work for me , his voice was too harsh .

Clever book

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