The Word Is Murder

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S THE WORD IS MURDER ABOUT?
The setup here is that a former police detective, Daniel Hawthorne, is doing some work as a consulting detective and as a consultant for TV. He's one of the consultants on Anthony Horowitz's show, in fact. And now he comes to Horowitz with a proposal, Horowitz should follow him around on some of his cases, watch him at work and write True Crime books about it, with the two splitting the profits.

Horowitz is hesitant but is talked into the deal. And regrets it almost immediately—and would probably walk away from the deal if he wasn't intrigued by Hawthorne (who he really didn't know at all until this point) and the case.

It's hard to say if the murder case is the “A Story” or the “B Story” in this novel—I think it's the A, with the storyline focusing on the writing of Horowitz's first Hawthorne book as the B Story. But it'd be easy to argue the other way—which really doesn't matter, I'm just bringing it up to describe how the novel works.

I should probably talk about the murder case, though—it's pretty clever. A wealthy woman (also the mother of a famous actor) goes to a funeral parlor and starts making arrangements for her funeral. A few hours later, she's murdered. It's not as if she predicted her death (maybe not, anyway, that's to be determined), just the kind of freaky coincidence that gets the attention of journalists, consulting detectives, and spy novelists looking for a new project.

It's not just a good hook—plenty of twists, turns, intrigue, and colorful suspects follow.

NOT THE MOST FLATTERING DEPICTIONS
When you first meet him, you think that Hawthorne's probably just a misunderstood guy because of a combination of his brusque manner and genius. You may even think that this work with Horowitz may lead to a redemptive arc, a rehabilitation arc, or something. But as the book goes on, the less convinced I was of any of that. I think he's just a foul sort of person who's really good at something. By most measures, he's not a good sort of person—but those are frequently fun characters.

Horowitz really doesn't come across much better. I remember in junior high when I came across a handful of mysteries that Steve Allen (yeah, that one) wrote and I couldn't help but wonder why someone would write himself so unflatteringly. I eventually sussed it out and by the time I got to Kinky Friedman's mysteries, I expected it. See also, Brent Spiner's new book. Horowitz fits into that scheme—he's bright enough but doesn't have the stomach, the instincts, or cynicism to handle a murder investigation on his own—which is fitting, he's a writer, not a detective. He's a good Watson figure to Hawthorne—even while it's clear that he wants to do better.

HOW WAS THE NARRATION?
I've listened to interviews with Horowitz before, but I halfway wonder if I listened to another one and it didn't sound like Rory Kinnear if I'd believe it was him. Kinnear did a great job embodying the narration and characters–he's definitely the kind of narrator I'd want to listen to again.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT THE WORD IS MURDER?
This was a fun mystery—you put any PI/PI duo in the mystery part of the story and it would've worked well*, it's just so well-conceived. Not surprisingly at all, Horowitz can construct a strong mystery/story and he does that here. I'm ready to read/listen to something like that any day. The victim, the suspects, the various motives, the red herrings, and the ultimate reveal provide everything you want.

* In my mind, that's a compliment to the design of the story. I'm not sure it reads that way when it's read.

What makes this distinct is the characters of Hawthorne and Horowitz—how they interact with each other and the suspects. Their new business relationship and its ups and downs over the course of the novel make this more than just a good PI story and turn it into a series that you're going to want to come back to.

And you will want to. I'm glad there are at least two more and am looking forward to diving in.