The Word is Murder

A wealthy woman strangled six hours after she's arranged her own funeral. A very private detective uncovering secrets but hiding his own. A reluctant author drawn into a story he can't control. What do they have in common? Unexpected death, an unsolved mystery and a trail of bloody clues lie at the heart of Anthony Horowitz's page-turning new thriller. SPREAD THE WORD. THE WORD IS MURDER.

Review
‘The Word is captivating’ could as easily have been the title as Anthony Horowitz draws me into the world of death, death, suicide, accidents and murder.

Having read many of his books including most of the Alex Rider books and the Magpie Murders I was not surprised at the quality of the storytelling but was captivated by the story being told in the first person and seemingly written as we turn the pages.

I did at one point early in the book Google one of the events and discovered it was true and then realised that I needed to get back to the book and leave Google till later if at all. I note from many other reviews that readers have got caught up in what was real and what was fiction and how accurate where the real life events.

Having grown up on the South coast of England in a village called Sompting near Brighton and lived in London for many years as well. I loved all of the detailed descriptions, particularly of the seaside town Deal and his thoughts about each place depending on your perspective and attitude.

The characters where more fictional that fictional characters and yet… We are led by Hawthorne the detective who is not a detective, Mrs Cowper who plans her own funeral and then dies the same day, the author constantly talking about all of the characters, going over his notes, his doubts and berating himself for being dragged into this affair with a grump old school not detective.

The whole book is filled with mystery, smiles and death.