The Word Is Murder was published by Century (UK) in 2017, beginning Horowitz’s Hawthorne detective series — a metafictional crime series in which “Anthony Horowitz” (the author, writing himself as a character) is recruited by Daniel Hawthorne, a brilliant but socially impossible ex-police detective, to write books about his cases. The setup is a deliberate echo of Holmes and Watson, but inverted: the Watson figure is a successful author reluctantly dragged into detection, and the Holmes figure is not charming but rude, secretive, and possibly bigoted.
The first case: Diana Cowper arranges her own funeral, specifying every detail, and is murdered six hours later. The coincidence is too striking to be accident, and Hawthorne’s investigation reveals that planning one’s funeral is a very specific act — one that implies foreknowledge of death.
Collecting The Word Is Murder
First edition (Century, London, 2017): Boards with dust jacket.
Market values:
- Fine in dust jacket: $20–$40
- Very good: $10–$20
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation. As the first in the popular Hawthorne series, first editions will rise in value.
The Hawthorne series’ most innovative element is its use of the real Anthony Horowitz as narrator. The “Horowitz” character attends real events, mentions real people, and discusses his actual writing career — blurring the line between fiction and autobiography. This creates a unique reader experience: every verifiable detail encourages you to trust the narrator, making the fictional elements more convincing by association.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Daniel Hawthorne based on a real person? Horowitz has said Hawthorne is fictional, though the dynamic between them — the brilliant, difficult investigator and the patient, exasperated chronicler — deliberately echoes Holmes and Watson, Poirot and Hastings, and other classic detective-companion pairings.