This post details the Hawthorne and Horowitz Mysteries by best-selling British crime writer, Anthony Horowitz. Including of all the books so far in this unique detective book series listed in order, with book 5 is due out later this week.
Anthony Horowitz probably best known for being the author of the Alex Rider books, screenwriter for some of the Midsomer Murders episodes and for the book then TV series (the brilliant BritBox BBC murder mystery series starring Lesley Manville), Magpie Murders – for more details see my post below.
For my top 10 new British cosy crime dramas for 2024 plus recommended new books, video games and TV shows for Agatha Christie fans, see my posts listed below.
Hawthorne and Horowitz Mysteries
Author: Anthony Horowitz | Audiobook Narrator: Rory Kinnear.
The Word Is Murder (Book 1)
Published: August 2017.
Plot: One bright spring morning in London, Diana Cowper – the wealthy mother of a famous actor – enters a funeral parlor. She is there to plan her own service. Six hours later she is found dead, strangled with a curtain cord in her own home.
Enter disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne, a brilliant, eccentric investigator who’s as quick with an insult as he is to crack a case. Hawthorne needs a ghost writer to document his life; a Watson to his Holmes. He chooses Anthony Horowitz. Drawn in against his will, Horowitz soon finds himself a the center of a story he cannot control. Hawthorne is brusque, temperamental and annoying but even so his latest case with its many twists and turns proves irresistible. The writer and the detective form an unusual partnership. At the same time, it soon becomes clear that Hawthorne is hiding some dark secrets of his own. [Source: Amazon]
*A Hawthorne and Horowitz Mysteries 1: The Word Is Murder available online from UK Amazon and US Amazon – paperback, hardcover, Kindle Edition and Audible Audiobook. Also available from Apple: Apple Books and Apple Audiobook.
The Sentence Is Death (Book 2)
Published: November 2018.
Plot: These were Richard Pryce’s last words, overheard moments before the celeb divorce lawyer was bludgeoned to death with a £3,000 bottle of wine. Strange circumstances pile up. Pryce was teetotal, so why this bottle? Why those words? Why did the killer paint a number on his wall? And, most importantly, which of the man’s many, many enemies did the deed?
Baffled, the police are forced to bring in Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, the author Anthony, who’s really getting rather good at this murder investigation business. But as Hawthorne takes on the case with characteristic relish, it becomes clear that he, too, has secrets to hide. Anthony knows they must be exposed – even at the risk of death… [Source: Amazon]
*A Hawthorne and Horowitz Mysteries 2: The Sentence Is Death is available online from UK Amazon and US Amazon – paperback, hardcover, Kindle Edition and Audible Audiobook. Also available from Apple: Apple Books and Apple Audiobook.
A Line to Kill (Book 3)
Published: August 2021.
Plot: I couldn’t see the sea from my bedroom, but I could hear the waves breaking in the distance. They reminded me that I was on a tiny island. And I was trapped. There has never been a murder on Alderney. It’s a tiny island, just three miles long and a mile and a half wide. The perfect location for a brand-new literary festival. Private investigator Daniel Hawthorne has been invited to talk about his new book. The writer, Anthony Horowitz, travels with him. Very soon they discover that not all is as it should be.
Alderney is in turmoil over a planned power line that will cut through it, desecrating a war cemetery and turning neighbour against neighbour. The visiting authors – including a blind medium, a French performance poet and a celebrity chef – seem to be harbouring any number of unpleasant secrets. When the festival’s wealthy sponsor is found brutally killed, Alderney goes into lockdown and Hawthorne knows that he doesn’t have to look too far for suspects. There’s no escape. The killer is still on the island. And there’s about to be a second death… [Source: Amazon]
*A Hawthorne and Horowitz Mysteries Book 3: A Line to Kill is available online from UK Amazon and US Amazon – paperback, hardcover, Kindle Edition and Audible Audiobook. Also available from Apple: Apple Books and Apple Audiobook.
The Twist of a Knife (Book 4)
Published: August 2022.
Plot: “I’ve written three books and our deal is over.” That’s what reluctant author Anthony Horowitz tells ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne in an awkward meeting. The truth is that Anthony has got other things on his mind. His new play, a thriller called Mindgame, is about to open at the famous Vaudeville theatre in Shoreditch. Not surprisingly, Hawthorne declines a ticket to the opening night. The play is not enjoyed by the critics…
In particular, Sunday Times critic Harriet Throsby gives it a savage review, focusing particularly on the writing. The next day, Throsby is stabbed in the heart with an ornamental dagger, which, it turns out, belongs to Anthony, and which has his fingerprints all over it. Anthony is arrested by an old enemy…Detective Inspector Cara Grunshaw. She’s still smarting from her failure to solve the case described in the second Hawthorne adventure: The Sentence Is Death. She blames Anthony for her failure. And now she’s out for revenge.
Thrown into prison and brutally interrogated, Anthony is the prime suspect in Throsby’s murder, and as a second theatre critic is found to have died in mysterious circumstances, the net closes in. Ever more desperate, he realizes that only one man can help him. But will Hawthorne take the call? [Source: Amazon]
*A Hawthorne and Horowitz Mysteries Book 4: The Twist of a Knife is available online from UK Amazon and US Amazon – paperback, hardcover, Kindle Edition and Audible Audiobook. Also available from Apple: Apple Books and Apple Audiobook.
Close to Death (Book 5)
Publish Date: April 11, 2024.
Plot: How do you solver a murder… when everyone has the same motive? From global bestselling Anthony Horowitz, a brilliantly entertaining mystery in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series. Richmond Upon Thames is one of the most desirable areas to live in London. And Riverview Close – a quiet, gated community – seems to offer its inhabitants the perfect life. At least it does until Giles Kenworthy moves in with his wife and noisy children, his four gas-guzzling cars, his loud parties and his plans for a new swimming pool in his garden.
His neighbours all have a reason to hate him and are soon up in arms. When Kenworthy is shot dead with a crossbow bolt through his neck, all of them come under suspicion and his murder opens the door to lies, deception and further death. The police are baffled. Reluctantly, they call in former Detective Daniel Hawthorne. But even he is faced with a seemingly impossible puzzle. How do you solve a murder when everyone has the same motive? [Source: Amazon]
*A Hawthorne and Horowitz Mysteries 5: Close to Death is available online from UK Amazon and US Amazon – paperback, hardcover, Kindle Edition and Audible Audiobook. Also available from Apple: Apple Books and Apple Audiobook.
More by Anthony Horowitz
If you love Anthony Horowitz books, don’t forget to check out: Magpie Murders Books and BritBox BBC Mystery TV Series.
For Agatha Christie Fans!
My 10 Best Agatha Christie Books of All Time, in Order.
Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? on BritBox (2022).
Watch New Agatha Christie Films Online.
4 Top Agatha Christie Board Games.
New Book – The Science of Murder: The Forensics of Agatha Christie.
Marple: Twelve New Mysteries – Audiobook Free on Audible.
All of the Agatha Christie Video Games, Listed in Order.
You might also like to check out my latest Agatha Christie News and Reviews. And 10 New British Cosy Mystery TV Dramas for 2024.
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