The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

Anthony Horowitz has turned the detective story upside down with this imaginative telling of the murder investigation of Diana Cowper's murder.  Diana, an older woman, leaves her house one day on an errand.  She calmly goes to a funeral director's office and lays out and pays for her own funeral.  It's not unusual to preplan your funeral; TV ads suggest it almost daily, but what is unusual is that Diana's life ends that day.  She is brutally murdered in her house later that day.

Hororwitz is casting about for his next project when he is contacted by a man he knows but has little use for.  Detective Daniel Hawthorne was a man Horowitz met on the set of one of his projects.  He served as a consultant to the directors of that film as he was a former London detective and brilliant at it.  However useful he was, Horowitz had never liked him as Hawthorne is secretive, dismissive of others and rude.  He is surprised when Hawthorne asks him to lunch to discuss something and more surprised at his suggestion.  Hawthorne wants a partnership with Horowitz in which Horowitz will document Hawthorne's investigation of the murder as it occurs.   Hawthorne is sure it will be a big success but Horowitz is less convinced.  But it is intriguing to imagine being on the inside of a murder investigation so he agrees.

Diane Cowper seems like an unlikely candidate for murder but she does have skeletons in her closet.  Years before, she was involved in a tragedy.  She was the driver when nine year old twins dashed out in front of her car.  One was killed and the other was severely injured.  Is this a grudge killing?  Diana also has a famous son; a man who trained as an actor and is now a big star in Hollywood.  When he reluctantly comes home, will the detectives find out that he is involved somehow? 

The case twists and turns and Horowitz faithfully documents every incident, along with his thoughts.  The two men don't become closer; if anything, their contempt for each other grows as the case goes on.  Hawthorne is secretive and dismissive of Horowitz's conclusions and the reader becomes more and more furious of Horowitz's behalf.  But are they getting closer to solving the murder?

Horowitz has created an interesting take on the detective novel.  He is, of course, a highly successful author in the world of murder mysteries.  Both Midsomer Murders and Foyle's War are series that he created and the reader sees into that world, as well as the life of an author.  The reader gets every clue that the men have and are as surprised as Horowitz at every turn at what the facts really mean.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.