Anthony Horowitz, one of the finest practitioners of the traditional detective novel, brings us a new installment in his series where Anthony Horowitz himself is the detective. Or rather, he’s the writer who solves crimes with an actual detective named Hawthorne, and then writes books about their investigations. It’s a very meta concept and it only took me a minute to adjust to it. In this alternate world where Horowitz the author is Horowitz the character, he’s written a play.
The play is being produced, starting out in smaller cities and at last – moving to London. As the book opens, Anthony has told Hawthorne he doesn’t plan to write any more books; and he’s very much looking forward to opening night of his play. It’s a small cast and all of them head out to celebrate afterwards at a party thrown by the producer, and the cast and Anthony end up back at the theater’s green room waiting on reviews. One comes in early, and it’s a nasty one. The cast trickles out, in shock.
The next morning, the critic who wrote the review, Harriet Throsby, is found stabbed to death with one of the stage daggers the producer had handed out to Anthony and the cast members. This very much narrows the suspect pool, but the dagger used to kill the woman turns out to be Anthony’s and he’s very quickly arrested. He’s released after a 24 hour hold and turns to Hawthorne for help.
What follows could not be more golden age, as Anthony and Hawthorne interview every suspect, i.e., the cast. While this was well done, it was expected. But then, as Horowitz always manages to do, he provides a compelling twist about three quarters of the way through the novel which makes it impossible to stop reading.
The character of Harriet is also at the center of the mystery. She was incredibly unpleasant – even her husband and daughter didn’t like her – and the more Anthony and Hawthorne dig, the more they discover about her. They are working on a deadline as the police have found more evidence against Anthony and he is basically on the lam. Luckily, Hawthorne is an excellent detective and is able to solve the case.
That outcome was never really in doubt, but the clever investigation and unpeeling of the characters, the look at London theaters, and the feel of London itself make this a memorable read. Probably the London bit is more quotidian for Horowitz, who lives there, but for this armchair traveler, it was a delight, as was this wonderful book.