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The Word is Murder: A Novel Audiobook
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Publisher Description
Narrated by Rory Kinnear
""One of the most entertaining mysteries of the year. It’s also one of the most stimulating, as it ponders such questions as: Which is of greater interest to the reader, the crime or the detective? And: Is the pencil truly mightier than the butcher knife?” — Wall Street Journal
New York Times bestselling author of Magpie Murders and Moriarty, Anthony Horowitz has yet again brilliantly reinvented the classic crime novel, this time writing a fictional version of himself as the Watson to a modern-day Holmes.
A woman crosses a London street. It is just after 11 a.m. on a bright spring morning, and she is going into a funeral parlor to plan her own service. Six hours later the woman is dead, strangled with a crimson curtain cord in her own home.
Enter disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne, a brilliant, eccentric man as quick with an insult as he is to crack a case. And Hawthorne has a partner, the celebrated novelist Anthony Horowitz, curious about the case and looking for new material. As brusque, impatient, and annoying as Hawthorne can be, Horowitz—a seasoned hand when it comes to crime stories—suspects the detective may be on to something, and is irresistibly drawn into the mystery.
But as the case unfolds, Horowitz realizes that he’s at the center of a story he can’t control, and his brilliant partner may be hiding dark and mysterious secrets of his own.
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“Rory Kinnear flawlessly performs this entertaining metafiction…This is mad fun, especially if you are a fan of Foyle’s War, Midsomer Murders, or other of Horowitz’s work…Kinnear is so good you forget he’s there; instead you feel as if you’ve seen this as a movie on some screen in your intercranial theater.”
— AudioFile
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“An ingenious fun-house mirror of a novel sets a vintage ‘cozy’ mystery inside a modern frame.”
— Wall Street Journal -
“The beguiling whodunit plot is dispatched with characteristic élan as Horowitz blurs the line between fact and fiction.”
— Financial Times (London) -
“Full of surprises and suspense…hugely entertaining.”
— Washington Book Review -
“Veteran reader Kinnear is wonderful, whether as the gruff and pushy Hawthorne, prim Diana Cowper, or indignant Horowitz…This is a wonderfully complex mystery with memorable characters; it’s also a lot of fun, and excellent on audio.”
— Booklist (starred audio review) -
“Horowitz succeeds with The Word Is Murder by simultaneously adhering to and defying the rules of a traditional mystery.”
— Christian Science Monitor -
“Inventive, clever, and brilliantly written…Hawthorne and Horowitz are vibrant as a modern-day Holmes-Watson duo and their partnership is as credible as it is entertaining. Readers will delight in this wonderful modern-day twist of the classic who-done-it mystery.”
— RT Book Reviews (4½ stars, Top Pick!) -
“Deduction and wit are well-balanced, and fans of Peter Lovesey and other modern channelers of the spirit of the golden age of detection will clamor for more.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“Horowitz…out-Doyles Doyle by inserting himself into the story as the Watson-like narrator of a murder investigation.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“Readers who think they’ve solved the puzzle early on can rest assured that they’ve opened only one of many dazzling Christmas packages Horowitz has left beautifully wrapped under the tree.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) -
“A classic whodunit with a metatwist.”
— Library Journal
Awards
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A BookPage Top Pick in Crime Fiction for Private Eye July
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A Strand Magazine Pick of Best Audiobooks for Summer
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A June 2018 LibraryReads Pick
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A Booklist Pick of the Top Ten Crime Fiction Audiobooks
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An Amazon Editor’s Top Pick
The Word is Murder Listener Reviews
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Edward Winterberger, 6/14/2024
About Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz is the author of mysteries, thrillers, historical fiction, fantasy, children’s fiction, and young-adult fiction, including the New York Times bestselling Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders. He has written nine stand-alone novels and novels in more than a dozen series. His novel Trigger Mortis features original material from Ian Fleming. His bestselling Alex Rider series for young adults has sold more than nineteen million copies worldwide. As a TV screenwriter, he created both Midsomer Murders and the BAFTA-winning Foyle’s War on PBS. He regularly contributes to a wide variety of national newspapers and magazines. In January 2014 he was awarded an OBE.
About Rory Kinnear
Rory Kinnear, an Earphones Award–winning narrator and a renowned theater actor, won the Evening Standard Award for Best Actor for his performances as Angelo in Measure for Measure and the title role in Hamlet, and he gained an Olivier Award for his portrayal of Sir Fopling Flutter in The Man of Mode. His TV credits include Count Arthur Strong, Lucan, Women in Love, and Black Mirror, and he played Bill Tanner in the Bond films Quantum of Solace and Skyfall.