The Word is Murder

By Anthony Horowitz,

Book cover of The Word is Murder

Book description

'EASILY THE GREATEST OF OUR CRIME WRITERS' Sunday Times

Chosen as one of Crime Time's books of the year! If you enjoyed BBC's Sherlock, you'll LOVE The Word is Murder.
_________________

Buried secrets, murder and a trail of bloody clues lie at the heart of Anthony Horowitz's page-turning new detective…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

3 authors picked The Word is Murder as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I read a lot of these kinds of books and this was the best of its kind this year. I loved the twists and also the characters.

Aside from this being a fun little, twisty murder, what drew me to this book is the clever way Horowitz presents it.

Horowitz narrates it using his real-life background, so the plot feels like non-fiction: this story of a writer getting sucked into a murder by way of documenting the investigator, Hawthorne. It’s a brilliant way of telling a story, and I love (or maybe hate) the other protagonist, Hawthorne. The battle of wits between the protagonists is almost as fun (honestly, maybe more so) as their race to solve the mystery.

I picked up this book based on a…

Another writer-hero, Anthony Horowitz writes as himself in this page-turning whodunit. Well-known for his television work on Midsomer Murders, Poirot, and Foyle’s War, Horowitz knows how to craft a mystery. When ex-cop turned private investigator Nathaniel Hawthorne approaches Horowitz about ghostwriting a book about his cases, Horowitz isn’t interested. Annoying and eccentric, Hawthorne isn’t someone Horowitz wants to be around, let alone write about. But when a famous actor’s wealthy mother is murdered six hours after planning her own funeral, Horowitz gets pulled into the investigation anyway. Though very much a Sherlock Holmes and Watson relationship, Hawthorne…

From Jessica's list on mystery featuring everyday heroes.

The Midnight Man

By Julie Anderson,

Book cover of The Midnight Man

Ad
Julie Anderson Author Of The Midnight Man

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I write historical crime fiction, and my latest novel is set in a hospital, a real place, now closed. The South London Hospital for Women and Children (1912–1985) was set up by pioneering suffragists and women surgeons Maud Chadburn and Eleanor Davies-Colley (the first woman admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons) and I recreate the now almost-forgotten hospital in my book. Events take place in 1946 when wartime trauma still impacts upon a society exhausted by conflict, and my book choices also reflect this.

Julie's book list on evocative stories set in a hospital

What is my book about?

A historical thriller set in south London just after World War II, as Britain returns to civilian life and the men return home from the fight, causing the women to leave their wartime roles. The South London Hospital for Women and Children is a hospital, (based on a real place) run by women for women and must make adjustments of its own. As austerity bites, the coldest Winter then on record makes life grim. Then a young nurse goes missing.

Days later, her body is found behind a locked door, and two women from the hospital, unimpressed by the police…

The Midnight Man

By Julie Anderson,

What is this book about?

BEWARE THE DARKNESS BENEATH

Winter 1946

One cold dark night, as a devastated London shivers through the transition to post-war life, a young nurse goes missing from the South London Hospital for Women & Children. Her body is discovered hours later behind a locked door.

Two women from the hospital join forces to investigate the case. Determined not to return to the futures laid out for them before the war, the unlikely sleuths must face their own demons and dilemmas as they pursue - The Midnight Man.

‘A mystery that evokes the period – and a recovering London – in…


Want books like The Word is Murder?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 42 books like The Word is Murder.

Browse books like The Word is Murder

Book cover of The Thursday Murder Club
Book cover of Finlay Donovan Is Killing It
Book cover of The Life We Bury

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,511

readers submitted
so far, will you?