The Twist of a Knife
A gripping locked-room mystery from the bestselling crime writer
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4.0 • 29 Ratings
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
By global bestselling Anthony Horowitz, a brilliantly entertaining new locked-room mystery with a key that only Hawthorne can find.
'EASILY THE GREATEST OF OUR CRIME WRITERS' Sunday Times
'Funny, addictive and clever, and the crime fighting duo of Hawthorne and Horowitz are as entertaining as ever. Brilliant. I can't wait for more.' Adam Handy
'There's a lovely Hitchcockian feel to TWIST. The clock is ticking. It's a lot of fun.' Ian Rankin
'The Twist of a Knife is a beautifully turned locked-room whodunit' The Sunday Telegraph
'A total joy. Anthony is a master entertainer, the genius twists and turns of his writing and plot keep me on the edge of my seat.' Rory Kinnear
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'Our deal is over.'
This is what reluctant author Anthony Horowitz tells ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne in an awkward encounter. The truth is that Anthony has other things on his mind.
His new play 'Mindgame' is about to open at London's Vaudeville theatre, and on opening night, Sunday Times critic Harriet Throsby gives the play a savage review.
The next morning she is found dead, stabbed in the heart with an ornamental dagger that has only one set of finger prints on it. Anthony's.
Anthony is arrested, charged with Throsby's murder, and thrown into prison.
Alone and increasingly desperate, he realises only one man can help him.
But will Hawthorne take his call?
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More love for The Twist of a Knife . . .
'An immensely enjoyable read, funny, so clever and utterly original' Ragnar Jonasson
'One of the country's most recognisable writers' ITV News
'I love this self-reflexive mystery series' Vulture
'A mystery so slick, clever and fun to read that it's a genuine shame when you hit the end.' The Globe and Mail
'The Twist of a Knife is consistently, delightfully entertaining, with Horowitz's own theatrical experience providing just the right amount of bittersweet bite' Airmail
'An adventure that will enchant mystery lovers, Anglophiles and theater buffs' The Washington Post
'A delicious mystery [that] is bonkers and brilliant and a triumph' The Sun
'Horowitz blurs the lines between fiction and reality to hilarious effect' The Express
'A gripping tour de force' Woman's Own
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Readers can't get enough of The Twist of a Knife . . .
***** 'This is another thoroughly enjoyable and well-constructed mystery from Anthony Horowitz.'
***** 'Thoroughly enjoyed it and devoured it in a little over 2 days!'
***** 'This novel is hugely entertaining.'
***** 'Fabulous. More please, and soon!'
***** 'This is the very best in 'cosy-crime.''
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fair-play whodunits don't come much funnier than bestseller Horowitz's brilliant fourth mystery featuring a fictionalized version of himself as the bumbling sidekick to former detective inspector Daniel Hawthorne (after 2021's A Line to Kill). Hawthorne had convinced Horowitz to write three books chronicling some of Hawthorne's private investigations. With that contract fulfilled, Horowitz declines his partner's request to write another. Later, following the London debut of Horowitz's comic thriller play, Mindgame, theater critic Harriet Throsby pens a savage review, threatening the production's prospects. When she's found fatally stabbed in her home with a dagger given to Horowitz by the play's producer that bears Horowitz's fingerprints, he's arrested. The damning evidence mounts as his hair is found on Throsby's blouse, and video footage shows someone fitting his description near the crime scene right before the stabbing. When Horowitz is released while the investigation proceeds, he persuades Hawthorne to join him in probing the possible guilt of those involved in staging Mindgame. Clues are adroitly hidden in plain sight. This humorous homage to golden age closed-circle mysteries is not to be missed.
Customer Reviews
Cosy metafiction
3.5 stars
The author is British. Extensive bibliography across young adult, adult, thriller, mystery, fantasy, and horror, plus two Sherlock Holmes novels and a James Bond novel. He’s is also an accomplished and successful playwright and screenwriter: Midsomer Murders, Poirot, Tintin, Foyle’s War etc.
Mr H tried his hand at metafiction in 2017 with ‘The Word Is Murder,’ a crime novel in which he was one the the two protagonists, the other being a taciturn ex-cop turned private eye named Hawthorne. Think Holmes and Watson a century or so on. The metafiction went further, with Hawthorne approaching Horowitz to write a series of novels based on his investigative exploits. ‘The Sentence Is Death’ followed in 2019. ‘A Line To A Kill’ (2021) was a classic Dame Agatha closed room mystery. A stuck on an island mystery really (Christie did those too.)
This time out, Mr Horowitz serves up a cosy mystery, which seem to be all the rage right now thanks to Richard Osman and others. The book opens with Horowitz giving Hawthorne the flick. He doesn’t want to write any more detective novels. He’s written a play: a comedy-crime drama. A female critic who writes a scathing review is found dead in her flat the next morning. The evidence points to our boy Anthony, who is arrested by an antagonistic female cop he and Hawthorne have p***ed off in the past. Desperate, Horowitz seeks Hawthorne’s help (and agrees to write more novels). There are suspects galore. Hawthorne sorts it all out, and gathers the suspects and cops in the theatre in best Poirot tradition for the denouement.
I think that’s it for me and Hawthorne and Horowitz. Easy for me to say that now, of course, but when #5 comes out as it inevitably will…
What boredom
Sped through the whole book! not enough atmosphere to enjoy any of the writing, turned boring right after i paid!