Book Review(s): The Sentence Is Death / The Word Is Murder

Anthony Horowitz, the author of The House of Silk and Moriarty, inserts himself as one of the central characters in this meta-mystery series that pairs the screenwriter and novelist with a fired Scotland Yard detective Daniel Hawthorne for a renewed take on Sherlock and Watson (or Poirot and Hastings) to investigate a series of crimes that are "singular" in their modus operandi. If The Word Is Murder is about a widowed London socialite Diana Cowper who calls on a reputed undertaker to make arrangements for her own funeral, only to get strangled in her home six hours later, The Sentence Is Death delves into the death of divorce attorney Richard Pryce, who is bashed to death in the comfort of his home with an expensive bottle of wine. Though it's quite impossible to root for the homophobic Hawthorne — it raises an interesting question: can you really empathise with a lead character when (s)he is unlikeable but is brilliant in other ways? — that the whodunnits unfold through the eyes of the author, who uses his real life identity as a character in a work of fiction, makes for an engrossing narrative device, and keeps the plots moving with a well-balanced mix of deduction and wit, culminating in a surprise reveal of the killers' identities.