The Twist of a Knife
'Our deal is over.'
That's what reluctant author Anthony Horowitz tells ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne in an awkward meeting. The truth is that Anthony has other things on his mind.
His new play, Mindgame, is about to open in London's Vaudeville theatre. Not surprisingly Hawthorne declines a ticket.
On opening night, Sunday Times critic Harriet Throsby gives the play a savage review, focusing particularly on the writing. The next morning she is found dead, stabbed in the heart with an ornamental dagger which, it turns out, belongs to Anthony and which has his finger prints all over it.
Anthony is arrested, charged with Throsby's murder, thrown into prison and interrogated.
Alone and increasingly desperate, he realises only one man can help him.
But will Hawthorne take his call?
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Anthony Horowitz
Long before Alex Rider became a teenage icon or Sherlock Holmes returned to the page with fresh intrigue, Anthony Horowitz was crafting mysteries of his own—first in his imagination, then on the page. Born in 1955 in Middlesex, England, Horowitz grew up surrounded by stories, both real and invented. He discovered early that fiction was more than escape; it was a place to find order in chaos, to solve puzzles that real life couldn’t.
What sets Horowitz apart in the world of crime and thriller fiction is not just the breadth of his work, but the way he reinvents the familiar. Whether he’s breathing new life into Conan Doyle’s beloved detective or twisting timelines in Magpie Murders, Horowitz writes with a sleight of hand that keeps readers constantly guessing—and always a step behind. His novels don’t simply offer whodunits; they explore the act of storytelling itself, often blurring the line between author and character, fiction and reality.
Hawthorne and Horowitz Investigate
In a genre obsessed with control, here’s a mystery series that thrives on unpredictability—even for its narrator.
The Hawthorne and Horowitz Investigate novels crack open the traditional detective story and rearrange the pieces with sly wit and unnerving precision. At the center is Daniel Hawthorne, a former detective with a genius for deduction and a habit of keeping everyone—especially his biographer—in the dark. That biographer? A fictionalized version of the author himself, reluctantly dragged into real-life murder cases and quickly realizing that writing the story is nothing compared to living inside it.
Hawthorne and Horowitz Investigate consists of five books and series is set to expand with the upcoming release of one more book. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
