MURDER HE WROTE

Terry and I used to watch Murder She Wrote on TV until we realized that Jessica Fletcher was actually looking younger than we were.

These days, we enjoy Midsomer Murders on Netflix, 90 minute whodunits set in the British countryside.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that a book I recently picked up at the local library called The Word is Murder is actually written by the same person who originated the Midsomer Murder series. Anthony Horowitz, according to his book jacket, is a prolific writer who may have committed more fictional murders than any other living author. Some of his books include Magpie Murders, Moriarity, and The House of Silk, a Sherlock Holmes story. His best selling Alex Rider series for young adults has sold more than nineteen million copies worldwide. As well, some of this writer's other television works include Foyle's War, Collision and Injustice, and Poirot.

There is something very personal about Horowitz's writing style that draws you in from the very beginning. As well, I find his references to his creative writing process both illuminating and intriguing.

Here are two excerpts from his book The Sentence is Death that capture what I mean.

"I've always had a fascination with secret passageways and places you're not allowed to go. When I was a child, my parents used to take me to expensive hotels and I still remember sneaking into the service areas. In Stanmore, near London, my sister and I would crawl under the fence to sneak around the office complex next door to our home and even today, in a museum, a theatre, a Tube station, I'll find myself wondering what goes on behind those locked doors. I sometimes think it's actually a good definition of creative writing: to unlock doors and take readers through to the other side."

"At the very start of the process, when I'm creating a story, I do think of it as having a particular, geometrical shape. For example, I was about to start work on Moriarity, my Sherlock Holmes sequel, and it had occurred to me that the twisting narrative, which would turn in on itself at the end, was rather like a Mobius strip. The House of Silk had the appearance of a letter Y. A novel is a container for 80,000 to 90,000 words and you might see it as a jelly mould. You pour them all in and hope they'll set."


If you're a fan of the murder mystery genre like me, then Anthony Horowitz is my unequivocal recommendation.

Make room Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie; you've got some real competition.