First published 2026
Detective Hawthorne and author Anthony Horowitz visit the film set of The Word is Murder in Hastings. The production is a mess. The director acts pretentious, the screenwriter pushes environmental causes, the two lead actors despise each other, and the producer has no money left. During filming, someone stabs the actor portraying Hawthorne. The real Hawthorne must investigate the attack on his fictional counterpart. He faces an unsettling possibility that the killer targeted the wrong man. Perhaps someone wanted to murder Hawthorne himself, not the actor playing him. The detective navigates the chaotic world of film production while solving the most personal case of his career. Horowitz draws from his own experience in entertainment to create this mystery within a mystery.
Genres: fiction, mystery, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: mistaken-identity, personal-case
Setting: Hastings
Period: 21st-century
384 pages · Kindle Edition · Harper