'The Word is Murder' is the first book in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series, where Anthony Horowitz inserts himself as the sidekick of Daniel Hawthorne, a private investigator who is eerily similar to that of Sherlock Holmes.

The book itself leads with a very interesting premise: A woman organised her funeral and there was a murder six hours later - and the book does not disappoint with the follow up on this exact point. The characters it introduces are likeable and relatable, and there's enough motives, red herrings, and information reveals to get you really thinking about whodunnit, and wanting to know how it all ends.

By the end of the book I was satisfied with the conclusion, as like all other good whodunnits, it wraps itself up with a neat little bowtie, and like all good mysteries, you never figure it out yourself.

The book gets 4-stars from me because the author made the lead detective an anti-hero; an unlikeable bastard that everyone puts up with because they're extremely clever and good at their job. This is not a problem in itself, but about a quarter into the book we learn that Hawthorne is homophobic, and the author's handling of this point is very clunky, as he makes some statement about how we should listen to those who are against gay people, even if he firmly believes that homophobia is wrong.

I don't think Horowitz is a homophobe, just an older person who is a little misguided on the subject, and since LGBTQ+ rights have been very topical for the past few years, he picked this as a trait for his anti-hero, but I think this was the wrong move.

But other than that, it was a very good book and I recommend it for anyone who likes mysteries.