Minchen’s Reviews > The Word is Murder > Status Update

By the time I reached the other side of the river, I knew exactly what I was going to do.

They could make me look like a complete idiot if they wanted. On the other hand, if I wrote the book, I would have control.

Hawthorne: “Tony...”
Horowitz: “That’s not my name. I’m Anthony. Nobody ever calls me Tony. And you can forget the whole thing. It was a bad idea and it nearly got me killed. I should never have listened to you in the first place. I’m not going to do it.”

Horowitz: “She was at Hay-on-Wye, at the literary festival, two days after you came to see me. Shesaid my books were unreal and irrelevant. She was the reason why...You put her up to it!”
Hawthorne: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He was looking at me with innocent, even child-like eyes but I wasn’t having any of it.

I knew this woman. I had seen her before. And then I remembered.
Horowitz: “You bastard! You fucking bastard.”
Hawthorne: “What?”
Horowitz: “Is this your wife?”
Hawthorne: “Yes.”
Horowitz: “I’ve met her.”
Hawthorne: “I don’t think so.”

(>>>)
Hawthorne: “It’ll do, I suppose.”
Horowitz: “You don’t sound convinced.”
Hawthorne: “It’s just a bit poncy. It’s not something I’d read on the beach.”
Horowitz: “Do you ever go to the beach?”
He didn’t answer.

(>>>)
I was saying that people read detective stories because they were interested in the characters and you disagreed. >The word is murder. That’s what matters.< That’s what you said.”
Hawthorne: “And...?”
Horowitz: “>The word is murder.< I thought that would make a good title. After all, I’m a writer, you’re a detective. That’s what it’s all about.”
(>>>)

Horowitz: “I think I may have a title.”
Hawthorne: “What’s wrong with ‘Hawthorne Investigates’?”
Horowitz: “We’ve already had that discussion.”
Hawthorne: “What the?”
Horowitz: “I was going through my notes this morning and I came upon something you said to me when we first met in Clerkwell, when you asked me to write about you. (>>>)

...the door opened and there he was, staring at me with a look of bemusement on his face, wearing the same suit he always wore. Hawthorne ‘at home’.
Hawthorne: “Tony! How did you find me?”
Horowitz: “I have my methods.”

I was trying to find the ‘voice’ of the book. If I was really going to appear in it, I had to be sure that I wasn’t too obtrusive, that I didn’t get in the way.