The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz
Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes novels where Watson is both narrator and character, Anthony Horowitz, crime writer, tells a story about Anthony Horowitz, crime writer. He assists (and is perplexed, irritated and annoyed by) ex-DI Daniel Hawthorne in a multi-layer mystery that mixes humour, clues and red herrings, real life and fiction in a smashing smorgasbord.
As well as being a cracking romp of a tale and fun to read, it’s also good for me, as a writer, to see how a master does it.
Part of an interview from the Los Angeles Public Library.
What inspired you to write a series in which you yourself were a character?
When my publisher approached me with the idea of writing a long-running series of whodunits, my first thought was—“what can I do that had never been done before?” Turning myself into the narrator, the Watson to Hawthorne’s Sherlock Holmes, turned the entire genre on its head. Normally the author is powerful and all-knowing. But in these books, I’m the exact opposite. If Hawthorne doesn’t solve the crime, I won’t even have a book! Being in the book makes the whole thing feel fresh and new.
Are there things the Horowitz character has done that you would never do in real life? Or, conversely, are there things you have done/would do, that your character would not?
I sometimes wonder if I even have a real life, so much of it is spent writing.
How close is the Anthony Horowitz character to you, the real Anthony Horowitz? What liberties are you taking in how you are portraying yourself as a character?
I think it’s important to point out that I am not a major character in the book. It’s not a—literal—ego trip! I’m just the narrator and in fact, you don’t learn a great deal about me outside my life as a writer and as a sidekick to a quite difficult detective. But the short answer is that my depiction is 100% accurate—but you may choose not to believe that.
You can read the whole interview here.
The Hawthorne and Horowitz series:
Anthony Horowitz
Bestselling author Anthony Horowitz has written two highly acclaimed Sherlock Holmes novels, The House of Silk and Moriarty; James Bond novels, Trigger Mortis, Forever and a Day and With a Mind to Kill; and the acclaimed crime novel Magpie Murders.
He is also the author of the teen spy Alex Rider series, and responsible for creating and writing some of the UK’s most loved and successful TV series including Midsomer Murders and Foyle’s War.
He regularly contributes to a wide variety of national newspapers and magazines on subjects ranging from politics to education. He was awarded an OBE for his services to literature in January 2014.
Fay Rowland - Author 