Prompt 47 – Self – insert by an author

What it’s about?

A woman is strangled six hours after organising her own funeral.

Did she know she was going to die? Did she recognise her killer?

Enter Daniel Hawthorne, a detective with a genius for solving crimes and an ability to hold secrets very close.

With him is his writing partner, Anthony Horowitz. Together they will set out to solve his most puzzling of mysteries.

What neither of them know is that they are about to embark on a dark and dangerous journey whether the twists and turns are as unexpected as they are bloody.

What I think:

This is the first book in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series and it is very clever.

Fiction and real life collide as Horowitz writes himself into the story and is investigating alongside fictional detective Hawthorne.

Diana Cowper goes to the undertaker and plans her funeral. Six hours later she is found dead.

Horowitz is engaged to write a book about former DI Hawthorne and joins him on the investigation as he gets to know him. This puts the reader in the sidekick position.

This is twisty and clever and I did enjoy it. I didn’t find either of the main characters particularly likeable and definitely wanted to know more about Hawthorne. Hopefully their prickly relationship develops in future books in the series.

If you are a fan of crime fiction then you will definitely appreciate the cleverness.