A Deadly Episode ★★★★☆

Four stars. Six books in, and Horowitz still knows how to keep this series moving.

This entry leans more meta than the previous five, spending real time on Hawthorne's past and the shape of his relationship with Horowitz-the-character. That's a risk this deep into a series. Backstory chapters can feel like the plot taking a breather. Here it doesn't. The personal material dovetails into the murder itself rather than sitting next to it, so digging into Hawthorne pays off as plot, not just character work.

The bumbling, dysfunctional dynamic between the two of them is still the engine of these books, and it hasn't worn thin. Horowitz-as-narrator remains gloriously out of his depth, and Hawthorne remains guarded in ways that used to be a running joke and are now, six books in, starting to feel like an actual mystery worth solving. One line in this book captures the reflective mode Horowitz is working in here: watching the world go by from a train, he thinks about "all the people who must know these places and love them" while he passes through "too quickly to get anything more than the briefest glimpse." That's Hawthorne too, in a way. Someone Horowitz has been traveling alongside for six books and still only glimpsing.

The mystery itself does its job. It's not the most memorable puzzle in the series, but it doesn't need to be, because the book is using the case as a vehicle to finally open Hawthorne up rather than the reverse. That's a smart trade for book six, when the central relationship needs new material more than the murders do.

If you've stuck with this series, this is a satisfying entry. If you're new to it, start earlier. The payoff here depends on already caring about Hawthorne..

Edition Read

• Author: Anthony Horowitz
• Date Published: 2026-04-23
• Pages: 384

Description

The Word is Murder, the first book in the Hawthorne series, is about to be made into a major feature film. The actors have been cast, the script written, and filming has already started in Hastings. But when Hawthorne and Anthony visit the set, they find a far from happy family. The director’s pretentious, the screenwriter’s an eco-warrior, the two stars hate each other, and the producer has run out of money. And things are about to get much, much worse. In the middle of shooting, the actor playing Hawthorne is stabbed – which leaves the real Hawthorne with no choice. He has to step in and investigate his own murder. Because the killer may not have got the right man. Was it Hawthorne himself who was meant to be the target? A Deadly Episode is a wild ride through a world that the author knows only too well, and the most personal case Hawthorne has had to deal with so far.

Source: Hardcover

Notable Highlights

Whenever I’m on a train, I think of all the people who must know these places and love them while I pass through too quickly to get anything more than the briefest glimpse. [loc. 1073]