Horowitz's meta-mystery series, featuring the author himself as a character who stars alongside the inscrutable Daniel Hawthorne, formerly of the London police, takes a dramatic turn in London's West End. Horowitz's play Mindgame is opening, but what should be a night of celebration turns to despair after the cast and producers get an early look at a blistering review from the venomous Sunday Times theater critic, Harriet Throsby. Despair turns deadly when the police come banging on Horowitz's door. Throsby is dead, and Horowitz is the main suspect. Only Hawthorne can help, but Horowitz has burned that bridge. He recently told the clever cop, with whom Horowitz collaborated on three true-crime books, that he hasn't enjoyed their working relationship, and since their three-book contract is done, so is he. What now? Horowitz continues to delight in mixing real life ( e.g., Horowitz's play Mindgame was staged in London) and fiction, as well as in juxtaposing Horowitz (the character) as nebbish against the always-three-steps-ahead Hawthorne. Not to worry, their relationship isn't over quite yet. There's much more to discover, and readers will be waiting eagerly for more from one of the best mystery writers around.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Everything Horowitz touches turns to gold, from children's books (the Alex Rider series) to TV series (Midsomer Murders and Foyle's War) to meta-mysteries for adults.

Fair-play whodunits don't come much funnier than bestseller Horowitz's brilliant fourth mystery featuring a fictionalized version of himself as the bumbling sidekick to former detective inspector Daniel Hawthorne (after 2021's A Line to Kill). Hawthorne had convinced Horowitz to write three books chronicling some of Hawthorne's private investigations. With that contract fulfilled, Horowitz declines his partner's request to write another. Later, following the London debut of Horowitz's comic thriller play, Mindgame, theater critic Harriet Throsby pens a savage review, threatening the production's prospects. When she's found fatally stabbed in her home with a dagger given to Horowitz by the play's producer that bears Horowitz's fingerprints, he's arrested. The damning evidence mounts as his hair is found on Throsby's blouse, and video footage shows someone fitting his description near the crime scene right before the stabbing. When Horowitz is released while the investigation proceeds, he persuades Hawthorne to join him in probing the possible guilt of those involved in staging Mindgame. Clues are adroitly hidden in plain sight. This humorous homage to golden age closed-circle mysteries is not to be missed. Agent: Jonathan Lloyd, Curtis Brown Group (U.K.). (Nov.)

The fourth installment of this excellent series finds protagonist Anthony Horowitz accused of a crime he didn't commit. After writing three books and solving several murders, he has just ended his partnership with ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne so that he can focus on his play Mindgame, which is making its West End debut. On opening night, Mindgame receives a malice-filled review from Sunday Times critic Harriet Throsby. Early the next morning, Horowitz is awakened by the London police, seeking to question him in the murder of Throsby, who has just been stabbed to death in her home. Horowitz soon finds himself under arrest and in need of help from his now ex-partner Hawthorne. The duo team up once again to solve the case. VERDICT Readers of character-driven novels will love the twists and turns of this Agatha Christie-style mystery that leads to an unexpected reveal. Perfect for fans of G. M. Malliet, Elly Griffiths, and Richard Osman.--Bill Anderson

What's worse than having an influential London critic skewer your latest play? Getting arrested for her murder, that's what. Novelist/playwright Anthony Horowitz, who's awfully hard to tell apart from his author, right down to the playful acknowledgments, is determined not to renew his collaboration with detective Daniel Hawthorne, who's repeatedly upstaged him in their past investigations. Instead, he has high hopes for Mindgame, his latest theatrical thriller, which has consistently entertained audiences in the provinces. When the play opens in the West End, Sunday Times reviewer Harriet Throsby brings him crashing back to Earth by panning the play and everyone associated with it at length. The next day, the police are at Horowitz's door to take him in for stabbing Throsby to death that morning. It's true that all three performers in Mindgame--Lakota star Jordan Williams, rising Welsh hopeful Tirian Kirke, and punk ingenue Sky Palmer--had ample motive to kill Throsby. So did producer Ahmet Yurdakul and director Ewan Lloyd. But they didn't leave behind the fingerprints or DNA that make Horowitz the obvious suspect, though he insists, "It's critics who kill writers: never the other way round." In order to beat the rap, he'll require timely assistance from Kevin Chakraborty, the hacker downstairs, and of course from Hawthorne himself, who clearly revels in Horowitz's dependence on him as he immerses his clinging, unwilling client in a deep dive into Throsby's earlier writings, which provide even more motives for her murder. The real-life author, mostly eschewing the floridly inventive meta fireworks of his earlier tales, sticks more closely to his golden age models this time, producing an efficiently old-fashioned whodunit with all the surprises you'd expect. An expertly conventional puzzle. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.