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Sometimes a book shows up on my radar and its premise is so unusual and so intriguing, there is just no way I can pass it up.

A woman goes to a funeral home and arranges her own funeral. A few hours later she is murdered. In steps detective Hawthorne to try to catch the killer. But he wants someone to write about the crimes he solves, so he contacts Horowitz (the author of this book!) to be his scribe. And that's how Horowitz gets tangled up in this funny business.

The mystery itself has all the elements of a clever whodunnit, with a short but interesting list of suspects, lots of secrets slowly uncovered, and plenty of red herrings. It was great fun to follow along and to take a crack at solving it as the clues come in. The solution ends up being satisfying, and looking back, there were plenty of clues I should've picked up on but totally missed.

The part I was less sure about is Horowitz writing himself into the book. On the one hand, it's a clever way to make the story feel more real. He includes lots of details of his actual life, so the real blends in seamlessly with the fiction. But on the other hand, at times he includes a bit too much, so it comes across like he's either trying very hard to convince the reader that this is real or he's trying to promote himself. Still, since this is the first book in the series, it makes sense that there is more focus on the backstory, and I imagine that will lessen in the future.

Horowitz is fast becoming one of my favorite authors for coming up with the most intriguing premises for his mysteries. His Susan Ryeland series has the mystery within a mystery format, with clues for the outer mystery hidden within the inner mystery. And this series has him writing himself into it as the bumbling Watson to Hawthorne's Sherlock. I cannot wait to see what Horowitz comes up with next.

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See also, my thoughts on:
#2. The Sentence Is Death
#3. A Line To Kill

Magpie Murders
Moonflower Murders
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