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A Deadly Episode
  • Published: 23 April 2026
  • ISBN: 9781804942994
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 384
Categories:

A Deadly Episode

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
21 Apr 2026
Hardback
23 May 2026
EBook
23 Apr 2026
Audiobook
23 Apr 2026
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By the globally bestselling Anthony Horowitz, a brilliantly entertaining new mystery in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series.

From the globally bestselling author of Moonflower Murders and Close to Death comes an unputdownable new mystery in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series.


‘Easily the greatest of our crime writers’ Sunday Times
'Nobody does this crime fiction better than Anthony Horowitz’ Crime Time FM
'Anthony Horowitz is a national treasure' Ragnar Jónasson

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The Word is Murder, the first book in the Hawthorne series, is being 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.
  • Published: 23 April 2026
  • ISBN: 9781804942994
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 384
Categories:

About the author

Anthony Horowitz

Bestselling author Anthony Horowitz has written two highly acclaimed Sherlock Holmes novels, The House of Silk and Moriarty; three James Bond novels, Trigger Mortis, Forever and a Day and With a Mind to Kill; the acclaimed bestselling mystery novels Magpie Murders, Moonflower Murders and Marble Hall Murders; and the Detective Hawthorne novels, The Word is Murder, The Sentence is Death, A Line To Kill, The Twist of a Knife and Close to Death. 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. In January 2022 he was awarded a CBE for his services to literature.
AH

Also by Anthony Horowitz

With a Mind to Kill
Forever and a Day
Marble Hall Murders
Moonflower Murders
Close to Death
A Line to Kill
The Twist of a Knife
See all

Praise for A Deadly Episode

Brilliant . . . the author combines delicious dry humour with a rigorous fair-play whodunnit, but this installment’s Scream-like Hollywood satire takes it to another level

Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Delightful

Library Journal

The sixth outing for the sleuthing duo of Horowitz and Hawthorne, A Deadly Episode, is another winner.

Financial Times

Clever and playful, this is meta-mystery at its best.

i Paper

[Horowitz’s] "Overactive imagination" has once again produced a chunk of five-star entertainment

The Times

The sixth in the brilliant Hawthrone and Horowitz series... (is) layers of fun.

Daily Express

Horowitz is quite simply a brilliant writer - he's funny, smart and knows how to craft a good story.... Be warned. Horowitz is addictive

Sunday Independent

I take such pleasure from this series and this, the sixth, is every bit as good as its predecessors... dare I say, my favourite.

Belfast Telegraph

With plenty of twists and turns and classic, compelling whodunnit mysteries, his Susan Ryeland series is perfect for Agatha Christie fans

Hello!

A fresh treat

Boston Herald

Horowitz’s ever-inventive Horowitz and Hawthorne series gets extra metafictional in this brilliant sixth installment

CrimeReads

[A] cracking good, crackling narrative . . . diabolically clever work of metafiction

Booklist, Starred Review

‘A intriguing page-turner that once again demonstrates why Anthony Horowitz is the reigning king of the modern whodunit

Red Carpet Crash

I loved A Deadly Episode from beginning to end. Here’s hoping that this is not the last we see of the partnership between Hawthorne and Horowitz in a novel written by the real Anthony Horowitz.

Bookreporter.com

A fast, funny, clever read

Crime Fiction Review

A meta romp

New York Times

My favourite literary hero at the moment is Anthony Horowitz

Shari Lapena

One of the most creative writers in the country today

Jeremy Vine