Most Popular Books by Anthony Horowitz

Don’t miss Magpie Murders on PBS''s MASTERPIECE Mystery! "A double puzzle for puzzle fans, who don’t often get the classicism they want from contemporary thrillers." —Janet Maslin, The New York Times New York Times Bestseller | Winner of the Macavity Award for Best Novel | NPR Best Book of the Year | Washington Post Best Book of the Year | Esquire Best Book of the Year From the New York Times bestselling author of Moriarty and Trigger Mortis, this fiendishly brilliant, riveting thriller weaves a classic whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie into a chilling, ingeniously original modern-day mystery. When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the bestselling crime writer for years, she’s intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan’s traditional formula has proved hugely successful. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job. Conway’s latest tale has Atticus Pünd investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but the more Susan reads, the more she’s convinced that there is another story hidden in the pages of the manuscript: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder. Masterful, clever, and relentlessly suspenseful, Magpie Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction in which the reader becomes the detective.

New York Times Bestseller • Now a MASTERPIECE mystery series on PBS! Bestselling author Anthony Horowitz brings back his famous literary detective Atticus Pund and Susan Ryeland, hero of Magpie Murders, in an inventive, labyrinthine story that is “catnip for classic mystery lovers” (Time magazine). Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is living the good life. She is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her long-term boyfriend Andreas. It should be everything she''s always wanted. But is it? She''s exhausted with the responsibilities of making everything work on an island where nothing ever does, and truth be told she''s beginning to miss London. And then the Trehearnes come to stay. The strange and mysterious story they tell, about an unfortunate murder that took place on the same day and in the same hotel in which their daughter was married—a picturesque inn on the Suffolk coast named Farlingaye Hall—fascinates Susan and piques her editor’s instincts. One of her former writers, the late Alan Conway, author of the fictional Magpie Murders, knew the murder victim—an advertising executive named Frank Parris—and once visited Farlingaye Hall. Conway based the third book in his detective series, Atticus Pund Takes the Cake, on that very crime. The Trehearne’s, daughter, Cecily, read Conway’s mystery and believed the book proves that the man convicted of Parris’s murder—a Romanian immigrant who was the hotel’s handyman—is innocent. When the Trehearnes reveal that Cecily is now missing, Susan knows that she must return to England and find out what really happened. Brilliantly clever, relentlessly suspenseful, full of twists that will keep readers guessing with each revelation and clue, Moonflower Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction from one of its greatest masterminds.

A spy is dead. A legend is born. This is how it all began. The explosive prequel to Casino Royale, from bestselling author Anthony Horowitz, Forever and a Day is the story of the birth of a legend in the brutal underworld of the French Riviera that takes the reader to the very beginning of James Bond’s illustrious career and the formation of his identity. M laid down his pipe and stared at it tetchily. “We have no choice. We’re just going to bring forward this other chap you’ve been preparing. But you didn’t tell me his name.” “It’s Bond, sir,” the Chief of Staff replied. “James Bond.” The sea keeps its secrets. But not this time. One body. Three bullets. 007 floats in the waters of Marseille, killed by an unknown hand. It’s time for a new agent to step up. Time for a new weapon in the war against organized crime. It’s time for James Bond to earn his license to kill.

The first four adventures featuring teenage secret agent Alex Rider, who works with Britain''s top secret intelligence agency MI6, are now available in these mass-market-sized paperbacks.

"One of the most entertaining mysteries of the year. It’s also one of the most stimulating, as it ponders such questions as: Which is of greater interest to the reader, the crime or the detective? And: Is the pencil truly mightier than the butcher knife?” — Wall Street Journal New York Times bestselling author of Magpie Murders and Moriarty, Anthony Horowitz has yet again brilliantly reinvented the classic crime novel, this time writing a fictional version of himself as the Watson to a modern-day Holmes. A woman crosses a London street. It is just after 11 a.m. on a bright spring morning, and she is going into a funeral parlor to plan her own service. Six hours later the woman is dead, strangled with a crimson curtain cord in her own home. Enter disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne, a brilliant, eccentric man as quick with an insult as he is to crack a case. And Hawthorne has a partner, the celebrated novelist Anthony Horowitz, curious about the case and looking for new material. As brusque, impatient, and annoying as Hawthorne can be, Horowitz—a seasoned hand when it comes to crime stories—suspects the detective may be on to something, and is irresistibly drawn into the mystery. But as the case unfolds, Horowitz realizes that he’s at the center of a story he can’t control, and his brilliant partner may be hiding dark and mysterious secrets of his own.

When Mark Styler, a writer of glossy ‘true crime’ paperbacks, tries to get an interview with Easterman, a notorious serial killer, he has no idea what he’s walking into. First he has to get past Dr Farquhar, the quixotic head of Fairfields – the asylum where Easterman is kept. But soon he discovers that nothing is what it seems. Who is the mysterious Borson? Where did he get the meat in the fridge? And why isn’t the skeleton in the closet? Mindgame is a puzzle-box of a play. A dazzling thriller and a jet black comedy that twists its way towards a shocking conclusion. Reading the text is the only way to uncover all the clues.

“Diabolically clever.”—New York Times "Horowitz dazzles with the brilliant third entry in his Susan Ryeland series . . . . [He is] is at the top of his game here, linking past and present in a virtuoso finale worthy of Agatha Christie."—Publishers Weekly (starred review) Murder links past and present once again in this mind-boggling metafictional mystery from Anthony Horowitz featuring detective Atticus Pünd and editor Susan Ryeland, stars of the New York Times bestsellers Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders. Editor Susan Ryeland has left her Greek island, her hotel and her Greek boyfriend, Andreas, in search of a new life back in England. Freelancing for a London publisher, she''s given the last job she wants: working on an Atticus Pünd continuation novel called Pünd’s Last Case. Worse still, she knows the new writer. Eliot Crace is the troubled grandson of legendary children’s author Miriam Crace who died twenty years ago. Eliot is convinced she was murdered—by poison. To her surprise, Susan enjoys reading the manuscript which is set in the South of France and revolves around the mysterious death of Lady Margaret Chalfont, days before she was about to change her will. But when it is revealed that Lady Margaret was also poisoned, alarm bells begin to ring. The more Susan reads, the clearer it becomes that Eliot has deliberately concealed clues about his grandmother’s death inside the book. Desperately, Susan tries to prevent Eliot from putting himself in harm’s way—but his behaviour is becoming increasingly erratic. Another murder follows . . . and suddenly Susan finds herself to be the number one suspect. Once again, the real and the fictional worlds have become dangerously entangled. And if Susan doesn''t solve the mystery of Pünd’s Last Case, she could well be its next victim.

Alex Rider is now a Freevee original series! From internationally bestselling author Anthony Horowitz comes the fourteenth thrilling installment of the Alex Rider series! Follow the world''s greatest teen spy as he sets off to California to battle Nightshade once again—this time, for good. When Alex Rider thwarted the plans of the criminal organization Nightshade, he knew he''d made a new, blatantly evil enemy. But he hadn''t expected to get sucked back into the spy game so quickly—that is, until the Nightshade masterminds kidnap his best friend, forcing Alex to do their bidding if he ever wants to see his pal alive again. As Alex dives deep into this latest mission, his friend isn''t the only one whose life is on the line. Nightshade has entered the world of virtual reality gaming, and the lines between what''s real and what''s digital are being blurred everywhere. With a ruthless enemy fighting dirty and not caring who gets hurt along the way, the stakes have never been higher—and this time, it''s personal. The #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling Alex Rider series is back with a vengeance in this edge-of-your-seat adventure. Perfect for fans of James Bond and Jason Bourne!

Sherlock Holmes is dead. Days after Holmes and his arch-enemy Moriarty fall to their doom at the Reichenbach Falls, Pinkerton agent Frederick Chase arrives in Europe from New York. The death of Moriarty has created a poisonous vacuum which has been swiftly filled by a fiendish new criminal mastermind who has risen to take his place. Ably assisted by Inspector Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard, a devoted student of Holmes''s methods of investigation and deduction, Frederick Chase must forge a path through the darkest corners of the capital to shine light on this shadowy figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, a man determined to engulf London in a tide of murder and menace. Author of the global bestseller THE HOUSE OF SILK, Anthony Horowitz once more breathes life into the world created by Arthur Conan Doyle. With pitch-perfect characterisation and breath-taking pace, Horowitz weaves a relentlessly thrilling tale which teases and delights by the turn of each page. The game is afoot...

New York Times–bestselling author Anthony Horowitz and eccentric detective Daniel Hawthorne team up again in a new mystery—the sequel to the brilliantly inventive The Word Is Murder—to delve deep into the killing of a high-profile divorce lawyer and the death, only a day earlier, of his one-time friend “You shouldn’t be here. It’s too late . . . ” Heard over the phone, these are the last recorded words of successful celebrity-divorce lawyer Richard Pryce, found bludgeoned to death with a bottle of wine—a 1982 Château Lafite worth £2,000, to be precise—in his bachelor pad. Odd, considering Pryce didn’t drink. Why this bottle? And why those words? And why was a three-digit number painted on his wall? And, most important, which of the victim’s many, many enemies did the deed? Baffled, the police are forced to bring in private investigator Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, the author Anthony, who’s getting rather good at this murder investigation business. But as Hawthorne takes on the case with characteristic relish, it becomes clear that he, too, has secrets to hide. As our reluctant narrator becomes ever more embroiled in the case, he realizes that these secrets must be exposed—even at the risk of death . . .

''I''ve written three books and our deal is over.'' That''s what reluctant author Anthony Horowitz tells ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne in an awkward meeting. The truth is that Anthony has got other things on his mind. His new play, a thriller called ''Mindgame'', is about to open at the famous Vaudeville theatre in Shoreditch. Not surprisingly, Hawthorne declines a ticket to the opening night. The play is not enjoyed by the critics. In particular, Sunday Times critic Harriet Throsby gives it a savage review, focusing particularly on the writing. The next day, Throsby is stabbed in the heart with an ornamental dagger which, it turns out, belongs to Anthony, and which has his fingerprints all over it. Anthony is arrested by an old enemy . . . Detective Inspector Cara Grunshaw. She''s still smarting from her failure to solve the case described in the second Hawthorne adventure- "The Sentence is Death". She blames Anthony for her failure. And now she''s out for revenge. Thrown into prison and brutally interrogated, Anthony is the prime suspect in Throsby''s murder and as a second theatre critic is found to have died in mysterious circumstances, the net closes in. Ever more desperate, he realizes that only one man can help him. But will Hawthorne take the call?

When wealthy, spoiled, thirteen-year-old Tad Spencer wishes he were someone else, he awakens as Bob Snarby, the uncouth, impoverished son of carnival workers, and as he is drawn into a life of crime he begins to discover truths about himself and his family.

Alex Rider is now an IMDb TV/Amazon Original Series! Alex Rider is an orphan turned teen superspy who''s saving the world one mission at a time—from #1 New York Times bestselling author! When an investigation into a series of mysterious deaths leads agents to an elite prep school for rebellious kids, MI6 assigns Alex Rider to the case. Before he knows it, Alex is hanging out with the sons of the rich and powerful, and something feels wrong. These former juvenile delinquents have turned well-behaved, studious—and identical—overnight. It''s up to Alex to find out who is masterminding this nefarious plot, before they find him. From the author of Magpie Murders and Moriarty.

From the # 1 New York Times bestselling author of the Alex Rider series. Tom Falconer is in trouble. Pursued by the notorious criminal Ratsey, Tom soon finds himself alone and hungry on the streets of London. Luckily enough, the mysterious Dr. Mobius soon recruits Tom to play an important role in a play to be performed in front of Queen Elizabeth. Tom knows there’s something not right about Mobius, but he’s willing to take a risk in order to keep his neck out of Ratsey’s murderous hands. Little does Tom realize that Mobius’s dark secret will trap him in the middle of an international conspiracy, holding the fate of the English empire in his hands.

Alex Rider is now an IMDb TV/Amazon Original Series! Alex Rider is an orphan turned teen superspy who''s saving the world one mission at a time—from #1 New York Times bestselling author! The sniper’s bullet nearly killed him. But Alex Rider managed to survive . . . just in time for more trouble to come his way. When kidnappers attempt to snatch a fellow patient from the exclusive hospital where Alex is recovering, he knows he has to stop him. But the boy he saves is no ordinary patient: He is the son of Nikolai Drevin, one of the richest men in the world. The eccentric billionaire has been targeted by Force Three, a group of eco-terrorists who claim his project Ark Angel—the first luxury hotel in outer space—is a danger to the environment. Soon Alex discovers that Force Three will stop at nothing to destroy Ark Angel, even if it means sending four hundred tons of molten glass and steel hurtling down to Earth and killing millions . . . unless Alex can stop them. From the author of Magpie Murders and Moriarty.

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Alex Rider series! A teen gang leader taken for a deadly ride by a car with a mind of its own. . . . A boy haunted by a phantom cobra. . . . A reality TV show pitting teens against grown ups, with only one survivor . . . From whose twisted mind can such gruesome stories unfold? Only Anthony Horowitz. From the internationally bestselling author of the Alex Rider missions, this collection of harrowing tales is sure to have you smiling in terrified pleasure. But whatever you do, don''t turn out the lights!

While working with the Australian Secret Service on a dangerous mission, teenaged spy Alex Rider uncovers information about his parents.

Already a bestselling children''s novelist, Anthony Horowitz found a new audience with his first novel for adults, THE KILLING JOKE, which was widely praised and admired.Now Anthony Horowitz once again turns his ingenious mind to another novel, with a story that will entertain, amuse and delight.