The Twist of a Knife

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.)