The Sentence Is Death

Published in 2018, Anthony Horowitz’s The Sentence Is Death is a contemporary metafictional mystery and the second installment in the Hawthorne and Horowitz mystery series. The novel continues the unique premise established in The Word Is Murder (2017), where a fictionalized version of the real author, Horowitz, documents the investigations of the detective Hawthorne. When a prominent divorce lawyer is murdered in mysterious circumstances, Hawthorne once again pulls Horowitz away from his screenwriting career to serve as the Watson-like chronicler of the case. The novel was a New York Times bestseller and explores themes of Exposing Narrative Construction by Subverting the Ideas of Reality and Fiction, The Search for “Truth” in a World of Secrets and Lies, and The Corrosive Power of Long-Buried Guilt.

Anthony Horowitz is a prolific and successful British author and screenwriter, known for the bestselling Alex Rider young adult series and his work on popular television shows such as Foyle’s War and Midsomer Murders. His extensive work in the crime and thriller genres, including officially-authorized James Bond and Sherlock Holmes novels, provides a rich background for the Hawthorne and Horowitz mysteries. By casting himself as the narrator in this series, Horowitz uses his real-life career to lend authenticity to the story’s self-aware commentary on the conventions of detective fiction, creating a witty and modern take on the classic whodunit.

This guide refers to the 2020 Harper Perennial edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions of graphic violence, physical abuse, illness or death, death by suicide, substance use, antigay bias, and cursing.

Plot Summary

Author Anthony Horowitz, the narrator, is on the set of his television show Foyle’s War when he is abruptly interrupted by ex-police detective Daniel Hawthorne, who drives his taxi directly into the middle of filming. Hawthorne informs Horowitz that a prominent divorce lawyer, Richard Pryce, has been murdered, and he wants Horowitz to write a second book documenting the investigation. Richard, known as “the Blunt Razor,” was found bludgeoned to death in his Hampstead home with an expensive bottle of 1982 Château Lafite Rothschild wine, despite being a teetotaler. The number “182” was painted in green on the wall near the body. The prime suspect is the famous author Akira Anno, whose recent divorce from Adrian Lockwood was handled by Richard. Anno had recently assaulted Richard in a restaurant, pouring wine over his head and threatening to hit him with a bottle in front of multiple witnesses.

Horowitz and Hawthorne visit the crime scene at Heron’s Wake, Richarad’s modern home. They meet the unwelcoming lead investigator, Detective Inspector (DI) Cara Grunshaw, and observe the number on the wall, painted with decorating supplies found in the hall. They learn that Richard was killed on Sunday night between 8:00 and 8:30 pm. A neighbor, Henry Fairchild, saw someone carrying a torch approach the house from Hampstead Heath around 7:55 pm. They interview Richard’s husband, Stephen Spencer, who says he has just returned from their second home. Hawthorne is immediately suspicious, noting that Stephen’s car’s engine temperature suggests a short trip, not the long drive from their second home. Stephen recounts his last phone call with Richard at eight o’clock, during which he heard the doorbell ring. Richard said to the visitor, “You shouldn’t be here. It’s too late,” before hanging up (48).

Later, at Richard’s law firm, his partner, Oliver Masefield, reveals that Richard was concerned about “fraudulent disclosure” in the Lockwood/Anno divorce and was considering reporting the matter to the Law Society, which could have overturned the settlement. Oliver, the executor of Richard’s will, discloses a £100,000 bequest to a close friend, interior decorator Davina Richardson.

The investigation expands to include several key suspects. At a police interview, Akira dismisses her threat against Richard as a “joke” and provides an alibi, claiming she was alone in a remote cottage near Lyndhurst all weekend. She becomes enraged when she realizes Horowitz is documenting the case for a book. Next, they interview Adrian Lockwood, who expresses contempt for his ex-wife but satisfaction with Richard’s legal work. Adrian claims he was with Davina Richardson at the time of the murder, and she later corroborates his alibi, though their stated departure times differ slightly. He also mentions that a man with blue glasses broke into his office days before the murder and that Richard was present when Davina’s husband, Charles, died in a caving accident years ago. At Davina’s house, she confirms her close, platonic relationship with Richard, who was her son’s godfather. Her teenage son, Colin, reveals that Richard had recently told him he was being followed by a man. At Davina’s house, Horowitz opens a copy of Akira’s poetry book, Two Hundred Haikus, and finds that haiku #182 reads: “You breathe in my ear / Your every word a trial / The sentence is death” (192).

A new development arises when Horowitz reads a newspaper article about the death of Gregory Taylor, who fell in front of a train at King’s Cross station the day before Richard’s murder. The British Transport Police inform them that Gregory’s death was ruled “unexplained,” though witnesses heard him shout “Look out!” before he fell. CCTV footage shows that just before his death, Gregory had purchased a copy of Prisoners of Blood, a popular fantasy novel. Horowitz and Hawthorne travel to Yorkshire to interview Gregory’s widow, Susan. She explains that her husband was terminally ill and had gone to London to ask Richard, an old university friend, for £200,000 for a life-saving operation. She plays a voicemail from Gregory, recorded after the meeting, in which he ecstatically reports that Richard agreed to pay for the procedure. Before returning to the station, Gregory sent his wife a selfie taken on Hornsey Lane, near Davina’s house. Later, Dave Gallivan, the cave rescuer who recovered Charles Richardson’s body, reveals that just before his death, Gregory had called him wanting to discuss “what really happened” during the fatal caving accident.

As the investigation continues, DI Grunshaw physically threatens Horowitz, demanding he act as her informant on Hawthorne. Hawthorne confronts Stephen, revealing he knows Stephen lied about his alibi and was with his lover. In turn, Stephen suggests Richard had grown tired of Davina “bleeding him dry” (206). Hawthorne confronts Akira Anno and her publisher, Dawn Adams, revealing he has deduced Akira is the secret author of the bestselling Doomworld fantasy series, writing as “Mark Belladonna.” This was the undeclared income Richard was investigating. The “man in blue glasses” is identified as Lofty Pinkerman, an ex-cop hired by Richard to investigate Adrian, not Akira. Lofty had discovered Adrian was hiding a £3 million wine collection. Armed with this information, Horowitz constructs a theory that Adrian killed Richard to prevent the exposure of his hidden assets and then tried to frame Akira. Horowitz feeds this theory to Grunshaw, who promptly arrests Adrian.

Hawthorne reveals to Horowitz that he knows this theory is wrong and intentionally used him to mislead Grunshaw. He convenes a final meeting with Davina to explain the truth. Gregory’s death was a suicide, staged as an accident to ensure his wife received his £250,000 life insurance payout. Richard had actually refused to give him money. Before dying by suicide, Gregory had visited Davina and told her the truth about her husband’s death: Richard and Gregory had left a trapped Charles to drown in the flooding cave. Davina’s 15-year-old son, Colin, overheard this confession. Enraged by this betrayal by his godfather, Colin cycled to Heron’s Wake that night to confront Pryce. The “torch” his neighbor saw was Colin’s bicycle light. An argument between Colin and Richard escalated, and Colin killed Richard. The number “182” was not a reference to the haiku but teenage text-slang for “I hate you,” a clue inspired by Colin’s love of Sherlock Holmes mysteries (350). Davina had realized her son was the killer when Horowitz mentioned the green paint, as she had found his paint-stained clothes. She had attempted to frame Adrian to protect Colin. As Hawthorne reveals the truth, Colin, who has been eavesdropping, panics, stabs Horowitz in the chest with a kitchen knife, and flees. Colin is arrested. An appended letter from Gregory, written before his death by suicide, confirms that the true sequence of events is as Horowitz had said.