Since his debut in the mid-1980s, British author Anthony Horowitz has written somewhere between 60 and 70 books, most of them within the thriller genre.
Initially, it was about children's books, then the series about the young secret agent Alex Rider – which has sold around twenty million copies. Now it's books for adults as well as film and TV scripts that occupy the productive author.
I have all my ideas in my head, I never write them down, says Horowitz to TT.
This week, "The Word is Murder" is published in Swedish translation. It's the first part of five books about the former police officer, now private detective, Daniel Hawthorne. He is a kind of modern Sherlock Holmes, with a somewhat dim-witted and reluctant sidekick named – Anthony Horowitz.
When I came up with the idea, my publisher was initially skeptical. Wasn't it a bit too much of an ego trip to include myself in my books? But I said it could work, since I would portray myself as not particularly smart, a kind of Dr. Watson to this modern-day Sherlock.
"Not mean-spirited"
The idea worked. The books have become very popular in his home country. And it's not just the author himself who is a real figure in the stories. Here, a multitude of people and details from his own life and from works he has written earlier appear. Does he have to ask these people for permission?
No, it's fiction. And I'm not mean-spirited.
The books about Hawthorne and Horowitz as problem solvers are classic puzzle mysteries, where the former gathers the murder suspects at the end to reveal who the murderer is and how he came to this conclusion.
Before I start writing, I have to have come up with the solution. I can't write and hope it works out, says Horowitz.
Stopped writing for young adults
The international breakthrough came with the 13 Alex Rider books, and he has been knighted for his contributions to British youth literature. It has also become a film and a TV series, including with Swedish Sofia Helin as the villain in season three.
The film was too childish, the TV series was better, it was more serious. But now there won't be any more books for young adults. I've become too old to feel at home in that genre, says the author.
But that definitely doesn't mean that Horowitz is slowing down his writing. On the contrary. He plans a number of new books about Hawthorne.
Age: 69.
Family: wife Jill Green and two children.
Lives: London.
Occupation: author.
Previous works: including the Alex Rider books, James Bond and Sherlock Holmes books, scripts for TV series such as "Foyle's War" and "Midsomer Murders".
Currently working on: the thriller series about Hawthorne and Horowitz, whose fifth part was published earlier this year. The first book, "The Word is Murder", was published in 2017 and is now being published in Swedish translation.
