具体描述
One bright spring morning in London, Diana Cowper – the wealthy mother of a famous actor - enters a funeral parlor. She is there to plan her own service.
Six hours later she is found dead, strangled with a curtain cord in her own home.
Enter disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne, a brilliant, eccentric investigator who’s as quick with an insult as he is to crack a case. Hawthorne needs a ghost writer to document his life; a Watson to his Holmes. He chooses Anthony Horowitz.
Drawn in against his will, Horowitz soon finds himself a the center of a story he cannot control. Hawthorne is brusque, temperamental and annoying but even so his latest case with its many twists and turns proves irresistible. The writer and the detective form an unusual partnership. At the same time, it soon becomes clear that Hawthorne is hiding some dark secrets of his own.
用户评价
##1. 强烈的元小说特点让这本书在构思上显得比传统侦探小说更为“现代”；2.（作为作者和叙述者的）Anthony与前警官Hawthorne的组合颇有向华生与福尔摩斯致敬的意思；3.悬念、红鲱鱼和反转的设置巧妙，我脑子笨硬是没猜出凶手；4.以及最后一章怎么写得那么可爱！
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##过分无聊了。前两百四十页几乎是全程家访...而这里面还包含了一看就是为了进行家访才写的误导，以及一堆废话里藏几个莎士比亚梗的所谓伏线。哦和喜鹊一样有人名和字谜梗，勉强可以当冷笑话看的那种。总之不推荐在这种书上浪费时间。ps：拜托有几个正常读者会愿意听作者聊丁丁历险记或者斯皮尔伯格彼得杰克逊什么的（看到这里我很绝望），灌水就灌水扯什么小说构架＆日本读者的审美彻底理解不能。
##Books 📚 are the greatest distractions.
##有点模仿福尔摩斯和华生，不过意外地效果好。朗读者的声音也好听。
##Books 📚 are the greatest distractions.
##Anthony Horowitz讲故事真的很厉害，总是开篇几句话就牢牢抓住你（我十几岁开始读Alex Rider系列的时候就是这个感觉）。朗读者音色很好，但是人物和人物之间的区分不是很明显，其实作者非常喜欢细细地写人物的口音与声线，类似选角指示？
##Typical British mystery with reference of drama, theatre and, of course, Hamlet. A very grumpy Holmes and a less amicable Watson plus a nice little plot on the platter, including enough red herrings.
##Books 📚 are the greatest distractions.