Anthony Horowitz is one of the UK's most prolific and successful writers, unique in being active in both adult and YA fiction, TV, theater, and journalism. Several of his previous novels were instant New York Times bestsellers. His bestselling Alex Rider series for young adults has sold more than nineteen million copies worldwide and has become a hugely successful show on Amazon Prime TV. He lives in London and was recently awarded the CBE for services to literature. His breakthrough murder mysteries Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders were adapted into a miniseries for PBS. The latest in this series is Marble Hall Murders and he recently talked about these novels with Daryl Maxwell for the LAPL Blog.
What was your inspiration for The Magpie Murders?
Magpie Murders began with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He created the most famous detective in literature—Sherlock Holmes—but very quickly became bored with him and thought that detective fiction was "beneath" him. So he threw him off the Reichenbach Falls! I created Alan Conway, a writer who is equally unhappy with his own creation, Atticus Pund… and the rest followed.
Did you know, when you finished Magpie Murders, that you would be writing another mystery for Susan Ryeland to solve? If not, what inspired you to write Moonflower Murders?
Magpie Murders was meant to be a one-off. But when my wife (producer, Jill Green) wanted to raise the finance to make the TV series, she told me that a second book would make the process easier…so I wrote Moonflower Murders. We filmed both of them, and on the last day of shooting, our star, Lesley Manville, said that she would love to come back one more time. So I wrote Marble Hall Murders.
What was your inspiration for Marble Hall Murders?
I’m fascinated by literary estates. What must it be like to have a famous grandmother or grandfather who was loved all over the world for their work, and to live your whole life in their shadow? And what if you secretly know that they were monstrous and cruel and that in the end they were murdered? That's the dark heart of my new book.
How did the novels evolve and change as you wrote and revised them? Are there any character, scenes, or stories that were lost in the process that you wish had made it to the published versions?
I structure my books very carefully. These plots are quite complicated, and it's vital that my readers are never confused, and I can spend as long thinking about and planning the book as I do writing it. So, in fact, very little changes during the writing.
You now have three books featuring Susan Ryeland. Will readers be able to read about Susan's further adventures solving murders? If so, what are your plans for the series??
We are currently shooting Marble Hall Murders in Ireland and Corfu—and I think it will be the last television outing for the books. But I do have one more title in mind. Mile End Murders. It's another book within a book, but this time the whole thing is set in modern times. I hope to start writing it in 2027.
Magpie Murders was adapted into a series on PBS's Masterpiece in 2022 and was followed last year by an adaptation of Moonflower Murders. Do you know if Marble Hall Murders will also be adapted? Is there anything you can tell us about it?
See my answer above. We're exactly halfway through filming right now with Lesley Manville and Tim McMullan back in their roles of Susan and Atticus. The director, Rebecca Gatward, has also returned for a second time, and I think she's doing a marvellous job. I'm tempted to say it will be the best of the three. I've loved watching the dailies.
You had brief, Alfred Hitchcock-like cameos in both Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders. You also had at least one cameo in Foyle's War. Have you done cameos in any of your other television projects?
I like to appear when I can, and you may be able to spot me in Corfu… I'm flying out next week.
Do you have a favorite of Hitchcock's cameos in his films?
They're all brilliant but I'd say my two favourites are Strangers on a Train, getting on a train with a double bass and North by Northwest where he runs for a cab at the end of the wonderful opening credits.
You've written works of fiction for both adults and young adults. You've also written short stories, screenplays, and a play. Is there a format that you prefer over the others?
I enjoy all my writing more or less equally, but if you asked me to choose one, I'd go for YA fiction and in particular my Alex Rider novels. It's wonderful to think that many teenagers discovered reading because of these stories. I can't imagine a life in which you don't immerse yourself in books.
Is there something you haven't done yet but are hoping to have the opportunity to try?
I've started writing poetry. I'm not sure if it's any good, though.
What's currently on your nightstand?
I have so many books beside my bed! They include The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer by Ragnar Jonasson (not yet published), The Safe Keep by Yael Van Der Wouden and the biography of Ian Fleming by Nicholas Shakespeare.
What is the last piece of art (music, movies, TV, more traditional art forms) that you've experienced or that has impacted you?
I’ve been listening to the music of Philip Glass played by the wonderful Icelandic pianist, Vikingur Olaffson. He brings out things in the music that I have never heard before. The Van Gogh exhibition in London recently was stupendous. I was very taken by American Primeval on Netflix.
What are you working on now?
I am five chapters into the next Hawthorne novel. It starts on the set of the TV adaptation of The Word is Murder…and murder is exactly what happens.
