Anthony Horowitz is the author of the bestselling teen spy series, Alex Rider, and is also responsible for creating and writing some of the UK’s most loved and successful TV series, including Midsomer Murders and Foyle’s War. He has also written two highly acclaimed Sherlock Holmes novels, The House of Silk and Moriarty; two James Bond novels, Trigger Mortis and Forever and a Day. His previous thrillers, Magpie Murders and The Word is Murder, were both Top Ten Sunday Times bestsellers, and he was awarded an OBE for his services to literature in January 2014. Moonflower Murders is his latest novel.
Today, Anthony is on the blog to answer our Ten Terrifying Questions! Read on …
Anthony Horowitz
1. To begin with why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?
I was born in London, where I have lived pretty much all my life. I was raised in a suburb called Stanmore, which was where the RAF was based during WW2. It was a much less interesting place when I was growing up there. I was privately educated, first at an extremely unpleasant prep school in North London and then at Rugby School (home of Tom Brown’s School Days). Finally, I went to university in the historic town of York.
2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?
At twelve, I wanted to be a writer. At 18, I wanted to be a writer. At 30, I was a writer with four or five books published and my first TV series. The simple truth is that I was never very good at anything else. When I was ten, I discovered that I was able to tell stories and that it was something I loved doing. 55 years later, nothing has changed.
3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now?
I thought I would never get old. Sadly, life decided otherwise.
4. What were three works of art – book or painting or piece of music, etc – you can now say, had a great effect on you and influenced your own development as a writer?
The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley was the first “serious” piece of writing that I encountered. A teacher at my secondary school twisted my arm into reading it and it was the first book that taught me that literature can elevate and enlighten, as well as entertain.
Turner’s “The Fighting Temeraire” was the first painting which did very much the same thing. I think there’s a transformative moment between looking at art and loving art … and for me this was it.
The poetry of Stevie Smith also influenced me greatly and still does. “The Weak Monk” is at the very heart of my approach to writing.
5. Considering the innumerable artistic avenues open to you, why did you choose to write a novel?
Well, actually I’ve written quite a bit more besides: plays, films, TV series and short stories. But I love novels because they are so immersive, so all-embracing. It’s like moving to another world for seven or eight months. I think the relationship between the writer and his/her audience is at its most intimate in a novel.
6. Please tell us about your latest novel!
Moonflower Murders is a sequel to Magpie Murders – a sequel I never intended to write. Once again it features Susan Ryeland, an editor forced to become a detective, and Atticus Pünd who is a detective but who exists only in a book that Susan has edited. Effectively, Susan is asked to look into the disappearance of a young woman, Cecily Treherne. Cecily was involved in a murder that happened eight years before and has always believed that the wrong person was arrested. Then she read Atticus Pünd Takes the Case written by Alan Conway, who is himself now dead. Something in the book convinced her that she was right, but now she has disappeared. So once again you get two books for the price of one! There’s Susan’s own story and her quest for the truth and the golden age detective story that may reveal it.
7. What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?
Well, first of all, I hope they don’t guess the ending! Obviously, I hope they’ve been entertained. I also (quietly) hope that people will recognise how much work has gone into the book, how hard I’ve tried to write well … but they probably won’t.
8. Who do you most admire in the realm of writing and why?
There are many, many writers I admire. I could start with Don Winslow, whose excoriating thrillers I’ve just discovered. What took me so long? I love everything Sarah Waters writes and honestly think she is one of the world’s greatest writers, combining brilliant narrative and plot twists with the most profound insights. I love Stephen King for his sheer stamina, Kazuo Ishiguro for Never Let Me Go, Ian Fleming and Conan Doyle of course. Dickens remains my literary hero. Where do I stop?
9. Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?
That every book I write should be, somehow, better than the one before.
10. What advice do you give aspiring writers?
Read! The more you read, the better you’ll write. Believe in yourself and never put yourself down. I meet so many young writers who start by saying: “It’s not very good but …” Don’t do this! You have to listen to your inner voice and ignore any doubts. Don’t give up. The only difference between a successful writer and an unsuccessful writer is that the unsuccessful writer gives up.
Thank you for playing!
—Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz (Penguin Books Australia) is out now.
Moonflower Murders
A labyrinth of clues. A mystery novel hiding a deadly secret. A killer with a fiendish plot: a brilliantly intricate and original thriller from the bestselling author of Magpie Murders
Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her long-term boyfriend. But life isn’t as idyllic as it should be: exhausted by the responsibility of making everything work on an island where nothing ever does, Susan is beginning to miss her literary life in London – even though her publishing career once entangled her in a lethal literary murder plot. So when an English couple come...
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