62 pages • 2 hours read
Anthony HorowitzThe Word is Murder
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 5-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary: “The Lacerated Man”
Hawthorne refuses to explain Meadows’s warning about the stairs. Anthony argues that he must have details about Hawthorne’s personal or inner life to make the book effective. Hawthorne is reluctant to answer. He gives only brief statements about where he lives and his separation from his wife. He becomes angry when Anthony asks if he is a parent and insists that they should only discuss the case. Anthony despairs of the project but continues, dogged by thoughts of the murder victim.
Hawthorne shows him Diana’s last text message to her son, Damian, a famous actor, which reads, “I have seen the boy who was lacerated and I am afraid” (47). Next, Hawthorne produces a case from 2001: When living in a seaside town near Kent, Diana was responsible for a car accident that caused serious harm to twin boys, killing one, Timothy Godwin, and leaving the other, Jeremy, with a brain injury, described as a “fractured skull and a severe laceration” (47). Diana was put on trial but ultimately exonerated, as the law at the time did not penalize driving without glasses. Anthony is intrigued when he realizes it has been a decade since the accident, suggesting vengeance as motive. Hawthorne says they will retrace Diana’s steps on the day of her death before focusing on the accident.
The trip to Cornwallis and Sons funeral home reminds Anthony of his father’s death decades previously, putting him in a sober mood. The director, Robert Cornwallis, reviews Diana’s visit with them, and Anthony notes that Hawthorne is far less abrasive, likely due to his need for information. Hawthorne makes particular note of Cornwallis calling Diana after their meeting, asking pointed questions about her movements. He ends the meeting when Anthony mentions the Godwin twin tragedy. After they leave, Hawthorne further upbraids Anthony for the interruption. When Anthony demands to know what the meeting indicates, Hawthorne declares, with no explanation, “Diana Cowper knew she was going to die” (56).
Chapter 6 Summary: “Witness Statements”
Anthony considers the Godwins the most likely suspects and does not understand why Hawthorne is determined to begin with Diana’s housecleaner, Andrea. Hawthorne insists on starting with those who truly knew the victim and declares that Andrea that was not forthcoming with the police.
They arrive at her apartment, in a working-class area that is poorly maintained and bleak. Hawthorne is charming at first but then insists that Andrea tell him the truth, citing her previous criminal history. Hawthorne explains he knows she took money from a container in Diana’s kitchen because it was left containing only coins and had been wiped of fingerprints. He suspects she took something besides the money, and Andrea produces a blackmail letter left for Diana. Andrea explains she had heard Diana arguing with a man, likely the note’s author, and that she also thinks he murdered Diana’s cat, Mr. Tibbs. Anthony is struck by Hawthorne’s intense concentration, noting that he “[is] only fully alive when working on a case” (62).
Their next visit is to Diana’s friend Raymond Clunes, a theatrical producer. The journey takes them to an opulent mansion full of art pieces, some with homoerotic themes. Hawthorne is obviously disturbed by the collection. Clunes reports that at lunch on the day of her death, Diana seemed well but anxious, especially about her cat.
Hawthorne implies that the two quarreled over Diana’s investment in one of Clunes’s productions, which failed. Clunes denies that they had fallen out and defends Diana’s behavior in the Godwin case, claiming she could not have prevented the accident, as the children ran across the road too quickly. He says Alan Godwin, the boys’ father, had demanded compensation for his family.
Hawthorne is struck by Clunes’s admission that he knew the judge in Diana’s case, Nigel Weston, and asks about Weston’s marital status. Afterward, he shocks Anthony by calling Clunes a “bloody queer” and implying that Weston and Clunes conspired to protect Diana because of their sexuality (68). Anthony leaves, perturbed by Hawthorne’s display of anti-gay bias and realizing that the partnership may be over, baffling Hawthorne in the process.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Harrow-on-the-Hill”
Anthony broods over the new project’s future. Hawthorne is far from the ideal hero, both due to his personality and because contemporary culture insists on clear moral stances and that evil characters be punished for bigotry. Just as he has decided to abandon the project, Hawthorne texts him with a reminder that they have a visit with the Godwins planned for the next day. Anthony is tempted, full of curiosity. He briefly considers omitting or editing out Hawthorne’s anti-gay stance but dismisses this as cowardice. He decides the correct thing to do is subject Hawthorne’s views to critique and explication.
At breakfast, Anthony is critical when Hawthorne considers the surviving twin—Jeremy Godwin, who has been left with a disability—a viable suspect, accusing him of callousness. Hawthorne insists that his emotions are irrelevant to the central question of identifying Diana’s killer. Hawthorne restates the facts of the tragedy: that the boys ran across the road and that Diana did not stop after the accident but went to the police station herself hours later. To Anthony’s surprise, Hawthorne now rejects the idea of any gay conspiracy in Diana’s acquittal. They arrive at the Godwin home, where Anthony declares, “I had never seen a building that exuded a greater sense of misery” (77).
Chapter 8 Summary: “Damaged Goods”
Inside the home, Anthony finds extensive signs of neglect. He is immediately struck by Judith Godwin’s “brittle quality” (79), as if her personal circumstances are stamped on her behavior and appearance. Judith admits she has no sympathy for Diana’s sudden death, as Diana took everything from her. She explains the boys were in the seaside town of Deal on a school vacation, while she and her now ex-husband were away for work. Judith is bitter about Diana’s refusal to come forward right away and her ambition to protect Damian’s career at all costs. She explains her marriage could not survive the strain. She also reports that they will be selling the run-down house due to the expense of maintaining it, though this will devastate Jeremy.
Hawthorne points out that Judith was near Diana’s home around the murder, but Judith denies knowing where Diana lived. When Hawthorne asks if Jeremy could have been involved, Judith describes the extent of his intellectual disability, dismissing any possibility he was Diana’s visitor.
Hawthorne also interviews the family’s nanny, Mary O’Brien, who is now Jeremy’s caregiver. Mary repeats that the boys ran across the street because they saw an ice cream shop and admits that the shop was closed at the time. Witnesses could have identified Diana even if she had never turned herself in, as someone had noted her license number. Mary also denies any knowledge of Diana’s location or death, but Anthony suspects her of subterfuge in some way. They meet Jeremy, whom Anthony immediately dismisses as a suspect. As the two walk away, Hawthorne is obviously struck by the tragedy, admitting he has a young son himself. He tells Anthony, “And he doesn’t read your fucking books” (91).
Chapters 5-8 Analysis
At this stage of the investigation, the personality differences between Anthony and Hawthorne become more apparent, with implications for their partnership. Anthony immediately latches on to the emotional beats in the case: The funeral home reminds him of his own father’s death, and he is immediately focused on the pathos of the Godwin family’s circumstances. Hawthorne, in contrast, holds fast to his methodology and resents emotional or personal intrusions into his process. This tension is, in keeping with the metafictional element, a kind of argument about the detective novel itself. Horowitz as author and Anthony the character both use Hawthorne to investigate whether, in the modern era, there is a place for the Golden Age detective’s demand to prioritize investigation above personality.
The themes of both partnership and dysfunction sharpen further after the visit to Raymond Clunes. Hawthorne’s glaring and obvious anti-gay bias presents both a moral stumbling block and a challenge to the newfound thrill of investigation. While Anthony the character portrays his choice to continue working with Hawthorne as a kind of moral duty to a dead woman, and a concession to his curiosity, it is also a compromise of his own ethics. Hawthorne’s flaws may make him a less than ideal subject for a detective story, but Horowitz as author makes it clear that Anthony the character is also not beyond reproach. Both protagonists have their flaws, so that the reader does not see Anthony as any kind of sainted victim but rather a willing participant in a complex undertaking.
The visit to the Godwin family underlines that Diana Cowper, for all Anthony’s sense of obligation to her, was also no moral exemplar. Her willingness to avoid responsibility, possibly to protect her own child—who, it is speculated, could have been behind the wheel—complicates any impulse the reader may have to mourn her. Judith Godwin’s rage and grief capture Anthony’s sympathy, and perhaps even Hawthorne’s, as visiting Jeremy prompts Hawthorne to admit that he is also a parent. Anthony, too, thinks of his own children and the perils they face in the world, though the two men do not experience the moment as a deepening of their bond. Instead, Hawthorne disparages Anthony’s books and refuses to speak further.
The scene does underscore that Hawthorne does not have a monopoly on observation: Anthony suspects that the nanny, Mary O’Brien, is concealing some aspect of the ordeal. He will be proven correct, as Anthony will later learn that Mary’s affair with her then-employer was the primary cause of the accident; the boys saw their father and ran into traffic to find him. In this way, Anthony is the intuitive and emotion-driven character, alert to the role of personality and temperament. As his complement, Hawthorne gathers the evidence that contextualizes the human element. The relationship, while not harmonious, introduces the reader to the multiple aspects of the case.
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