Horowitz becomes Japan's most-decorated foreign crime author

Author Anthony Horowitz has won the Best Mystery of the Decade award by Honkaku Mystery Writers Club for his first Daniel Hawthorne novel, The Word is Murder, making him the most-decorated foreign crime author in Japanese history.

Horowitz is the first author in Japanese history to win 16 literary awards in total, according to his publisher. All three of Horowitz’s books are published in Japan by Tokyo Sogensha in deals brokered by Curtis Brown and have been honoured with crime awards, with Magpie Murders garnering seven, The Word is Murder five, and The Sentence is Death four.

The author said he was incredibly grateful for his support in Japan, adding: "During the lockdown, I have been reading many mystery stories. And it seems to me that the novels coming out of Japan lead the world for their originality, their ingenuity and their brilliant solutions."

He said the award "means a very great deal" adding: "I would like to thank everyone who has supported my work in Japan, especially my publishers, Tokyo Sogensha and my (obviously) brilliant translator, Ms Ran Yamada."

The Hawthorne series continues with A Line to Kill publishing in the UK on 19th August by Century and in the US on 19th October by HarperCollins.