[Book Sip] Elderly Man Who Prepared His Own Funeral 6 Hours Before Being Murdered

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The latest work by Anthony Horowitz, the UK's top novelist with over 20 million copies sold worldwide. This novel is praised for capturing the essence of classic mystery. Uniquely, Horowitz himself appears as a character in the story, adding to the fun. The case begins when a wealthy elderly man living alone is strangled to death with a curtain cord. Strangely, the man had arranged his own funeral with a funeral home just six hours earlier. Horace, a capable but eccentric former detective, asks Horowitz to write a detective novel featuring himself as the protagonist. Horowitz accompanies the investigation for research but ends up entangled in the murder case. The book has sold over 500,000 copies in the English-speaking world alone.

Diana Cooper had prearranged her funeral plans, which proved to be prophetic. She was murdered about six hours later that very day. - p.10

Still, the strange thing was that I felt he knew an incredible amount about me. Whether I went out drinking the previous evening, the assistant writer was sick, or I wrote all weekend, I didn’t need to tell him. He told me first! I suspected he might have learned through office staff, but the information was jumbled and inconsistent. I could never figure out his true identity. - pp.22~23

"I'm not completely useless," I said. "I might be able to help."

"At least one of those two things is a misconception. But the important thing is, you’re not here to help me. You said this is a detective novel. I’m the detective. It’s as simple as that."

"Then tell me what you’ve found out," I said. "I’ve been to the crime scene, checked call records, talked to the funeral director. Have you learned anything?"

Horace pondered my words. I expected him to dismiss me with a blank look, but he showed me mercy.

"Diana Cooper knew she was going to die," he said. - pp.81~82

Something strange happened as we walked. Whether it was intuition or because I caught some movement with my eyes, I felt someone was watching us. I turned my head and looked at the house we had just left. Someone was standing by Jeremy Godwin’s bedroom window, watching us. But before I could identify who it was, the person stepped back out of sight. - p.133

Damien Cooper stood closest to the grave. With an expression somewhere between shock and anger, he leaned over the edge and looked inside. He pointed downward and said something to Grace Lovell. That’s when I realized.

A song was playing from inside the grave. It was in the coffin. - p.183

"Tony? What’s wrong? Snap out of it!"

For some reason, I was looking up at the ceiling. The back of my head hurt. Horace was leaning over me. I opened my mouth to say something but stopped. Had I lost consciousness? That couldn’t be. It was absurd. I was confused. But it was true. - p.206

"You know who set that house on fire, don’t you?" I asked.

He gave me that desolate look I knew so well. It was a look that showed his worldview was completely different from mine and that we would never be close.

"Yes," he said. "It was you." - p.344

The Key to Murder | Anthony Horowitz | Open Books | 424 pages | 16,800 KRW

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