This is a fun one, where fictional Horowitz is accused of murder and actually detained for a while. He calls Hawthorne in a panic, who then starts investigating the death of a theater critic. As is the norm in these novels, many people hate the victim.

The twists are great. However, it is also jumping the shark. The detective inspectors (introduced in the last book) are over the top unlikeable and incompetent. There is a self-consciously Agatha Christie gathering of all the suspects. And fictional Horowitz and his wife have a weird relationship, where he can gone all the time, even overnight, and she shrugs it all off even after the police come to her door.