Funeral by design

The author in the shoes of Dr Watson. Anthony Horowitz is a real-life author of British detective series, and Daniel Hawthorne is the literary character of an insufferable detective. In the book, they work together on a murder case, just like Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. Daniel Hawthorne is a brilliant but unbearable private detective who was dismissed from the police force under unclear circumstances. Yet, his former colleagues still turn to him when they reach a dead end in an investigation. Anthony Horowitz is a real-life author of British television detective series (Foyle's War, Midsomer Murders, Hercule Poirot), who appears in the book as a fictionalised version of himself, acting as Daniel Hawthorne's companion and chronicler. Diana Cowper is an elderly, well-off lady who arranges her own funeral one day and is found strangled a few hours later. The paths of Daniel, Anthony, and the deceased Diana cross when the police ask Daniel to help with the investigation, and he, in turn, asks Anthony to document its progress for a detective novel. A relationship develops between Daniel and Anthony, much like that between Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, and the case they are working on is at least as intricate as the mysteries of the famous detective from Baker Street.