Anthony Horowitz's Biography

Prodigious author, Anthony Horowitz was born in 1956 in Stanmore, Middlesex - just north of London.

According to Anthony Horowitz's official website, his father was " a wealthy businessman ...a fixer for [former Prime Minister] Harold Wilson."

Horowitz's mother was an interesting character too - she gave him a human skull for his 13th birthday. Perhaps it is not surprising that much of Anthony Horowitz's work deals with the macabre!

Although he has written episodes of successful TV series like Poirot, Midsomer Murders (of which he wrote 7 episodes featuring 19 murders!) and a whole television series, Foyle's War, Anthony Horowitz is probably even better known for his books, which include the Alex Rider books, whose hero is a fourteen-year-old spy for Britain's MI6.

The producer of Foyle's War is Anthony Horowitz's wife, Jill Green.

His writings are highly readable, and Anthony Horowitz claims that he has been described as a writer for boys who don't like to read.

Horowitz has written professionally since he was 20, but he received numerous rejections before his first book, Enter Frederick K Bower, was published when he was 23 - one publisher accidentally sent him a note meant for internal consumption that said: "this book is poorly written trash ..."

In spite of the harsh words, Horowitz ploughed on and his Point Blanc was 105th in the BBC's The Big Read.

Other works by Anthony Horowitz include adult fiction such as The Killing Joke; the libretto of a Broadway musical adapted from Dr. Seuss's book, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T; and the film script of The Gathering.

His heroes include Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and George Orwell.

In 2011, he wrote The House of Silk, a story featuring Sherlock Holmes. He followed up with another story, Moriarty.

In May 2016, it was revealed that the BBC had commissioned New Blood, a seven part investigative drama for BBC One, created and written by Anthony Horowitz.

In 2017, Horowitz wrote the detective novel Magpie Murders. In 2020, he wrote another book featuring the character Susan Ryeland - Moonflower Murders.

In between the Susan Ryeland books, Horowitz wrote two crime novels featuring the private investigator Daniel Hawthorne.