I was first delighted to find a book in the vein of Agatha Christie with his Magpie Murders. His plotting is very good, and there are some fun narrative tricks he uses, to comment on the mystery fiction itslelf, Then I saw he was selected by Doyle estate to write a Holmes book. I read multiple of his books with increasing shock. I am seeing a pattern of homophobia which has left me very disturbed.
Magpie Murders:
>!A hated gay character is murdered and the story investigates it.!<
Moonflower Murders:
>!the death of the gay character is depicted in an exceptionally brutal and savage way. It is suggested that both gay male characters met an end that was somehow justified, conveying the notion that their passing would not be grieved. The ending shows a male prostitute had killed a gay client from his past.!<
Detective Hawthorne Novels
These novels feature the detective and the author in a self-insert character.The detective is thoroughly homophobic. In the novels, he brings up this topic and says that he is going to give us some reasoning for this behavior, but that never happens. The author and character claim to abhor giving a platform to a homophobe but do so anyway.
House of Silk
>!In the Doyle-estate-approved novel, Holmes and Watson investigate a pedophile ring in Victorian London, and the criminals are all gay-coded, complete with the villain’s monologue borrowing from what Oscar Wilde said on being condemned for being gay.!<
by infosys_employee
6 Comments
Is he, personally, homophobic? I can’t really answer that question. I don’t know his heart. He’s described himself as “vaguely conservative” before, but that doesn’t always indicate homophobia (I would know, with a republican mother who still very much supports me and my sexuality). Also, the tweet where he said that is almost a decade old at this point.
Is his writing homophobic? I would argue it is, absolutely and utterly, for all of the reasons you’ve outlined. There’s also just… well, I can’t really explain it. There is an exceptionally Bad Vibe about the way he specifically writes gay men. If I cared enough to go back through the book and get quotes, I could make a stronger argument for this with more specifics. But I don’t truly care enough to do that.
How is Hawthorne thoroughly homophobic. I don’t remember anything about that?
I’m uncertain about Horowitz’s views on homosexuality and didn’t detect any homophobia in “Magpie Murders.” However, in the Detective Hawthorne series, the character Hawthorne is inherently unlikable, and adding the homophobic elements makes the reading experience uncomfortable for me and I will not read another book in the series.
I also noticed in “Midsomer Murders” (though I’m unsure of how involved Horowitz was in these particular episodes) that in the earlier part of the series, the character Troy occasionally used some slurs. Fortunately, Barnaby was often present to address and correct him.
Yes, he is. You should cancel him immediately.
I haven’t heard anything about his being homophobic but you don’t seem to be the only one who suspects it. Personally, I don’t try to pretend I can know anything about an author’s views based on their books or things their characters say unless it’s very obviously the central theme/message (and even that can be grossly misinterpreted). It could be that Horowitz wants to condemn homophobia but is doing so in a misguided way. But who knows.
Mick Herron writes Jackson Lamb as a truly horrible dude who says some nasty stuff but is ultimately the hero of the story, and I don’t think Mick agrees with anything his protagonist says. Whereas James Bond clearly shares a lot of views with his creator, Ian Fleming, when it comes to race, sex, and colonialism, not because he makes Bond a glamorous hero but because we have interviews of Fleming talking about these topics as himself.
If anyone has seen any interviews where Horowitz talks about this, I’d be curious to read them. I enjoyed Alex Rider as a kid and was looking to read his James Bond and recent mystery novels.
You’re definitely not the first person to notice this, and it has been remarked on for years that his gay characters tend to only get bad endings. Just Google his name and “homophobia” and you will see many reviews noting it. That plus his conservative political leanings makes me personally think it likely isn’t coincidental.
Edit: I’d like the people mass downvoting comments to explain their POV. Do you disagree with the characterization that most of Horowitz’s queer characters are depicted in a negative light and usually die bad deaths? Or do you disagree that that is a problem? Because just downvoting without explaining is giving real “I get offended when people mention racism/homophobia/etc” vibes.