A Line to Kill (A Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery)

Product Information

A True Story in My Universe: In-Universe, Horowitz is Daniel Hawthorne's "biographer" and the Hawthorne books are true crime stories. When this one seems to be ending with the most obvious and least interesting suspect as the killer, and with that suspect committing suicide, Anthony worries that he might not have a book. Our guys are invited to a soiree at the home of Charles le Mesurier and his wife Helen. As a wealthy multi-millionaire, it seems that Charles finances most of the events on the island. But there's tension in the air that can be felt as neighbors are taking a stand for and against the proposal of a power line that will cut across property lines and the natural flow of the island. Someone will be profiting and the rest not so much. One less vote on the issue......Charles' body is found the next morning in his private retreat facing the sea. Agatha, herself, is peering down on this one. The most richly accomplished of the brothers’ pairings to date—and given Connelly’s high standards, that’s saying a lot.

I especially liked the setting of Alderney, a Channel Island three square miles big, and a mere eight miles off the coast of France -

A Line to Kill

I loved this smartly written whodunit, but it's the characters of Hawthorne and Horowitz that have completely won me over.' accompanies Daniel Hawthorne - a former Scotland Yard detective who became a private sleuth - on an investigation.

Even though Anne showed Horowitz and Hawthorne a letter stating that she was dying of heart disease and she claimed Kathryn had little to do with the murders, Hawthorne still insisted that they turn themselves in to the police. Undercover Cop Reveal: Maissa Lamar the poet turns out to not be a poet at all. She and the mysterious blond-haired man who was following her are French undercover cops who were on Alderney to investigate accusations of corruption related to the NAB high-voltage power line. This trope is played out differently than how it usually goes, when Hawthorne unmasks them both as bumbling dopes who found le Mesurier's body but didn't tell anybody, thus letting the scene go cold, and also left bloody footprints and a smear of blood in le Mesurier's office, further confusing the murder investigation. With a Mind to Kill , Horowitz’s new James Bond novel, is expected in May 2022. “I cannot give anything away because they will be unhappy with me ( laughs ). I will say I was thrilled to be asked to return for the third time. This book is part of a trilogy following Trigger Mortis (2015) and Forever and a Day (2018). It is a quieter book compared to the other two.” The beginning of the novel, when Bond is captured and Mr Big’s henchman, Teehee, breaks Bond’s finger, makes me sweat when I read it. There are, however, parts of the book which I would not write myself, which we would feel uncomfortable reading.” Horowitz says he sees no need to prune out the uncomfortable bits from the legacy sequel as it is not the way he thinks. Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.Arriving on Alderney, Hawthorne and Horowitz soon meet the festival's other guests—an eccentric gathering that includes a bestselling children's author, a French poet, a TV chef turned cookbook author, a blind psychic, and a war historian—along with a group of ornery locals embroiled in an escalating feud over a disruptive power line. Hate Sink: Both Charles le Mesurier, a man so deeply unpleasant that everyone on the island had reason to want him dead, and Derek Abbott, a child pornographer described by Horowitz as the most loathsome man he has ever met. Lampshaded in the latter case, as Horowitz dreads the idea of Abbott being guilty because he's so hateful that he doubts any of his readers will care if he did it. Elizabeth Lovell – A blind psychic, author of several successful autobiographical books regarding the spirit world. Accompanying her, her husband Sid. This was another excellent addition to the Hawthorne and Horowitz series and I can't wait till the next book comes out.

Title Drop: Hawthorne notes that there's something like a dozen people with reason to kill Charles le Mesurier and says "It's a line to kill if ever I saw one." Horowitz is a master of misdirection, and his brilliant self-portrayal, wittily self-deprecating, carries the reader through a jolly satire on the publishing world." — Booklist This book is a pure pleasure to read and enjoy and Jan and I took part in both the enjoyment and the pleasure of a well done whodunnit. Author Anthony Horowitz and former detective, Daniel Hawthorne are invited to a Literary Festival on Alderney (one of the Channel Islands) to promote their first collaborative dectective story – The Word is Murder.

Tropes:

Hawthorne is the star of the show and Horowitz writes both him and himself quite exceptionally - their relationship in particular is very amusing - but numerous other characters stood out as well like Judith Matheson, the festival organiser, the deliciously evil Charles le Mesurier, and the bumbling local constable from Guernsey, Torode. Having loved the first two books in this series, "The Word is Murder," and "The Sentence is Death," I was thrilled, not only to read the third, but to hear in the interview at the end of this that Anthony Horowitz is planning further mysteries featuring Hawthorne.