A Line to Kill (A Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery)

Product Information

In A Line To Kill the pair end up together at a literary festival on Alderney promoting their last book. Horowitz worries that Hawthorne will find himself out of his depth, and Hawthorne of course produces a whole new side to his character and puts Horowitz in the shade. They really do not get along well but both are prepared to put up with that for the sake of the books and the money. When a murder occurs on the island Horowitz realises he may be about to find material for book three. Anthony Horowitz and the subject of his book The Word is Murder, Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne, are invited to a literary festival on the Channel Island of Alderney, in preparation for their upcoming follow-up, The Sentence is Death. But what the pair don’t expect to find is an island divided by conflict and become embroiled in a nefarious country house homicide…

Horowitz and I came up with the same possible theory regarding the killer’s identity, and we both thought our solution was a pretty clever one, until the real murderer was revealed, and it was a million times more original. This isn’t a spoiler because Horowitz doesn’t narrate his theory until post-murder reveal, and out of embarrassment, thankfully never voices his thoughts aloud to Hawthorne. A couple of open-ended questions regarding Hawthorne’s past left me with food for thought, and I’ll be curious to see whether it becomes a main mystery plot, either in book four, or further down the line. In a recent interview, Horowitz stated he intends to write ten or eleven books in this series, so I’m thrilled to bits. In this story, Hawthorne and Horowitz are invited to an “exclusive” yet low-rate Penguin Random House literary festival on a small island off the south coast of England. No noteworthy author has been invited, because well, all the famous authors turned them down. Other guests include a children’s book author Anne Cleary (NOT to be confused with the real life and wonderful children’s author Beverly Cleary), blind psychic Elizabeth Lovell, war historian George Elin, a French performance poet Maissa Lamar and TV Chef Marc Bellamy. None of these speakers are expected to draw crowds, which is why imitation Horowitz is flummoxed as to why they are attending.

Neither easy nor difficult

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 Big Reveal, when it comes, felt much less satisfying than in the first book and I could see it coming a mile off. (At least in this one, we can be thankful that Horowitz’s alter-ego doesn’t stagger away from the scene with a knife poking out of his chest.) 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. The visiting authors - including a blind medium, a French performance poet and a celebrity chef - seem to be harbouring any number of unpleasant secrets. 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.

The local police are unequipped to deal with a homicide and Hawthorne is asked to help investigate the murder. So Hawthorne and Horowitz have another case to solve.Naturally, while the book within the book talks of a three-title deal for the Hawthorne Investigates series, the ending here leaves open the prospect of even more of these volumes to come. That’s a no from me. In any event, le Mesurier and his beautiful wife hold a soiree for festival attendees and residents of Alderney..... Alderney is in turmoil over a planned power line that will cut through it, desecrating a war cemetery and turning neighbour against neighbour. Self-Deprecation: As usual, Horowitz's version of himself misses almost every clue and screws up Hawthorne's investigation by Saying Too Much. It's also repeatedly established that almost nobody at the literary festival has heard of him or thinks his books are any good, with the only apparent exception being the child pornographer Derek Abbott who Horowitz is annoyed to realize has a copy of one of his books in his house.

Hawthorne and Horowitz arrive at an island for a writers’ conference invited by Charles leMesurier, a rich man, who is pushing for an electrical line running through the island he and his wife reside on. Needless to say, there are many residents of the island opposing this idea and the list of possible suspects increase as said rich man is found murdered.

In our third return to the “dynamic” duo, Horowitz follows Hawthorne to a literary festival on a secluded island in Alderney. There are celebrity chefs, casino owners, poets, and professors. The island is in conflict over the installment of a powerline, which creates enemies out of former friends. What originally was just a trip to promote Horowitz’s most recent publication turns into a murder investigation when a corpse is found in the aftermath of a late-night party. Could the death be from the fallout of the powerline debate? Or is this the repercussion of something that had happened decades before? This time around the odd couple ends up on a small island as part of a literary festival to promote their first book.