Member Reviews
Anthony Horowitz is one of my favorite authors. His work just tickles my funny-bone and also makes me think. This may be my favorite series of Horowitz. I love that he is one of the characters (I know it's not really him, but it's a great conceit).
Everything I wanted out of another Hawthorne mystery. A cozy mystery a la Midsomer or any other British mystery, but in my favorite style of breaking the fourth wall and acknowledging itself. I am very pleased and look forward to more!
This is a must-read for all mystery fans. Absolutely a delight! So stunning in its cleverness and truly satisfying on so many levels, it really must be experienced to understand.
Horowitz brings in the third book in this deeply fascinating and unique series with the same high caliber of suspense, wit, and surprise that has upended the deeply entrenched mystery genre. Just when readers thought there was little to change up in plot and characters, Horowitz has thrown us a new curve.
This third story is centered on the most awesome of detecting couples - the enigmatic and maddening Hawthorne, suspiciously retired detective and consultant, and the longsuffering author that stumbles alongside him trying to write about him and figure things out before he does. Yes, the author in the story is the author of the actual book. That is just one of the ingenious twists in Horowitz's series.
The third entry is even better than the previous one - The Sentence is Death - and that one was so much fun. The writer Horowitz is humorously eclipsed now by Hawthorne, as his agent and publisher are much more interested in the detective than the author and invite both to a literary festival on the tiny island of Alderney, part of the Channel Islands. For Hawthorne, there is another, darker agenda to the visit, one which is unfolded gradually as murder hits the festival. Readers will lap up the intricate dance of the duo, as before in the earlier stories. Horowitz has done it again! It's hard to give this series enough praise for its originality and brilliance.
Another satisfying mystery solved by author Anthony Horowitz and former detective Hawthorne. This time the mismatched duo are on the island of Alderney for a literary festival. But the other authors are an odd bunch, and a proposed oil pipeline is stirring unrest among island residents. When a local bigwig is murdered, Horowitz and Hawthorne assist the Guernsey police is identifying the killer. But when everyone has something to hide, how do they know which statements to trust, and which may lead to an arrest?
I throughly enjoyed this latest fast paced installment of the Horowitz and Hawthorne series. I love the reality combined with fiction approach that Horowitz adds to each book. Satisfying mystery story and we get to know Hawthorne a little bit more in this book. And with the cliffhanger at the end I’m already looking forward to the next book.
#ALinetoKill #NetGalley
Another solid addition to the series. Anthony Horowitz writes a sharp, witty detective novel that you don't want to miss out on!
This book is another fun, clever installment in the Hawthorne and Horowitz (or is that Horowitz and Hawthorne?) crime solving series. The final chapter opens the door wide for a sequel. Recommended for all readers.
I thoroughly enjoy Anthony Horowitz's adult mysteries with a nod to the classic whodunnit genre, the self deprecating, very British, humor and well rounded characters.
That being said, I liked the two first instalments of the Hawthorne and Horowitz series better. The dynamics between the two main figures didn't work as well, and the plot was not as engaging.
I still want to read his next book, though...
I eagerly look forward to each new Horowitz mystery novel in either of his ongoing series. As an author who has spent thirty years creating mystery stories, he knows his way around all of the conventions and remixes them in surprising ways. The real delight, both in this series and his other series, is the way they both offer meta commentary on the way mystery authors and the publishing industry work. Without being condescending, he winks at everything from red herrings to the Holmes-Watson dynamic. Each book is a bag of candy for any lifelong mystery fan.
I hope that Anthony Horowitz is having as much fun writing the Hawthorne series as fans do reading the books.
Where to begin: first, there is always a clever, layered, intelligent mystery with a resolution that I never see coming, but even more delicious are Horowitz's clever inside jokes about writers, the publishing industry, current events, and, even himself. As the character author Anthony Horowitz, he has been cajoled into writing a series of books about Hawthorne, a mysterious and irascible former detective who has become a consultant to solve murders that have stumped traditional law enforcement.
That Horowitz is out manipulated, out maneuvered, and outshone by his own creation is a running joke. Horowitz also sets his sights on other tropes of the modern writer: publishers, agents, editors, literary festivals. He is an insider's insider. More importantly, he manages to make the reader care for Hawthorne, who is neither cuddly nor entirely admirable, but seems to live by his own code--a code which neither Horowitz nor the reader to this point have entirely apprehended.
So, quite obviously, I unreservedly recommend A Line to Kill.
And, now I am desperate for Horowitz to write Hawthorne #4 because I want to know exactly what did happen in Reeth.
Full Disclosure--NetGalley and the publisher provided me with a digital ARC of this book. This is my honest review.
This was a really pleasant surprise for me, a carefully wrought, old fashioned detective story. Tony, an author writing a series of books following the detective work of the taciturn, brilliant Hawthorn., is tasked with gaining publicity for the series, The 2 are invited to a literary festival on Alderney Island , where death and chicanery follow.
I found myself enjoying this book and planning on finding other Horowitz books to read. The reader is drawn into the detective work and follows the clues. The author manages to throw in red herrings and many twists, making for great reading. Best of all, Horowitz brings it all together with satisfying closure.
Thank you Netgalley for this book which I really enjoyed.