Infinite Books

Anthony Horovitz’s mystery novels are like the proverbial potato chips – it’s impossible to just have one. “A Line to Kill” is the third installment in the “Hawthorne and Horwitz.” I enjoyed reading the first two, and fortunately, the author enjoyed writing them enough to continue the series.

Daniel Hawthorne is the private investigator who helps the police with solving complex cases, and Anthony Horowitz is his biographer, so to speak, writing about their investigation. In the third book, Horowitz is on familiar grounds. His publisher wants to promote the first book and sends them to a literary festival. Horowitz is always looking forward to literary festivals, particularly if they happen to be in Dubai or another attractive place. Well, this one is located on a small island Alderney, off the small coast of the island. Anthony thinks it will still be fun,  especially since Hawthorne is excited to go for an unknown reason.

Once on the island, they meet other festival guests: a blind psychic with her husband, a French poet,  an obnoxious celebrity chef, and his assistant Kathryn, a children’s book author and a historian. The event is sponsored by a local mogul who seemingly has more enemies than the island’s residents, although not everybody is willing to admit it.

To Horowitz’s surprise, the grouchy Hawthorne becomes the festival’s favorite; everybody wants to ask him questions about his past Scotland Yard work and his current investigation methods. Soon he will have the opportunity to put his skills into action. The first murder is committed – the festival sponsor is found dead in a chair, tied up, with his left hand left free and a letter opener in his neck.

This is another brilliant, intelligent mystery in the tradition of Holmes/Watson and Poirot/Hastings. The detective/writer duo also reminds me a bit of Jeeves and Wooster. With his observant eye, attention to detail, and intelligence, Hawthorne solves the puzzle despite false leads. Horowitz, on the other hand, being observant but often distracted, usually thinks that someone else was a killer. He always has an excellent explanation of why that person was guilty. Together they form a perfect team that, I hope, will perform in many more of Horowitz’s mysteries.

A LINE TO KILL, Anthony Horowitz, Harper, 2021