The Hawthorne and Horowitz murder mystery series are definitely top notch! I love how Anthony Horowitz made himself into a character. The series begins with inspector Daniel Hawthorne approaching writer Anthony Horowitz with an opportunity to follow him on murder cases and then write a book about Hawthorne solving the crime.

A Line to Kill is the third book in the series. The story opens with Hawthorne and Horowitz meeting with editors, publishers, etc. at Penguin Random House about the publicity of their first book that is soon to be released. These two characters couldn’t be more different, which makes these books entertaining. Their first public appearance will be at a literary festival in Alderney, an island off the coast of England. A good portion of the book is initially devoted to establishing the characters of authors who are also in attendance at the festival; an author of children’s books, a French poet, chef, blind psychic, and war historian. The festival is hosted by a local resident who operates an online gambling business.

A local resident is found dead and because they are on an island with very little crime, the police force is minimal. Hawthorne is asked to put his investigative skills to work and help solve the murder. This is where the story begins to deepen and Hawthorne exposes everyone’s personal demons, tragedies, or lies. Due to the larger number of characters, the story was increasingly fascinating, while it also kept my attention focused. Once the murder occurred, the story picked up momentum. It’s a high quality murder mystery.

I borrowed this audiobook from my local library with the Libby app. The narration by Rory Kinnear was outstanding!

You’re welcome to read my other review for an Anthony Horowitz book, which is linked below.

The Sentence is Death

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