Jackie’s Reading Corner

SYNOPSIS

Richmond Upon Thames is one of the most desirable areas to live in London. And Riverview Close – a quiet, gated community – seems to offer its inhabitants the perfect life.

At least it does until Giles Kenworthy moves in with his wife and noisy children, his four gas-guzzling cars, his loud parties and his plans for a new swimming pool in his garden.

His neighbours all have a reason to hate him and are soon up in arms.

When Kenworthy is shot dead with a crossbow bolt through his neck, all of them come under suspicion and his murder opens the door to lies, deception and further death.

The police are baffled. Reluctantly, they call in former Detective Daniel Hawthorne. But even he is faced with a seemingly impossible puzzle.

How do you solve a murder when everyone has the same motive?
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MY REVIEW

This is the first Horowitz and Hawthorne novel that I have read, I remember buying the first two and someone borrowed them and I never saw them again. First of all I didn’t realise that Horowitz was going to be the narrator, in fact to my shame I still didn’t realise he was the narrator until I was in the full swing of the book.

I enjoyed the way the first chapters introduce you to the main characters of Riverview Close, a small gated community where everyone gets on with each other, or they did until the Kenworthy’s moved in with their loud music blaring, the four vehicles one of which constantly blocked in Tom Beresford’s car meaning as a dr he has to catch the bus each morning to get to the surgery. Each of these neighbours have something to complain to the Kenworthy’s about, so they arrange a meeting where everyone can get together including the Kenworthy’s to iron things out and see if they can come to a compromise. Only thing is the Kenworthy’s don’t show up.

In the second part we hear from Horowitz himself, his agent Hilda Stark is on his back for the next book and the deadline is Christmas. The only trouble is it isn’t even started. He hasn’t even seen or heard from ex DI Hawthorne who he works with on his stories. But where is Hawthorne? If no one has been murdered, how can he write a crime novel? It is whilst Hilda is chasing Horowitz up for the next Hawthorne book that she suggests he writes about an old case, as there is nothing new.

I love how Horowitz mentions some of the other books he has written, how Alex Rider has been made as a series for Amazon, quite a few names dropped. He decides to give Hawthorne a call, they meet in one of the major coffee houses. There were things about Hawthorne he knew but also many things he didn’t know. But one thing he did know was he was a brilliant detective. As they talk Horowitz asks to write about an old case Hawthorne had solved before their collaboration. The Riverview case. Hawthorne explains he wasn’t really happy with how it ended but he would give Horowitz the paperwork and recordings he has on the case, at the time Hawthorne had someone else doing the notes and recordings John Dudley, Horowitz wasn’t keen that someone had worked with Hawthorne before him.

What I loved about this was the case started over a number of disagreements between neighbours, or did it? Then within the story you have the locked room murder trope, Golden Age Fiction trope where everyone has a motive and opportunity. Along with pasts that have been hidden but may come back to haunt them.

I loved how when Horowitz had written each part of the book Hawthorne would criticise his description of people, or say he didn’t like how he had written certain parts. This was definitely a fun murder read for me. I enjoyed how the author inserts himself into the story, could he have solved this one himself? Without Hawthorne? But then he wonders where John Dudley is? And what is Hawthorne up to as he hardly saw him throughout this case. If you want to solve this you really have to focus on all the information given, but will the ending be satisfying. You will have to read this to find out. I’m also not saying who was murdered or how, why spoil that part of the plot.

Thank you Anthony not Tony Horowitz for giving me a relaxing weekend reading this, I loved it, I am going to have to go out and buy the previous four books now. I really hate starting a book in the middle of a series. I love to see the characters grow, how they think. Both these characters seem to be quite complex, I certainly look forward to the next one. I can honestly say I loved all of the characters involved in this story there was one part that it suddenly clicked as to who the murderer was. I highly recommend this if you like a good mystery crime read, with plenty red herrings thrown in, I would say a mix of Agatha and Sherlock I wonder how those two would have got on? The book is divided into sections one section where it’s the characters from the Riverview murder, the other sections are when Horowitz and Hawthorne are discussing things. Part of the book is in first person and some in third person. But it’s an absolute ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for me.

Thank you so much to @centurybooksuk for my ARC of this, all thoughts and opinions are my own and have not been influenced in any way.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bestselling author Anthony Horowitz has written two highly acclaimed Sherlock Holmes novels, The House of Silk and Moriarty; three James Bond novels, Trigger Mortis, Forever and a Day and With a Mind to Kill; the acclaimed bestselling mystery novels Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murdersand the Detective Hawthorne novels, The Word is Murder, The Sentence is Death, A Line To Kill, The Twist of a Knife and the latest Close to Death is out in April 2024.

He is also the author of the teen spy Alex Rider series, and responsible for creating and writing some of the UK’s most loved and successful TV series, including Midsomer Murders and Foyle’s War. In January 2022 he was awarded a CBE for his services to literature.