Anthony Horowitz’s book always makes me in fall in love with the mystery genre again and again. I read most of his detective books, they are such a pleasure to read. I am transported to the crime scene. His style is a mix of golden age detective books and contemporary mystery novels. But reading his books will always take you to a different level.
Ex- detective Hawthorne teams up with Anthony Horowitz for yet another twisted tale of crime. High-class lawyer Mr Richard Pryce is killed in his house. The murder weapon is an uber-expensive wine bottle. The interesting part is Pryce was a teetotaller. So what happened? Who could have killed him? Being a divorce lawyer he had too many people who hated him. The local police call Hawthorne when they fail. And with Hawthorne comes Horowitz to assist him.
If I was going to write a second book about Hawthorne, it would need to run to at least eighty thousand words and I was already wondering if there would be enough material.
The sentence is death? What’s that meant to mean exactly? She took a great deal of pleasure in reading it to me but she might as well have been quoting from a Japanese washing-machine manual for all the sense it made.’
They share an interesting bond quite like Sherlock and Watson. Hawthorne is more recluse and arrogant (and is certainly not fond of Sherlock Holmes novel), or at least that’s what he pretends. Horowitz comes with his own flaws. Horowitz is like Watson to Holmes. Their collaboration brings out results and makes it absolutely delightful.
The door of the taxi opened and a man got out. He seemed completely unconcerned by the fact that he was surrounded by a large crowd of people, many of them in period dress. He had a sort of cheerful self-confidence that was actually quite cold-blooded, utterly focused on his own needs at the expense of everyone else’s.
Do all policemen swear? Hawthorne, Grunshaw and now Lofty all had an issue with the English language that bordered on Tourette’s.
This is the second book in the Hawthorne series. The first book was “The word is murder”. The book can be read standalone. But I am sure if you are a crime fiction fan, or a fan of Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes novel, you couldn’t resist his other books.
One of the biggest reasons I love reading Horowitz books, it has all the elements of suspense, mystery, murder and humour. I am waiting for the next book that’s due in August 2020. It’s like I don’t get enough of his books.
Confessions of a Reading Freak 