A Line to Kill: A Novel

Anthony Horowitz

Oct 2021 · A Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery Book 3 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

The New York Times bestselling author of the brilliantly inventive The Word Is Murder and The Sentence Is Death returns with his third literary whodunit featuring intrepid detectives Hawthorne and Horowitz.

"Horowitz is a master of misdirection, and his brilliant self-portrayal, wittily self-deprecating, carries the reader through a jolly satire on the publishing world." —Booklist

When Ex-Detective Inspector Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, author Anthony Horowitz, are invited to an exclusive literary festival on Alderney, an idyllic island off the south coast of England, they don’t expect to find themselves in the middle of murder investigation—or to be trapped with a cold-blooded killer in a remote place with a murky, haunted past.

Arriving on Alderney, Hawthorne and Horowitz soon meet the festival’s other guests—an eccentric gathering that includes a bestselling children’s author, a French poet, a TV chef turned cookbook author, a blind psychic, and a war historian—along with a group of ornery locals embroiled in an escalating feud over a disruptive power line. 

When a local grandee is found dead under mysterious circumstances, Hawthorne and Horowitz become embroiled in the case. The island is locked down, no one is allowed on or off, and it soon becomes horribly clear that a murderer lurks in their midst. But who?

Both a brilliant satire on the world of books and writers and an immensely enjoyable locked-room mystery, A Line to Kill is a triumph—a riddle of a story full of brilliant misdirection, beautifully set-out clues, and diabolically clever denouements.

Ratings and reviews

The Sherlockian duo of Hawthorne and Horowitz confronts another challenge in A Line to Kill, the third in Anthony Horowitz’s delightful literary mystery series. As in the previous books, Horowitz finds himself caught up in an investigation despite his primary objective to write about Hawthorne and his exploits. His self-deprecating, unwitting narrative “self” reports the astounding talents of the former detective as he uncovers the truth behind crimes. As Horowitz becomes enlightened, so does the reader. In this installment, the two men are assigned a “command performance” at a literary festival. The island of Alderney seems like an odd place to host such an event, and Anthony is also curious as to why Hawthorne would willing agree to take part. Once on the island, things take a deadly turn, and the pair is confined to Alderney with the rest of the odd festival attendees. The police request Hawthorne’s help in solving a murder that is linked to the festival. There is a lot of surreptitious activities and connections in Horowitz’s homage to Christie’s “locked room” scenario. Everyone, even Hawthorne himself, has ulterior motives that propel the action forward and provide interesting twists. The final reveal is carefully plotted and satisfying. Horowitz has once again created a unique series with an innovative approach, despite how much of the classical tropes are employed. Funny and fast-paced, A Line to Kill seamlessly brings nostalgia and class to the mystery genre that has grown to display more style than substance.

I just thoroughly enjoy reading Anthony Horowitz. He has a sly wit and is clever with his characters and plot. His early Midsomer murders, Agatha Christie and the screenplay for his movies, Injustice comes to mind, always have an unexpected twist. Keep writing please!

About the author

Anthony Horowitz is one of the UK’s most prolific and successful writers, unique in being active in both adult and YA fiction, TV, theater, and journalism. Several of his previous novels were instant New York Times bestsellers. His bestselling Alex Rider series for young adults has sold more than nineteen million copies worldwide and has become a hugely successful show on Amazon Prime TV. His breakthrough murder mystery Magpie Murders was adapted into a miniseries for PBS. He lives in London with his wife and dog.