Audiobook Review: A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz, narrated by Rory Kinnear

A Line to Kill

by Anthony Horowitz, narrated by Rory Kinnear (Compact Disc Horowitz)

 

Another excellent entry in the extremely “meta” Hawthorn & Horowitz series by Anthony Horowitz, in which he is a character in his own book. Horowitz the author once again serves as the reluctant “Watson” to the eccentric sleuth Daniel Hawthorne. This time, Horowitz and Hawthorne have been invite to the remote island of Alderney, to participate in a literary festival and to promote their first book collaboration (The Word is Murder). Horowitz is reluctant to be stuck with Hawthorne for a lengthy period (and is surprised when the normally taciturn ex-detective agrees to the publicity junket — but as an author, he’s always enjoyed literary festivals in the past.

 

But when they get to the island of Alderney, they discover that their fellow literary guests are an odd bunch, and there are hostilities rampant among the locals about a proposed real estate/technology project that threatens the quality of life for many of them. When a death occurs, associated with the festival, the lack of any significant local constabulary means that ex-police officer Hawthorne is asked to unofficially assist in the sudden murder investigation. But…Hawthorne has a stake in the case, as one of the suspects is the man whose injuries while in police custody led to Hawthorne’s being let go from the force.

 

As in the first two volumes, Horowitz does a terrific job making it seem like the events are “real life” and that he is relating events that actually happened to him. Rory Kinnear gives another perfect audiobook reading, creating unique and distinctive voices/personalities for all the characters. By the time I got to the stunning conclusion, I had to go back and make sure Horowitz played fair with us readers by planting the clues that led to the end of A Line to Kill…and he did. Very well-plotted, this character-driven story should appeal to fans of Holmesian fiction.

 

(It is fairly essential that you read/listen to the first two entries in this series before this one — The Word is Murder and The Sentence is Death both by Horowitz, and both narrated in audiobook format by Rory Kinnear, the format I recommend.)

 

( official Hawthorne & Horowitz page on the official Anthony Horowitz web site )

 

Read Scott C.’s reviews of The Word is Murder and The Sentence is Death, in the May 2019 and July 2019 Staff Recommendations on the libraries’ BookGuide resource pages!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!