Like all the books in this series, this novel is structured like a 'Sherlock Holmes' story in which Dr. Watson accompanies Sherlock Holmes on an investigation, then chronicles the case.
In "A Line to Kill" Anthony Horowitz......
.....accompanies Daniel Hawthorne - a former Scotland Yard detective who became a private sleuth - on an investigation.
Horowitz then writes a book (this one) about the case. A good part of the novel's fun lies in the fact that Horowitz portrays himself as a rather dim sidekick who misses all the important clues AND gets saddled with all the incidental expenses of the inquiries. 🙂
The book can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the characters is a bonus.
*****
As the story opens Horowitz and Hawthorne are meeting with Horowitz's publishers to discuss a publicity campaign for their first collaborative book.
The duo have been invited to a minor literary festival on the picturesque British island of Alderney, and though Horowitz is unenthusiastic, Hawthorne is eager to attend. This seems out of character for the sleuth, but the men agree to participate in the event.
Alderney
The book festival is being sponsored by Charles le Mesurier, a wealthy Alderney entrepreneur who made his fortune from an online gambling site called spinthewheel.com.
The writers being featured at the event are a motley bunch that includes: a blind woman who can communicate with spirits;
a French performance poet;
a television chef who writes cookbooks;
an author of children's books;
a World War II historian;
and Horowitz and Hawthorne.
When Horowitz and Hawthorne arrive on Alderney they see multiple signs reading BAN-NAB, erected by citizens protesting a company called NAB, which proposes to build a power line from France - across Alderney - to England.
Book festival sponsor Charles le Mesurier is lobbying for this construction, much to the dismay of citizens who don't want it.
In any event, le Mesurier and his beautiful wife hold a soiree for festival attendees and residents of Alderney.....
......and the next morning someone is found dead in a 'snug' at the edge of le Mesurier's property - a cozy studio the entrepreneur uses to conduct his adulterous affairs.
The local police are unequipped to deal with a homicide and Hawthorne is asked to help investigate the murder. So Hawthorne and Horowitz have another case to solve.
This is essentially a 'locked room' mystery, and the suspects for the murder include the writers invited to the festival and their assistants/spouses; the festival organizer/hostess; an ex-convict child pornographer; a mysterious young Frenchman; a local attorney and his wife; and miscellaneous residents of Alderney.
The author is very fair about sprinkling clues throughout the narrative, but I didn't guess the identity of the killer.....so well done Anthony Horowitz.
I enjoyed this clever suspense novel and would recommend it to fans of 'golden age mysteries.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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