Close To Death

Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Riverside Close is a picture-perfect community. The six exclusive and attractive houses are tucked far away from the noise and grime of city life, allowing the residents to enjoy beautiful gardens, pleasant birdsong and tranquility from behind the security of a locked gate.

It is the perfect idyll until the Kentworthy family arrives, with their four giant, gas-guzzling cars, a gaggle of shrieking children and plans for a garish swimming pool in the backyard. Obvious outsiders, the Kentworthys do not belong in Riverside Close, and they quickly offend every last one of their neighbours.

When Giles Kentworthy is found dead on his own doorstep, a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest, Detective Hawthorne is the only investigator that can be called on to solve the case.

Because how do you solve a murder when everyone is a suspect?

After inhaling the first four books in this series, I was so excited to get an e-ARC of the fourth book. The inventiveness of each book has been so fun, and this entry in the series took a neat turn by having Horowitz retell a murder case that Hawthorne worked on before his partnership with Horowitz.

As usual with these books, the mystery itself was twisty and intriguing (but TW for animal death – I really could have done without that) with quite a cast of characters, but what really pulled me in was the partnership between Hawthorne and John Dudley, the man working the case with him. Who was he? Where was he now? Why wasn’t he working with Hawthorne anymore?

This series has been such a delight to read, and I will gladly continue reading as long as Horowitz keeps writing. It’s also ignited an interest for me in other mysteries that take inspiration from Golden Age mysteries and branching out from my usual dark and twisty murder mystery / thriller reads.