Close to Death

From global bestselling Anthony Horowitz, a brilliantly entertaining new mystery in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series. Richmond, London . Six attractive houses are tucked away in an exclusive and very upmarket gated community: Riverside Close. Surrounded by flowers and shrubbery, they''re sealed off from the busy main road and the realities of urban life. At weekends, with the gate locked, the residents enjoy the sound of birdsong, the whirr of mowers, the occasional snatch of opera through an open window. Everyone knows each other. Everyone gets on. That is, until the Kenworthies arrive. With their four big gas-guzzling cars, their noisy children and their plans to build a swimming pool in their garden, they quickly offend every one of their neighbours. When Charles Kenworthy is found dead on his porch, the bolt of a crossbow through his chest, Daniel Hawthorne is called in. But how do you solve a murder when everyone has the same motive?

Auteur

Anthony Horowitz is responsible for creating and writing some of the UK's most loved and successful TV series, including Midsomer Murders and Foyle's War. He is the author of the teen spy series, Alex Rider, which has sold more than twenty million copies worldwide.

He has been widely praised for his murder mysteries which began with two highly acclaimed Sherlock Holmes novels and continued with the bestselling Hawthorne series in which he appears as the former detective's hapless sidekick. In January 2022 he was awarded a CBE for his services to literature.

His novel, Magpie Murders, was made into a BBC drama starring Lesley Manville as editor Susan Ryeland. The sequel, Moonflower Murders, also starring Lesley Manville, was a BBC drama in 2024. Marble Hall Murders continues the story

Texte du rabat

How do you solve a murder... when everyone has the same motive? From global bestselling Anthony Horowitz, a brilliantly entertaining new mystery in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series.

'The Lord of television mystery' LA Times
'Easily the greatest of our crime writers' Sunday Times
'[Horowitz is] a master puppeteer' The Times
'Anthony Horowitz is an absolutely exceptional writer' Daniel Mays
'Incredible plotting, richly layered and wonderfully intricate. I inhaled it' Liz Nugent
'A clever murder mystery...playful and twisty. Nobody does this crime fiction better than Anthony Horowitz' Crime Time FM
'Spectacularly good fun, wickedly clever, with a pinch of the macabre, this is everything you could wish for from one of our top crime writers.' The Sun
'Another delightful outing with Hawthorne and Horowitz. Each one is more inventive than the last. Keep them coming!' Shari Lapena
'Anthony Horowitz is a national treasure. Close to Death is his best book yet, a perfect combination of Agatha Christie and P.D. James' Ragnar Jónasson
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Richmond Upon Thames is one of the most desirable areas to live in London. And Riverview Close - a quiet, gated community - seems to offer its inhabitants the perfect life.

At least it does until Giles Kenworthy moves in with his wife and noisy children, his four gas-guzzling cars, his loud parties and his plans for a new swimming pool in his garden.

His neighbours all have a reason to hate him and are soon up in arms.

When Kenworthy is shot dead with a crossbow bolt through his neck, all of them come under suspicion and his murder opens the door to lies, deception and further death.

The police are baffled. Reluctantly, they call in former Detective Daniel Hawthorne. But even he is faced with a seemingly impossible puzzle.

**How do you solve a murder when everyone has the same motive?
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Readers cannot get enough of Close to Death . . .

* 'All said and done, this book was yet another hole in one thanks to the virtuoso-like skill of Mr. Horowitz himself.'
* 'Wow, this has got to be my favourite detective series ever! It's Agatha Christie on steroids!'
* 'I had so much fun reading this book.'
* 'Horowitz switches up the format, keeping this series fresh, and delivers yet another outstanding tale. I loved it.'
* 'Honestly, the **best crime read in a long time.'
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More love for Close to Death . . .

'Just when you thought Horowitz couldn't further stretch his boundary-bending Daniel Hawthorne detective series, he concocts yet another way to involve readers in his story' The Washington Post
'The mystery is inventive, elegant and smart' The Telegraph
'Sheer genius ... A joy from start to finish' Independent
'Whodunnit heaven' Financial Times
'An absolutely engrossing tale ... **Kudos to anyone who can figure this one out!' Starred Booklist
'An exceedingly entertaining and inventive mixture of humour and suspense.' Wall Street Journal
'**Gloriously artificial, improbable, and ingenious. Fans of both versions of Horowitz will rejoice.' Kirkus Reviews
'Turns the closed-circle mystery inside out' New York Journal of Books
'The master of the mystery' Style
'The king of the clever whodunnit' Good Housekeeping
'A delirious concoction that transplants a Christie-style mystery into the present' Crime Time
'An excellent entertaining thriller' The Afterword

Sunday Times bestseller, April 2024