Review by Booklist Review
Great Agatha Christie's ghost! PI Hawthorne and novelist Horowitz (the fictional version) are trapped on an island with an eccentric group of writers. The oddly dynamic duo return for their third adventure (after The Sentence Is Death, 2019), and this time they travel together to Alderney, in the Channel Islands, for what is billed as an exclusive literary festival. Turns out, not all that exclusive. A popular blind psychic, a TV chef, an aging children's author, a somewhat tedious historian, and a suspiciously behaved (and plagiaristic) poet round out the talent, along with Horowitz and PI Hawthorne, about whom Horowitz is writing a true-crime book. They find a grim welcome from a place riddled with reminders of its WWII occupation by the Nazis, and also in turmoil over a hotly contested power line that will boost the island's economy but ruin the landscape. The man behind the development is the "uniquely offensive" Charles le Mesurier. When he turns up dead, no one is surprised. Or sorry. 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. The versatile Horowitz (the real-life version) has produced more than 45 novels, and his fans await each new arrival with bated breath.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Bestseller Horowitz's superior third mystery features former detective inspector Daniel Hawthorne and a fictionalized Horowitz (after 2019's The Sentence Is Death)in an effortless blend of humor and fair play. At a literary festival on the English island of Alderney, the pair plan to promote the series of books Horowitz has been writing about Hawthorne's homicide investigations. On Alderney, they become acquainted with the five other festival guests: "an unhealthy chef, a blind psychic, a war historian, a children's author, a French performance poet." One night, they all attend a party hosted by wealthy Charles le Mesurier, who gained his fortune from internet gambling and is the prime advocate for a controversial proposal to route a new electric power line linking the U.K. and France through the island. When a partygoer is found stabbed to death the next morning in an outbuilding near le Mesurier's main house, Hawthorne helps the sparse local police force investigate. The often prickly relationship between the Watson-like Horowitz and the Holmes-like Hawthorne complements the intricate detective work worthy of a classic golden age whodunit. The author's fans will hope this series has a long run. Agent: Jonathan Lloyd, Curtis Brown (U.K.). (Oct.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In the third "Hawthorne and Horowitz" mystery (after The Sentence Is Death), a fictional version of author Anthony Horowitz serves as the narrator and the "Watson" to P.I. Daniel Hawthorne. Anthony is surprised when his publisher wants to send them to a literary festival on Alderney, one of the Channel Islands, and stunned when Hawthorne appears eager to attend. The sponsor of the festival, Charles le Mesurier, made his money in online gambling and is a political force on the tiny island. In fact, Mesurier has been pushing for a new electric line between Normandy, Alderney, and the British mainland, which is causing division in the community. On the final night of the festival, Anthony observes a drunk Mesurier as an obnoxious host. When the man is murdered, Anthony doesn't know if the killer was a festival author, a guest, or an Alderney resident. Daniel, who never lets Anthony know what he's thinking, reveals unscrupulous behavior among the authors, but he's not fast enough to find the killer before there's another murder. VERDICT Horowitz's latest reveals vulnerability in the condescending Daniel. Fans of the series or and Agatha Christie will relish character-driven mystery set on an isolated island.--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Except for the atrocities of World War II, there hasn't been a murder on the Channel Island of Alderney from time immemorial. The staging of the Alderney Lit Fest brings that streak to a decided end. The powers that be at Penguin Random House want to send retired DI Daniel Hawthorne and Anthony Horowitz, the writer who fictionalizes the mysteries Hawthorne's solved, to Alderney. Anthony, always grousing at being treated like a second-class collaborator, is willing to go, and so, surprisingly, is the reclusive Hawthorne. The other luminaries invited to the tiny island include blind psychic Elizabeth Lovell, TV chef Marc Bellamy, war historian George Elkin, children's franchiser Anne Cleary, and French performance poet Maïssa Lamar. No sooner have the festivities begun than Charles le Mesurier, whose online gambling company is sponsoring them, is taped to a chair, with only his right hand left free, and stabbed to death. The limited resources and competence of the local police make the case a natural for Hawthorne, who obligingly circulates among his counterparts long enough to rattle every one of the many skeletons in their closets. But he faces a serious setback when a second murder spurs Deputy Chief Officer Jonathan Torode of Guernsey Crime Services to identify a culprit Hawthorne agrees is highly plausible. How will the great detective cope with being beaten to the punch? Fans of the author's formidable brain teasers, certain that the devil is in the details, will be a lot more confident than he is. The most conventional of Horowitz's mysteries to date still reads like a golden-age whodunit on steroids. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
