I don’t know how Anthony Horowitz does it! He has managed to creste an original and captivating series where the reader assumes they know which way the storyline is going to go. i:e deciding who is the culprit and the reasons why. Instead they discover that their detective skills are just as wide of the mark as Anthony’s.
This novel is slightly different, the case that Anthony is having to write about for his new novel is a cold case. He doesn’t really want to but is under pressure from his agent to get it written. As usual Hawthorne makes it harder work, reluctant to share information about his own role and especially that of Dudley, his assistant.
The book shows the ongoing battles between them as well as jumping back in time to show the events leading up to the murder and Hawthorne’s investigation with the as usual unhelpful member of the police.
Both are fascinating, the neighbours aren’t easy to like, especially the victim and his family. I never had a clue who could have killed him, I just sensed that the person found responsible wasn’t the right one.
In modern day when Horowitz was trying to find out more about both Hawthorne and Dudley and just hitting brick walls it is just as puzzling. I really don’t know what Hawthorne was trying to hide and it was easy to appreciate the frustration. Even more so when his digging caused them to be in danger but not understanding why.
As usual it all comes together and I bet I’m not the only reader who felt in awe over a captivating storyline. I would love to see this series dramatised for TV, who they would pick to play the main characters I have no idea.
It seemed to take me a while to get the chance to read the fifth instalment of this wonderful series and I have to say that I definitely wont be waiting as long to read book six.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for a copy of “Close To Death “ for an honest review.

This is only my second read from Anthony Horowitz , despite me recommending his junior fiction to numerous children over the years. I had enjoyed the “ Magpie Murders “ Tv series and decided to read the last in the series .I can’t believe I hadn’t read anything by him before ! His writing is so clever and original.
I was lucky enough to get an ARC for this book, and even though it was the 5th in the Hawthorne series ,for me, it worked perfectly well as a standalone.It was so well written , with believable characters, and full of twists .I genuinely hadn’t worked out the ending, and a perfect whodunnit..
I really enjoyed the fact that that Anthony Horowitz had written “ himself” into the plot , it added an extra humorous element to the story.
I’ve now got the first two parts in this series to start reading, and hopefully there will be more to come .

What has the crime genre done to Anthony Horowitz, that he should subvert it so? The Susan Ryeland/Atticus Pünd series has been an enormous hit both on the page and the small screen, and the Hawthorne series reaches its fifth instalment in Close to Death. All these critique a kind of cosy crime that has been a particularly successful part of the genre, not least for Horowitz himself. The sort of subversion that these books specialise in can be created only by a writer supremely confident in their understanding of what makes the genre tick, but now even the Hawthorne series sees an impatient Horowitz branch off in new directions. The first four titles have seen an ex-police private detective, Hawthorne, and his sidekick ‘Anthony Horowitz’ tackle mysteries. This time, Horowitz is on his own, telling a story as described in Hawthorne’s contemporary records.
The premise once again sees Horowitz under pressure from Hilda Starke, his bossy literary agent, pushing him to meet deadlines and apply himself. (Since Horowitz appears to be one of the hardest working crime authors, this is clearly meant to amuse us, and shows us that very little of ‘Horowitz’ is meant to depict Horowitz accurately.) Anyway, we read about one of Hawthorne’s old cases, one in which a neighbour from hell arrives in a tight-knit housing development and is dispatched directly to hell (probably) by one of the others. It’s a kind of locked door mystery in that there’s a closed cast, but just to make sure, Horowitz gives us a critique of the traditional locked door story as written by the likes of Edgar Allen Poe.
This time, Horowitz and Hawthorne don’t work together - they hadn’t met when the murder was first investigated. Hawthorne has a different sidekick and the relationship between the two provides the real energy for the novel. The murder itself is an interesting puzzle, sure, but the victim is so odious that we’re not necessarily that bothered about who dispensed the justice. What is more interesting is the relationship that the characters have with the whole story now that Horowitz is investigating it afresh. There are loads of red herrings but a clue that even I could not fail to spot. The story contains plenty of the slight asides and references that delight Horowitz’s fanbase.
The ending is deliciously yet frustratingly ambiguous. To use the current vernacular, does Horowitz believe that he has ‘completed’ Hawthorne? Or just that his agent will be off his back? We hope for instalment six, and for Horowitz to shake it all up once again.

Hmmm… This is clearly a book of two halves, both the crime (that allegedly happened in 2014) and the investigation our author does in 2019 into how his investigative detective friend solved it, and even if he did. The blurb concentrates on the first half – "how do you solve a murder when everyone has the same motive?" – but the issue is that beyond the very fine set-up of that case, you see that it's likely to be quite a bit more common than first thought, and hence loses a whole chunk of distinction. The motive revolves around the fact that someone on a posh and secluded close of buildings is murdered for being a bad neighbour, and everyone thinks he was a bad neighbour.

The investigation is a sequel to all the other books in this series, where the detective strings our author along, the author writes himself and his colleague into the drama, and it's all so arch and meta. What we get from that half of the book is a lot that progresses something – there's a real baddy who employs the detective, and a lot more – and yet not nearly enough. It was a lot better when it was lighter, fresher, not concerned in a grand over-reaching story arc involving Machiavellian baddies, but nicely riffing off the whole crime writing genre and its processes and output. Here that is limited to word of the first person approach being different to the third person, and how locked room mysteries are contrived but cosy crime is popular.

But the truth is that without the effort expended on this the book would be dismissed out of hand. It clearly wants to build up to a humongous situation involving the new baddy, Hawthorne's paymaster. If it wasn't for that you'd point to the historical track back of this to a different time in Horowitz's writing life as cheap and possibly contractually obliged. For one thing, the actual crime is surprisingly poor, with really bad elements (<spoiler>the provenance of the chess set is clearly tripe on a stick</spoiler>) and clues that even the author never picks up on to mention (<spoiler>the fact that someone paid to act as an English person in Hong Kong opens a facetime talking Chinese, when she must surely be able to see the caller</spoiler>).

Ultimately you can name any percentage of this and it could be shorter by that portion. It was bloated, draggy, contrived, and for all the efforts it made in pulling the rug from under your feet proved it was built on cheap lino. A large disappointment. But I'll be fair – it's two and any fraction you care to mention stars.

When I first started reading the Horowitz and Hawthorne books I was a bit put off by Anthony Horowitz including himself as a character. It felt pretty strange, and the Horowitz in the book is not always a likeable or intelligent character. However, I think it was just the shock of something new, and I have come to really enjoy them.

This novel was a little different from earlier ones in the series, as instead of working together to solve a crime (although how much Horowitz ever ‘helps’ Hawthorne is debatable), Horowitz is writing about a crime Hawthorne has already solved.

Basically you need to suspend your disbelief fully with these novels, and let them take you for a ride through Horowitz’s imagination. Both of the Horowitzes. Meta literature and murder puzzles combined. Enjoy!

I love this series, but this one fell a little flat for me compared to the others so far. One of my favourite aspects of the books is the interplay between PI Hawthorne and author Horowitz as they investigate a mystery, and we get less of that here as it is an old case that Hawthorne investigated with someone else and that Horowitz is now writing up years later.

Another aspect of this slightly changed format is that I found it odd that Horowitz couldn’t simply look up information about the case and suspects himself rather than waiting for Hawthorne to grudgingly dole the pieces out in dribs and drabs – Hawthorne can always be a bit annoying but this was particularly irritating, knowing that he knew everything but wouldn’t tell us!

As Horowitz wasn’t witnessing events himself, most of the book is written in the third person, as a murder mystery in a closed community with a small, close-knit group of residential suspects. And I found the suspects and their various stories and motives really intriguing and enjoyed following the story, even though I had no clue who actually dunnit on this occasion.

Meanwhile poor Horowitz was limited to the framing sidebars of this case and spent most of our time with him investigating Hawthorne himself – an ongoing side-plot that gives me anxiety-induced acid indigestion every time it comes up, as I wait for the other ex-police boot to drop and finally crush their odd frenemy-ship for good.

I’m definitely hooked on this series and the main characters generally – I just found the added distance from the main action a little less engaging, which is a pity because the plot was very good and I could easily picture Horowitz (the author character, not the author author!) bumbling around the Close suspecting and trusting all the wrong people. But as this is Book 5 of the series, I can understand the author wanting to switch things up a bit, instead of Horowitz getting stabbed again! Mystery fans should start from the first book and just keep reading for as long as Horowitz (the real-life one) is willing to write these.

I have been told about this series but this is the first that I have read.
It did not matter that I had not read the rest.
Cleverly plotted story of a murder which had been solved but not correctly.
After careful consideration the clever Hawthorne is able to deduce that all is not what it seems.
I really liked the characters of the detective and Horowitz as recorder, the actual detective story was also strong and involved clever plotting which I enjoyed.

I was really looking forward to reading Close to Death as I really love the Hawthorne series. I love love love the writing style and the relationship between Hawthorne and Horowitz. The plot was great and it was such an easy read which kept me guessing to the end.

A fantastic addition to the series from Anthony Horowitz. I love how the stories jump from one timeline to another - they add such an extra sense of mystery to them, an interesting second layer. Rich characters, any one of them could have "dunnit", a cleverly woven storyline keeps you guessing and turning the pages. Anthony Horowitz is absolutely one of my favourite authors.

So first thing to note, this is book five in the series, I didn't know this and as a result I had some questions. Once finished I did a bit of reading up and have since ordered book one, will read the previous books before this one and then re read this.

A small gated community, new neighbours move in, a family who are loud, not team players and things start to go wrong. Destruction of peoples property, heads butting, block peoples cars in, a missing dog ooft tensions galore. When the trouble makers are invited to a neighbours meet and they don't show tensions run higher and before we know what happens Giles Kentworthy (dad/new neighbour) is found brutally murdered. Everyone is a suspect, everyone has a motive and the police call in Detective Hawthorne for assistance. He is a unique guy who has some trouble and clouds following him but he is very very good at what he does.

So in between the murder and investigation the book then jumps to the author who is writing about the murder case (so the timeline also jumps) and is meeting some walls and resistance in collating information. At this point the reader knows Mr Kentworthy was killed and the method but not the who. It is clear the author is party to information we don't have and he wants to write the novel and see it through to completion but some people do not. The book then bounces between that and then back to the investigation, murder and everything that transpires.

I did find myself spinning a wee bit trying to keep up, Anthony the fictional author in the book is a bit clueless like us but Hawthorne is sharp as a tack. Anthony is writing the new book which is based on the gated community murder of Mr Kentworthy, Hawthorne is his partner but seems a tad reluctant on this one. They aren't together, Hawthorne is a bit elusive when Anthony is trying to get him and then we timeline jump too.

I think by going back and reading book 1-4 I will probably get a better feel for everything so I fully admit picking this up 5 books in wasn't the best move on my part. However I did love the sound of this and I am glad I picked it up as I think it will be a great series. Hawthorne is so sharp and perceptive, he also gets folks backs up but he is brilliant which is a good mix, 3.5/5 for me. I have ordered book one so will get to that when able.

I do enjoy this series from Anthony Horowitz. They always have a good blend of an easy to read murder mystery, but with skilful writing, a believable plot, good characters and the author has a great understanding of how a crime novel is fitted together. If you've not read the books before, these stories also include chapters as the author writing as 'himself' as the author writing the book you are reading but in the story himself as he is Shadowing the detective in the novel. Sounds a little complicated but it works very well.
This new book is based on a group of neighbours living on a close, hence the title. With Hawthorn working out the case.

A really clever, intricately woven murder mystery. It was an interesting setting, a private close with neighbours who have lives together in perfect harmony for many years until a new family move in. I had no idea ‘whodunnit’ but the big reveal made complete sense - brilliant

A crime mystery featuring an enclosed residence, which leaves you finger pointing in all directions until the very end.

Another really clever and intricately put together novel by Anthony Horowitz, how the pieces of this book are thought of, put together and executed I will never know, but it is incredibly clever!

The characters were built up really great, although I do find it difficult distinguishing between each of the characters as there are so many!

I really found myself emerged in both time lines particularly following the relationship of Tony and Hawthorne.

A different step for the Hawthorne novels, looking at a cold case. But delivered with Horowitz' customary aplomb and knowingness. A great read

In Close to Death, the fifth novel in Anthony Horowitz’s “Hawthorne” series, we find ourselves in the intricacies of Riverview Close, a gated community in Richmond Upon Thames where murder and secrets simmer beneath a seemingly tranquil surface. While Horowitz has played the role of Watson to Hawthorne’s Sherlock throughout the series, this time he takes a different approach, retracing Hawthorne’s steps in a previously solved case involving his former sidekick. This clever narrative twist brings a fresh perspective to the familiar dynamic, deepening the intrigue.

The plot revolves around the murder of Giles Kenworthy, a resident whose abrasive personality has left him with more enemies than friends. What follows is a quintessential cosy mystery, filled with quirky characters and darkly humorous observations about suburban life. Horowitz’s signature dry wit shines through as he reflects on the absurdities of his neighbours while grappling with his own place in the investigation. The community is rife with grievances, and Horowitz cleverly showcases how these simmering resentments can lead to deadly consequences.

As he digs deeper, Horowitz becomes increasingly fascinated by Hawthorne’s former partner, adding layers to the narrative that enrich the character dynamics. However, it’s worth noting that in this novel, Horowitz and Hawthorne never actually meet in person, which marks a departure from their usual interactions. This lack of face-to-face encounters adds an intriguing layer to the narrative, allowing Horowitz to explore his character’s thoughts and feelings about the enigmatic detective from a distance.

Although it’s possible to enjoy Close to Death as a standalone read, those familiar with the earlier books will appreciate the wealth of inside jokes and references that deepen the experience. The title itself is another one of Horowitz’s pun-filled delights, hinting at the dual themes of obsession and danger that permeate the plot.

While Close to Death may not deliver the heart-pounding suspense of a traditional thriller, it excels as a witty, character-driven mystery that invites readers to ponder the fine line between camaraderie and rivalry. For fans who enjoy a clever twist on the cosy genre, this book is a delightful addition to Horowitz’s oeuvre, proving once again that he masterfully balances intrigue with a keen sense of humour.

This was a very clever murder mystery.
This was set in the desirable area of Richmond Upon Thames in a quiet gated community. When Giles Kenworthy moves there with his wife and children who are feral and Giles Kenworthy appears not to care about the previous etiquette in the community and did exactly what he wanted causing tempers and resentments to rise.

When Giles is shot dead everyone in the small community comes under suspicion which takes the story into further discoveries about individuals and their past lives. Very cleverly put together. Everyone is puzzled by this murder and the police reluctantly call in Detective Hawthorne who also struggles to fit all the pieces together.

Another brilliant book from Anthony Horowitz- he writes a few different series but this is my favourite one. Always smart, funny, and genuinely brilliant page turning mysteries.

When Anthony Horowitz’s agent demands a new book featuring his cantankerous writing partner, Daniel Hawthorne, before Christmas, Anthony finds himself in a tight spot. With no recent murders to cover and no contact with Hawthorne for months, he decides to write about one of Hawthorne’s past cases.

The case in question involves the murder of Giles Kenworthy, a disliked new neighbor on Riverview Close. Kenworthy’s unpopular plans and disruptive behavior make his death seemingly inconsequential to his exclusive community. The detective in charge, desperate for help, turns to Hawthorne, despite his controversial reputation with the police.

Upon arrival, Hawthorne clashes with Detective Superintendent Tariq Khan but soon begins uncovering crucial details missed by Khan. The residents of Riverview Close, each with a motive, are hiding secrets, making it difficult to pinpoint the killer.

As Anthony delves into the old case, he faces the challenge of solving it before Hawthorne reveals the culprit. This investigation not only offers a chance to uncover hidden truths but also provides a deeper look into Hawthorne’s enigmatic character.

For the fifth book in the series we get a different perspective on the Horowitz and Hawthorne dynamic with a book set largely before their partnership began with very little on the page interaction between the two.

Focusing on Hawthorne's previous crime solving partnership it was great to see a little more of the character from other people's perspectives.

I enjoyed the dual timeline and the introduction of a new element to the mysteries surrounding Hawthorne. I'm looking forward to continuing on the journey with these characters.

I've enjoyed this series so far. It's unusual in the sense that the author is a character in the book while also being fictional. The author has managed keep you hooked while also changing it up. This book in the series jumps backwards and forwards in time and keeps you guessing throughout. It's got enough crime, mystery and humour to keep the book super interesting. I especially love the acknowledgements at the end where the pretence is still kept that this isn't fiction. Lots of good fun. I'll be following the series till the end.