I've always enjoyed Horowitz books but I felt him not being so present in this one.
Maybe it's the slightly different format in this book that doesn't completely gel with me.
That being said it's a great murder mystery with plenty of twists to keep the reader engaged.

Only as I ended the reading of this glorious story did I find out that it is the most recent in a long series. I've read books by this writer, Anthony Horowitz, but the Hawthorne mysteries were new to me. It does confirm that this can be read as a standalone because I didn't realise I was missing the first four books. I did however, wonder if I was reading two different books when the second chapter appeared to have nothing whatsoever to do with the first chapter until I reach the end of that part of the story and found how they were linked. This is both a simple and a complex story where one or more the neighbours must have murdered the one causing all the trouble in this private cul de sac. I had no idea how someone could have taken the bow and arrow from one of the neighbour's houses and use this as the murder weapon, but as the writer, as Hawthorne, investigates this mystery, there are so many clues and red herrings that it is impossible to know which of the neighbours, or someone else, committed the murder, until the very end. This is a very clever book, but is also a very straightforward read as the writer is extremely talented with managing to keep the reader hooked and interested all the way through. If there's another in this series, I'll certainly read it but I have to go back to book one, first.

This is the fifth book in the series although the first I have read. This isn't a live case so the detective was not involved much which is a first for me which I'm not sure if I liked. However, it is a clever and interesting story, with unusual and quirky character's and while I still guessed the guilty party it was still interesting seeing the how if not the who coming together. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The story:
On a tight deadline to write the fifth book in his true crime series — following the cases of former police detective-turned-private investigator Daniel Hawthorne — Anthony Horowitz has a problem… No one has been murdered…

However, delving back into Hawthorne’s past cases provides a potential story. In 2014 he was brought in to investigate the murder of an unpleasant neighbour at the desirable Richmond address of Riverview Close. The case presents an intriguing problem — how do you solve a crime, when all the suspects hate the victim equally?

My thoughts:
Anthony Horowitz is a go-to author for me, and I’ve enjoyed his Sherlock books and Magpie Murders series very much. In 2017 he began the Hawthorne and Horowitz series, in which a fictionalised version of Anthony himself appears — the Hastings to detective Daniel Hawthorne’s Poirot. Hawthorne is a very different detective though, and is reluctant to the point of hostility to have Anthony contribute to solving the cases they encounter.

“Close to Death” is the fifth and latest instalment in the series, and the location of the crime is like a modern version of St Mary Mead — a gated cul-de-sac in Richmond upon Thames in which the only suspects are the close-knit residents. As is also generally the case in golden age crime, we don’t waste too much time feeling sorry for the victim as he appears to be a very unpleasant man; in ways that anyone who has ever been annoyed by a neighbour blocking their car will be able to relate to!

This case is somewhat different to the previous ones Anthony and Hawthorne have worked on though, as it happened before they met — and the story is told to Anthony via Hawthorne’s notes, case files and recordings of the suspect interviews. I liked this new format, which moved back and forth between the case in 2014, and Anthony’s experiences in trying to write the book and get to the bottom of Hawthorne’s reluctance to talk about the case, and in particular his then-assistant John Dudley, whose place Anthony seems to have unknowingly taken.

The solutions to Horowitz’s mysteries are always so clever, and I changed my mind about the culprit repeatedly as I read. I also loved all the references to golden age crime (with two of the characters actually running my dream book shop!).

Overall, this was a great addition to the series, and mystery in its own right. We learnt a little bit more about the mysterious Hawthorne; although he was mostly absent from the modern timeline, Anthony does bumble into some discoveries by himself! As always, I’m already eager to learn where the story goes next, and would recommend this book to all mystery lovers!

The Fifth novel in the Hawthorne mysteries is slightly different in that the author does not take an active role in the proceedings. However, it is a clever and interesting story, fast paced and intriguing. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

This is an excellent mystery, a metabook as it contains chapters of a book in a book, and the portrait of a gated community in a posh area.
There's a lot I loved in this story as the sort of matrioska and you never know what will be in the next level.
It's enthralling and intriguing, a story told from the POV of the characters of the past and the POV of the author of the new book.
Complex, never confusing, always gripping.
I loved it and it's highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Even though I have read one of these before, I didn’t enjoy this one at all. The first part started off well but then the second part was all about how the narrator was in the story and I just found this bizarre. It spoilt the book for me and meant I skimmed it to find out how it ended.

Based on events supposedly investigated long ago, about a man murdered and the investigation of suspects, mostly the surrounding neighbours as all had grievances against him. Intertwined is the story of supposed author doing research into the evidence recorded nd Interviewing the detective on the case and all those involved. A most unusual form of crime novel.

A clever mystery that kept me guessing.
This is the first book I’ve read by Anthony Horowitz so I came at it without any previous baggage of what to expect. I've seen several reviews saying they either liked or disliked the main characters which affected their enjoyment of the book. I had no background knowledge, and I think it worked well as a standalone book, I didn’t feel like I was missing any backstory.
In this novel, Horowitz needs to write the next instalment of his Hawthorne and Horowitz crime series. However, there haven’t been any new cases to write about so they come upon the idea of using a Hawthorne past case: Giles Kenworthy is the neighbour from hell and has been making the lives of the occupants of Riverside Close a misery. 6 weeks after an intervention meeting with the residents of the close, which Giles and his wife do not attend, he is found dead with a crossbow bolt through his neck. But which of the neighbours fired the shot?
The series meshes reality with fiction, and does it really well. I had to Google to see if the book was based on a true story and which parts were true to life: Anthony Horowitz is a writer who has a series of teenage spy books - Alex Rider - he has written new Sherlock Holmes and James Bond stories and has written TV shows including Midsomer Murderers and Foyle’s War, both of which I’ve seen episodes of and enjoyed. He has a wife called Jill who works as a Film and TV Executive (forgive me if I have used incorrect terminology). All of this is referenced in the novel.
The thing that irked me, and means that I’ve given it a 4/5 star rating I was annoyed that Horowitz insisted on digging into Hawthorne’s past and his previous partner John Dudley and their dealings with the shady Alastair Morton despite repeatedly being warned away. Surely Hawthorne chose this case, so why would he give Horowitz the details if it came to a dissatisfying conclusion.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest reveiw.

Wow. An absolutely brilliantly written mystery in this series You could read as a stand-alone but the developing relationship between Hawthorne and Horowitz really adds to the story. This one was slightly different to the previous ones in that the author writes about an old case. I think this is the best one yet in the series and if I could award more than 5 stars I would. I was totally gripped from start to finish. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me access to an early copy of this book.

I enjoyed this book.

Close to Death is the fifth book in Antony Horowitz’s Hawthorne & Horowitz series in which the author himself is one of the characters. You can start here if you want to, but you’ll be missing much of the character interaction and history.

This book has a slightly different feel to it than previous installations of the series. When one of the residents of an affluent, locked-gate community is found dead on his door step, Hawthorne and his first partner John Dudley are called in to investigate. Horowitz is reconstructing the tale into prose from Hawthorne’s notes – although he can’t resist trying to find out in “present day” why Dudley is no longer on the scene, despite being warned not to. This all means that there is less Horowitz in the book than we are accustomed to and fewer scenes between Horowitz and Hawthorne. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – I felt it kept the series feeling fresh.

What else can I say? I liked the characters in this book. I enjoyed the plot.

Recommended to fans of Agatha Christie.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers, Century, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What an absolutely brilliant idea for a book. I absolutely loved it. Original, quirky, and I wasn’t quite sure if it was real. Such an incredible idea.Anthony has to write another book about Detective Hawthorne, but there isn’t a suitable case currently, so Detective Hawthorne decides to drip feed Anthony a previous case he has solved, which took place years ago in a private Close in London.
Riverside Close is picture perfect - a closed community of friends who all get on well and live an idyllic lifestyle – that is until one family move out, and the family who moved in are a complete nightmare. The trouble is, when the father, Charles Kentworthy dies literally the whole Close could be responsible as every one had reason to hate him. Added to that the gardener, the nanny, there are more suspects than you can shake a stick at. Charles does by crossbow, and a few days later another of the neighbours ends up dead in his car – with an apparent suicide note on his lap. Seemingly an open and shut case – but is all as it seems?
Exciting, puzzling, brilliantly written, believable characters, twists and turns, What’s not to love? Putting himself writing the story, into the story – sheer genius -as is the idea of the author ‘not knowing who the murderer is’ until the end of the book. Brilliant.

I enjoyed the previous Hawthorne and Horowitz books. This one is slightly different in that Horowitz isn’t part of a current investigation but is reviewing a cold case due to publishing deadlines. This is a locked room style murder in that all the residents of a gated community are suspects when an obnoxious neighbour is murdered. Great twisty plot and I didn’t identify the murderer. Highly recommended

Part of me wants to write a really short review of this book. I could sum it up in one word. “Fantastic” springs to mind. Maybe four words – “Best Mystery In Ages”. But last time I wrote a short review (if memory serves, it was a Ngaio Marsh book and the second of two words was “Awful”) I got a bit of flak for it, so I’ll go into a little detail.

Structurally, this does resemble Horowitz’s masterpiece Magpie Murders more than the other Hawthorne books, as it interweaves Hawthorne in the present day with his novelisation of Hawthorne’s notes. The present day starts just with Horowitz talking to Hawthorne, but expands into his own investigation, both into the events of Riverview Close and into Hawthorne’s past (and present).

The mystery at Riverview Close is clever enough, with an old idea at the heart of it, but masked so well, with every character in the drama given real depth but never at the expense of the mystery. As with Magpie/Moonflower, that half of the book would be an excellent tale if that was all it was. But the combination of the past and present stories elevate this to something more than that.

I think the best way to sum up this book is like this. After reading it, I had trouble starting another book because no matter what it was, I knew it wouldn’t be as good as this one. And it wasn’t…

Close to Death was my favourite (so far) of the Horowitz and Hawthorne series. Having got my head around the whole 'Anthony Horowitz writing character Anthony Horowitz' they make for thoroughly enjoyable reads.

This time around, the action takes place in two time periods, with Horowitz and Hawthorne picking up a cold case. In the original timeline, Hawthorne and Dudley (a different sidekick) investigate the death of Giles Kenworthy, who's upset all of his neighbours in his gated community. There are plenty of suspects, but who has taken the biggest step to becoming a murderer?

I really enjoyed Close to Death; it's got all the trademark style of Horowitz's other novels and with the added suspense of the cold case.

Having read Moonflower Murders, I was looking forward to reading Close to Death. Having now finished it, it really did not "float my boat" and so this will likely be the last one I will read.

To my mind, this book really did hark back to Hercule Poirot when he was dragged off to the theatre to watch a play about a murder. Having sat almost to the end wondering what was going on, the sleuth in the play strolls onto the stage for the last scene to layout who the murderer was and "all the clues". Hercule was incensed at the illogicality of it all and to some extent so was I by Close to Death.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for an advance copy of Close to Death, the fifth novel to feature investigator Daniel Hawthorne and author Anthony Horowitz, set mostly in Richmond.

Riverview Close, Richmond, a gated community of six houses, is a pleasant place to live until Giles Kenworthy, his wife and two sons move in. They are noisy, inconsiderate and disliked by the other residents, especially when they get planning permission for a swimming pool. When Giles is shot dead with a crossbow bolt the police are baffled and ask Hawthorne for assistance.

I thoroughly enjoyed Close to Death as it has an engaging style that invites the reader to keep turning the pages. I have not read any of the previous novels which are gathering dust in my TBR pile, but I think this may bump them up the list.

I understand that this novel is different to its predecessors in that it covers a closed case rather than an active one, but it seems to work well with the present timeline filling in the gaps in the five year old case. I was initially unsure about the author inserting himself into the novel as it feels a bit narcissistic, but in actual fact it works out ok with him playing the useful idiot to uncover more plot details.

The author is on deadline to produce a new novel but with no current murders for him and Hawthorne to investigate he decides to write about one of Hawthorne’s old cases. Hawthorne delivers the case files in instalments, which allows the author to comment on what he has received, speculate on events, carry out some further investigation in the present, not entirely successfully as he never considers the consequences and critique his progress. It’s interesting.

This is a clever novel, not just in the concept but also in the execution. There are enough developments and reveals to keep the reader occupied culminating in a fiendishly intricate explanation for Kenworthy’s death and a second associated one. I assume that this is the author’s take on the classic locked room genre, which he mentions in “his” chapters and it lives up to all his criticism.

Close to Death is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

I do enjoy Horowitz's style! An interesting narrative that kept me guessing throughout. The characters are so well done you feel like you actually know them. A fantastic 'whodunnit' with a twist. I will be recommending to everyone.

Thank you for the chance to read this ARC in return for my honest opinion.

I had not realised this was part of a series when I requested it. I found it a very difficult book to read in a very odd format and way of writing.
I think this made it impossible to read as a stand-alone book and recommend reading the whole series.
The convoluted way of writing meant that unfortunately I was unable to finish it.
It’s very unusual for me to give up on a book in this way.

I haven’t read an Anthony Horowitz book for a long time, I think the last one I read was Groosham Grange when I was a kid! I do however always think of him as a very assured author, and I was excited to request ‘Close to Death’ as his latest read.

I didn’t realise this was book 5 of the ‘Hawthorne and Horowitz’ series when I requested to read it, but actually I think this was a great book to pick as it works well as a standalone. No doubt you get some more information on the main characters if you’d read them all, but I wouldn’t worry too much about reading the others before this one if you haven’t already! The book was really interesting, and very meta in places as the actual author (Anthony Horowitz) narrates certain chapters talking about his work with the fictional detective and the case that he is writing about.

The murder mystery itself feels like a classic – there’s a small neighbourhood of 6 houses on a road with a locked gate. One of the neighbours, who has just moved in and has been annoying everyone in the community, has been found murdered. How do you solve a murder when everyone is a suspect? Without giving too much away, there is also a ‘locked room’ element to this case as well which was interesting. The murder mystery is the book that Horowitz is writing, and you felt very much in safe hands with it. The writing style is engaging, the characters are portrayed with a lot of detail, the clues are mixed in well and the setting is intriguing. The other part of the book, where the author is talking about the book, helps to keep tension high and breaks up the flow of the piece nicely to keep you engaged throughout.

The ending of the story is a little convoluted and complex but I did enjoy it. We didn’t really get to know Hawthorne much in this story, but I didn’t like the reference to a character having an ‘Oriental Brain’ which is used by him at one point. The ending sets up more intrigue about him which obviously doesn’t have as much of an impact if you haven’t read the rest of the series.

Overall, Close to Death is a well-written crime thriller which felt very much like a classic. Suitable to read as a standalone, but a great addition to the Hawthorne and Horowitz series. Thank you to NetGalley & Random House UK – Century and Cornerstone for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.