New York Times–bestselling author Anthony Horowitz and eccentric detective Daniel Hawthorne team up again in a new mystery, the sequel to the brilliantly inventive The Word Is Murder, to delve deep into the killing of a high-profile divorce lawyer and the death, only a day earlier, of his one-time friend.
“You shouldn’t be here. It’s too late . . . ”
These, heard over the phone, were the last recorded words of successful celebrity-divorce lawyer Richard Pryce, found bludgeoned to death in his bachelor pad with a bottle of wine—a 1982 Chateau Lafite worth £3,000, to be precise.
Odd, considering he didn’t drink. Why this bottle? And why those words? And why was a three-digit number painted on the wall by the killer? And, most importantly, which of the man’s many, many enemies did the deed?
Baffled, the police are forced to bring in Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, the author Anthony, who’s really getting rather good at this murder investigation business.
But as Hawthorne takes on the case with characteristic relish, it becomes clear that he, too, has secrets to hide. As our reluctant narrator becomes ever more embroiled in the case, he realizes that these secrets must be exposed—even at the risk of death . . .
The Sentence is Death is actually the fourth book in the Hawthorn and Horwitz series that I’ve read (or, in this case, listened to), and each time, the story has been expertly crafted. The series is centred on an unlikely pairing of a brilliant ex-detective (Hawthorne) and a writer (Horowitz himself) who is tasked with shadowing Hawthorne to write a book showing how the mystery was solved. Hawthorne is a bit of a mystery; he’s an ex-Met detective who was fired under suspicious circumstances, but whom the Met call on when they are having trouble solving a case.
In this instalment, Hawthorne investigates the murder of a prominent divorce lawyer, Richard Pryce, who was beaten over the head with a £2000 bottle of wine. The chief suspect is the wife of a client who had recently publicly poured wine over his head in a restaurant while threatening to beat him up with a bottle of wine. It’s an open and shut case, right?
The concept for the Hawthorne and Horowitz series is pretty interesting, marrying a real-life author with a fictional detective, and it works really well! There’s a fair bit of humour in the book, often at the expense of Horowitz playing the unwilling sidekick. He is not expected to get involved as such, just follow without question, take notes during interviews, oh, and pay for transport. As such, he’ll make the occasional mistake like blurting out questions to witnesses, much to the annoyance of Hawthorne.
The Sentence is Death is told in the first person by Horowitz, who gives his views at every turn on the state of the investigation. Often left out of the thought process by Hawthorne, he attempts to solve the mystery on his own, invariably coming up with a totally wrong solution. You’ve probably seen similar tropes in other works of detective fiction, such as Sherlock Holmes and Watson or Poirot and Hastings. It works because it misdirects you by offering viable alternative options.
The Sentence is Death Audiobook is read expertly by the great stage and screen actor Rory Kinnear, who gives a wonderful, vibrant performance.
The Sentence is Death is a brilliant story which is paced perfectly. There are plenty of red herrings, plot twists and misdirections along the way, which kept me guessing until the end.
Although this is the second book in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series, you don’t need to have read the previous story to enjoy it.
Highly Recommended…
