Close to Death

How do you solve a murder … when everyone has the same motive? (Hawthorne, 5)

By: Anthony Horowitz

Narrated by: Rory Kinnear

Brought to you by Penguin.

A Sunday Times bestseller

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

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?

‘Anthony Horowitz is easily the greatest of our crime writers’ Sunday Times
‘Sheer genius … A joy from start to finish’ Independent
'The master of the mystery' Style
'The king of the clever whodunnit' Good Housekeeping
'Gloriously artificial, improbable, and ingenious. Fans of both versions of Horowitz will rejoice.’ Kirkus Reviews
'‘An absolutely engrossing tale ... Kudos to anyone who can figure this one out!’ Starred Booklist

©2024 Anthony Horowitz (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

(CLOSE TO DEATH is one of) the five best murder mystery novels of all time

Easily the greatest of our crime writers

[Horowitz is] a master puppeteer

'A clever murder mystery…playful and twisty. Nobody does this crime fiction better than Anthony Horowitz

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

I had a great time with Close to Death by our best living thriller writer, Anthony Horowitz. Set in a gated Richmond enclave, it combines endless narrative surprises with sharp observation of the professional classes

Turns the closed-circle mystery inside out

The master of the mystery

The king of the clever whodunnit

An excellent entertaining thriller

Another great yarn

Thoroughly enjoyed, expertly read and enough twists&turns to keep me awake in the small hours wanting to know what happened next. Definitely not too many characters as each one well defined & different. I don't normally read detective novels but Tony's, sorry Anthony has me hooked.

Hawthorne Forever (and Tony)

Another terrific H&H mystery by Anthony Horowitz, another A+ performance by Rory Kinnear. Absolutely love this series and can’t wait for the next one.

Narrator

Too many characters. The narrator is lousy. No difference in tone. Difficult to identify the v
characters..

Not the best in the series

I felt the 'locked room' storyline was a bit flimsy and the ending was unsatisfying. The other books in the series are much better, especially The Word is Murder, in my opinion