Cozy Mystery

From the publisher: In New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz’s ingenious fifth literary whodunnit in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series, Detective Hawthorne is once again called upon to solve an unsolvable case—a gruesome murder in an idyllic gated community in which suspects abound.

I love Anthony Horowitz. His writing and his mysteries just work for me, and every adult book he writes is a must-read. (I confess, I don’t love his series for kids, Alex Rider.) I adored Magpie Murders, both the book and the miniseries, and I love the Hawthorne and Horowitz books. It’s fun seeing an author write himself into a series as somewhat of a clueless dolt. (When Horowitz asks Hawthorne to tell him the solution to an old murder case, Hawthorne replies, “You never know the solution, mate. That’s what makes your writing so special. You don’t have a clue.” Ha! (p. 65 of the ARC))

This book is pretty different from the previous Hawthorne and Horowitz books. In the previous books, the author has watched Hawthorne solve a mystery and then written a book about it. In this book, he writes about a murder that happened years before. So, unfortunately, the pair don’t spend much time together this time around. Still, I get it – the author needs to keep things fresh for himself and his audience.

I often don’t even try to solve murder mysteries, but Horowitz throws in so many details and so much misdirection and then makes the clues pay off, so I do try to pay attention. (No, I did not figure out what was going on in Close to Death, any more than the fictional Horowitz did.) I also enjoy how English these books are.

“I have never been a huge fan of so-called ‘locked-room’ mysteries,” complains the fictional Horowitz as the real-life Horowitz proceeds to write one. Ha! (p. 184 of the ARC) I had a bit of a hard time with this one in one respect, trying to figure out how he could actually turn this into a published book given what would need to be revealed, but that’s beside the point. I know they aren’t true crime, but clever fiction. And I know these books aren’t done because we still need to find out what happened in Reeth!

I read an advance reader copy of Close to Death from Netgalley. It is scheduled to be released on April 16 and will be available in multiple formats at the Galesburg Public Library. The library owns the whole series in multiple formats. If you want to read the first four books, start with The Word is Murder.

From the publisher: A retired San Diego police detective embarks upon group walking tours in England’s most scenic counties in the first in a charming new mystery series set in the English countryside.

is a debut novel and the first book in the Walk Through England Mystery series. In it, a group of Americans on a guided walk in Devon, England, includes a man named Gretz. I’ve read a lot of cozy mysteries, and Gretz is right out of cozy mystery central casting. The grouchy, hard-to-get-along-with, unlikable man who is obviously going to be the murder victim and about whom other characters say, “If you did kill him, we don’t blame you.” (p. 148 of the ARC)

I’d guess the author has also read a lot of cozy mysteries. Besides the unlikable victim, we have the bickering couple, the clueless Chief Inspector, the attractive young new widow, and a whole cast of suspects hiding secrets. I hope in the sequels that the author can strive for a little more originality, instead of a cookie cutter cozy. I think we might see some of the walkers return in future books, and maybe they will be fleshed out a little. The climactic confrontation of the killer was truly eye-rolling in its implausibility.

I love England and have yet to do a walking tour, so the premise of this book appealed to me. Unfortunately, there is not as much “walking” as I had hoped. Once the murder occurs, the group stays in one place. Still, I enjoyed the English setting.

The book is narrated by ex-detective Rick Chasen, and at one point he mentions that he likes whistling as he walks. That would certainly be grounds for murder if I were on a walk with the guy. Although this is marketed as a debut, there were references to the main character’s previous cases which originally made me wonder if I’d missed something.

At one point Chase’s walker friend Billie jokes, “I’ll kill you if you don’t. Oops. Guess I shouldn’t be joking about murder, should I?” (p. 131 of the ARC) Is the author poking fun at cozy cliches or just being cliched? I can’t tell. The main character is supposed to be a huge baseball fan, but I wondered if the author is. At one point the main character muses, “I often looked at my success rate through the lens of baseball, where batters typically fail to get a base hit seven out of ten pitches.” (p. 170 of the ARC) I think he means seven out of ten at bats. I read an advance reader copy, so maybe that will be fixed when the book is published. I do give the author points for trying to redeem Bill Buckner, who is unfairly blamed for costing the Red Sox the World Series in 1986. Although I felt like the author made some rookie errors (ha ha) in his debut, I enjoyed it enough that I might read book two.

The cover is very attractive and I imagine similar matching covers on the whole series that will look great together. If you enjoy the sometimes outlandish stories in M.C. Beaton’s Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin series, you may enjoy A Deadly Walk in Devon.

I read an advance reader copy of A Deadly Walk in Devon from Netgalley. It is scheduled to be released on March 26 and will be available at the Galesburg Public Library.