The Sentence is Death - Anthony Horowitz

The Sentence is Death is the second book in Anthony Horowitz's Detective Daniel Hawthorne Series. (The first was The Word is Murder - my review.)

I found the first book incredibly clever and that originality continues with book two.

The protagonist is the enigmatic Hawthorn, let go from the police and now working as a P.I. Hawthorne is such a great character - a brilliant detective, but somewhat lacking in personal interactive skills. I quite like him. And playing Watson to his Holmes? Anthony Horowitz. Uh, huh - Horowitz has written himself in as a character in the series. And in the series, he plays himself, writing about Hawthorne's cases, often referring to actual events. Can you imagine the writing process? The interactions between the two are wonderfully depicted.

In this latest, a divorce lawyer is found bludgeoned to death with an expensive bottle of wine. Hawthorne picks up on the smallest clues and discrepancies. Horowitz also tries to investigate at times, but doesn't have the skill set of Hawthorne. What Horowitz desperately wants to konw is more about Hawthorne. The personal details of the detective are sparse and are only slowly being brought to light.

The murder is clever and takes several turns, keeping the reader guessing along with Horowitz. Hawthorne is far ahead of us on the final path to whodunit.

Clever, clever, clever. And so much fun to read. Here's an excerpt of The Sentence is Death. This reader will be looking forward to book number three. (And Horowitz has stated that he sees nine or ten Hawthorne book in the series.)