The Sentence Is Death: A Novel (A Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery, 2)

I really enjoyed the first book of the series, "The Word Is Murder." The story continues where it left off, and Horowitz and Hawthorne are the grrat together.

The Sentence is Death is the second book in the Private Detective Hawthorne series. We continue with Hawthorne still being hard to know but Anthony Horowitz, playing a parody of himself, an author who is going to write about Hawthorne’s cases starts to question, “is this worth it?” Anthony Horowitz does get glimpses of Hawthorne’s life but it’s only small nuggets and that’s what makes it more interesting. What makes Hawthorne tick? What more about him meets the eye? Who is the man who called Hawthorne ‘Tony’?

While critics and reviewers all read, ‘this series is comparative to Sherlock Holmes and Watson,’ I wouldn’t go as far as that. Horowitz makes himself to be the observer and like Watson, showcases the star which is Hawthorne in comparison to Sherlock Holmes. Holmes also has a flair and has no understanding of good order nor tidiness. Hawthorne’s home is almost austere, except for the basics and his love of models. Then there’s Holmes' famous drug use. Hawthorne’s only vice is cigarettes. In this book, as we catch fleeting and occasional moments of Hawthorne’s more vulnerable side, we feel sad for him and for an ephemeral moment, we actually start to care about him. Horowitz isn’t depicted to be such a loser in this second book, thankfully and he stands up to Hawthorne more. Horowitz is fed up with Hawthorne and wants to take Jill's (his wife) advice and not finish writing about Hawthorne. Just like the Godfather’s famous line, “just when I’m trying to get out, they pull me back in.” What we see is a slow warmth between Hawthorne and Horowitz, even though Horowitz isn’t ready to admit that quite just yet. Now, onto the murder, shall we?

It starts off with divorce lawyer Richard Pryce, aka Blunt Razor murdered at his manor by a bottle of wine. 182 is painted on the wall and what makes it peculiar is that the paint is in a specific shade of green. Does that have any relevance to the murder? What does the 182 mean? There are plenty lists of suspects which include, Stephen Spencer, Pryce’s husband; Adrian Lockwood, Pryce’s own client who might have hidden things from Pryce and so Pryce hired a person to shadow Lockwood to find out more about HIS finances; Akira Anno, the aggrieved ex-wife of Adrian Lockwood who threatened Pryce in public by pouring wine over him and exclaiming, “if there was a bottle, I’d use it”; and Davina Richardson, who’s husband Charlie was killed when the three men went to caving at Long Way Hole, an 18 pitch drop below a waterfall. Only two came out and the other two surviving stated they went back for Charlie but it got too dangerous so they had to come back out to notify somebody for help, leaving Charlie to die in the bottom of a flooded cave. Did Davina hold a grudge against Pryce for the death of her husband?

To complicate matters, another person, Gregory Taylor dies under mysterious circumstances. How is this related to the death of Richard Pryce? Gregory Taylor just got back from seeing Pryce and was on his way home with great news, as per his wife. So the once tight friends from Oxford University are all dead. Is there a connection?

Lots of twists and turns but now, Horowitz has to deal with a bigger manipulator than Hawthorne and she’s a detective inspector no less. That brute is Detective Inspector Cara Grunshaw with her trusty sidekick, Assistant Investigator Darren Mills. Can we please bring back Detective Charlie Meadows from The Word is Murder? Now we just have to look at the shape of the crime.