A Line to Kill

[A Line to Kill]
Year: 
2021
Type: 
Public: 
Publisher: 
Printed and bound by Griffin Press
City: 
Sydney
Year of publication: 
2021
Pages: 
361
Moral assessment: 
Type: Literature
Nothing inappropriate.
Some morally inappropriate content.
Contains significant sections contrary to faith or morals.
Contains some lurid passages, or presents a general ideological framework that could confuse those without much Christian formation.
Contains several lurid passages, or presents an ideological framework that is contrary or foreign to Christian values.
Explicitly contradicts Catholic faith or morals, or is directed against the Church and its institutions.
Literary quality: 
Recommendable: 
Transmits values: 
Sexual content: 
Violent content: 
Vulgar or obscene language: 
Ideas that contradict Church teaching: 
The rating of the different categories comes from the opinion of Delibris' collaborators

From the Publisher: When Ex-Detective Inspector Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, author Anthony Horowitz, are invited to an exclusive literary festival on Alderney, an idyllic island off the south coast of England, they don’t expect to find themselves in the middle of murder investigation—or to be trapped with a cold-blooded killer in a remote place with a murky, haunted past. Arriving on Alderney, Hawthorne and Horowitz soon meet the festival’s other guests—an eccentric gathering that includes a bestselling children’s author, a French poet, a TV chef turned cookbook author, a blind psychic, and a war historian—along with a group of ornery locals embroiled in an escalating feud over a disruptive power line.

When a local grandee is found dead under mysterious circumstances, Hawthorne and Horowitz become embroiled in the case. The island is locked down, no one is allowed on or off, and it soon becomes horribly clear that a murderer lurks in their midst. But who? Both a brilliant satire on the world of books and writers and an immensely enjoyable locked-room mystery, A Line to Kill is a triumph—a riddle of a story full of brilliant misdirection, beautifully set-out clues, and diabolically clever denouements.

It is an enjoyable murder mystery. There are a few instances of bad language (by one of the bad guys).

Author: C F, Australia
Update on: Jul 2022

Other review

Moral Assessment: 

Alderney is a small island, only three miles long and a mile and a half wide. The perfect place for a new literary festival. Private investigator Daniel Hawthorne has been invited to talk about his new book. The writer, Anthony Horowitz, travels with him. A crime novel, about a murder, seems out of place; everyone knows there has never been a murder in Alderney.

Soon they discover that all is not as it should be. Alderney is thrown into turmoil by a proposed power line that will cut through it, desecrate a war cemetery and pit neighbour against neighbour. The visiting authors, who include a blind medium, a French poet and a famous cook who presents his culinary specialities on television, seem to be hiding a number of unpleasant secrets.

When the wealthy patron of the festival is found brutally murdered, Alderney is put on alert and Hawthorne knows he doesn't have to look too far for suspects. The police come to clear up the crime and won't let anybody leave the island: there is no escape for the killer. But a second death occurs...

From a moral point of view, there are characters with faults and bad behaviour, but the author distinguishes between right and wrong. There are no immoral descriptions.

Author: F. Benito, Switzerland, 2023