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You always feel that Anthony Horowitz has such fun with this series, and he has a great group of suspects, from a spiritualist, to a children's author, a celebrity chef and a French performance poet. On the island, there is a row going on about a power line and this has created bad feeling between the locals. When there is a murder, it is up to Hawthorne to unravel the motives and there are many.
I think by calling Harper Lee brave you kind of absolve yourself of your own racism... She certainly set the standards in terms of how these issues need to be discussed, but in many ways I feel... the moral bar's been lowered. And that's really distressing. We need a thousand Atticus Finches. and the next morning someone is found dead in a 'snug' at the edge of le Mesurier's property - a cozy studio the entrepreneur uses to conduct his adulterous affairs. Born in 1926, Harper Lee grew up in the Southern town of Monroeville, Alabama, where she became close friends with soon-to-be-famous writer Truman Capote. She attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery (1944–45), and then studied law at the University of Alabama (1945–49). While attending college, she wrote for campus literary magazines: Huntress at Huntingdon and the humor magazine Rammer Jammer at the University of Alabama. At both colleges, she wrote short stories and other works about racial injustice, a rarely mentioned topic on such campuses at the time. [5] In 1950, Lee moved to New York City, where she worked as a reservation clerk for British Overseas Airways Corporation; there, she began writing a collection of essays and short stories about people in Monroeville. Hoping to be published, Lee presented her writing in 1957 to a literary agent recommended by Capote. An editor at J. B. Lippincott, who bought the manuscript, advised her to quit the airline and concentrate on writing.
A Line to Kill
Marc Bellamy – A culinary writer, there to promote his latest cookbook – Lovely Grub. Joining him is his assistant – Kathryn Harris. A Line to Kill,” Anthony Horowitz’s third murder mystery pairing a stand-in for himself (a veteran English novelist and screenwriter) with ex-police detective Daniel Hawthorne, takes place mostly at a literary festival on tiny Alderney, one of the Channel Islands. “There’s never been a murder on Alderney,” more than one resident tells Hawthorne and Horowitz. But that’s about to change. When a body turns up the next morning, another murder investigation gets underway with Hawthorne helping the local constabulary. Unlike the first two books in the series, this one is confined to a set location with a cast of characters we meet in the opening chapters. In that sense, it’s not unlike a classic Agatha Christie murder mystery. Anyone of 15 people had the motive to do the killing. The question is who. Anne Cleary – A popular children’s book series author. Walt Disney has just bought the movie rights. This is the 3rd installment in the Horowitz/ Hawthorne series, featuring my favorite duo. This can work as a standalone, but for insight into the characters I recommend reading the previous two books first (plus they are really good!). Horowitz is both author and a character in his own novel, as a bumbling ‘Watson’ to retired Detective Hawthorne’s ‘Holmes’. They are an unlikely pair that get along as well as oil and water. Their relationship adds much to the charm and humor in this story, with Horowitz’s cluelessness adding to the fun.
In 1992, an Alabama editorial called for the death of Atticus, saying that as liberal as Atticus was, he still worked within a system of institutionalized racism and sexism and should not be revered. The editorial sparked a flurry of responses from attorneys who entered the profession because of him and esteemed him as a hero. [107] Critics of Atticus maintain he is morally ambiguous and does not use his legal skills to challenge the racist status quo in Maycomb. [50] However, in 1997, the Alabama State Bar erected a monument to Atticus in Monroeville, marking his existence as the "first commemorative milestone in the state's judicial history". [108] In 2008, Lee herself received an honorary special membership to the Alabama State Bar for creating Atticus who "has become the personification of the exemplary lawyer in serving the legal needs of the poor". [109] Social commentary and challenges And, now I am desperate for Horowitz to write Hawthorne #4 because I want to know exactly what did happen in Reeth. Those attending the festival, as well as the local police, believed the crime was solved when Derek Abbott, a man who had worked for Charles, seemed to admit to the murder. Abbott, who had just been fired by Charles, had been arrested and questioned by Hawthorne in the past for child pornography and having sex with minors. The police were only able to convict him of possession of pornography. While Abbott was in police custody, his left leg was permanently injured when he fell down a flight of stairs. He claimed Hawthorne pushed him. I get the feeling ... perhaps I am incorrect ... that Hawthorne and Michael Kitchen's interpretation of "Foyle" bear an uncanny resemblance. I seem to recall that Anthony wrote "Foyle" as never answering a question, only asking another question in reply. Having loved the first two books in this series, "The Word is Murder," and "The Sentence is Death," I was thrilled, not only to read the third, but to hear in the interview at the end of this that Anthony Horowitz is planning further mysteries featuring Hawthorne.Author Anthony Horowitz and former detective, Daniel Hawthorne are invited to a Literary Festival on Alderney (one of the Channel Islands) to promote their first collaborative dectective story – The Word is Murder. I don’t recommend this as a stand-alone. It will work much better if you have read the prior two books in the series, or at least the first, The Word is Murder.
The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Horowitz, Anthony. A Line to Kill. Harper, October 19, 2021. Kindle. 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. The book is filled with a dry humor. Horowitz pokes fun at the book industry, the police and human nature in general. The ending was perfect, everyone’s identity was not as it seemed. I would never have guessed the final denouement. Horowitz is a master of misdirection, and his brilliant self-portrayal, wittily self-deprecating, carries the reader through a jolly satire on the publishing world." --Booklist Hile, Kevin S. "Harper Lee" in Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Gale Research 13 (August 1994) ISBN 978-0-8103-8566-5Lee has also been awarded honorary degrees from Mount Holyoke College (1962) and the University of Alabama (1990). (Noble, p. 8.) Our guys are invited to a soiree at the home of Charles le Mesurier and his wife Helen. As a wealthy multi-millionaire, it seems that Charles finances most of the events on the island. But there's tension in the air that can be felt as neighbors are taking a stand for and against the proposal of a power line that will cut across property lines and the natural flow of the island. Someone will be profiting and the rest not so much. One less vote on the issue......Charles' body is found the next morning in his private retreat facing the sea. Agatha, herself, is peering down on this one. The cast of suspects/characters from the literary world is colorful and quirky, and I loved the witty satire, with the author poking fun at the literary world, and himself. Not every attendee is who they say they are and there are plenty of suspects and secrets to uncover. “There are an awful lot more than six people who wanted him dead… It’s a line to kill if ever I saw one.” Sergel's play toured in the UK starting at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds in 2006, [170] and again in 2011 starting at the York Theatre Royal, [171] both productions featuring Duncan Preston as Atticus Finch. The play also opened the 2013 season at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London where it played to full houses and starred Robert Sean Leonard as Atticus Finch, his first London appearance in 22 years. The production returned to the venue to close the 2014 season, prior to a UK tour. [172] [173]
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