Anthony Horowitz continues his supremely entertaining metafictional mystery series with a whodunit set in a gated community on the River Thames. 

After investigating murders side-by-side with disgraced former police detective Daniel Hawthorne in four previous instalments (and turning their escapades into bestselling novels), “Close to Death” sees the fictional Horowitz turning to an old, solved case for the latest entry in the series. 

While this storytelling decision does dilute some of the suspense naturally derived from a story in motion, it doesn’t at all impact the complexity and intricateness of the mystery: who killed Giles Kenworthy?There’s no shortage of suspects. In the short time Kenworthy and his wife lived in Riverview Close, he made an enemy of every single one of his neighbours. There are almost too many motives for Hawthorne and his partner John Dudley to sift through, and despite the 

plethora of investigatory angles, Horowotiz keeps his cast’s intersecting stories wonderfully lucid. Byzantine, yes; but absolutely crystalline in its delineation.

Ultimately, “Close to Death” lacks some of the ingenuity that has distinguished the series so far. Horowitz is a bit-part player in proceedings, and really, if he’d been dropped entirely, the mystery here would be just as satisfying. That doesn’t make this a bad novel at all, just slightly below par. But that still makes it a cut above so much else on shelves now.