I thought I’d do a different sort of post today. I often like to hear what my friends and family are reading and they help me decide what to read next. I’ve decided to recommend one Victorian novel and one modern novel every now and then. My enthusiasm has already run away with me because, in choosing Anthony Horowitz’s Hawthorne detective series, I’m actually recommending five books instead of one!

Obviously, because I am a mystery author, I read a lot of mysteries, especially dual timeline mysteries which I love, but I also like psychological thrillers and literary fiction. I re-read some of the classic novels over and over. I’m a big fan of Jane Austen, the Brontes, Daphne du Maurier and many others.

I have a degree in English Literature from Trinity College, Dublin and I loved my time in university. The course was (mostly) fascinating and ranged from Anglo-Saxon to the modern day, so we covered a wide range of different literature. Of all the modules, I remember Anglo-Irish literature and the Comic British Novel as my favourites. I wasn’t so keen on Jacobean plays and Medieval Poetry!

The following books, audiobooks and bluetooth headband have Amazon Associate links attached but my comments are my own honest opinions. I own and use these products myself.

My audiobook listening

It took me a while to discover audiobooks. An academic historian from Canada was living in West Cork, one of our beloved areas by the sea to visit as a family, and I’ll be forever grateful to him for encouraging me to listen to audiobooks. I don’t know why it took me so long and why I kept resisting. I suppose it was just something that I hadn’t considered and it seemed too different to reading a book.

I suffer from tinnitus and audiobooks are the perfect solution to help me sleep at night. If I wake up to hear a high-pitched whine in my ears, I set the timer on my device, switch on the latest audiobook I’m listening to and I’m soon back to sleep. Of course this means I have to rewind the book regularly but that doesn’t matter to me, especially if I’ve listened to it several times before.

My first audiobook listen was a classic novel from the Victorian era

I followed the professor’s advice and haven’t looked back. I remember signing up to Audible and my first free book was the longest one I could find at the time, so that I felt I was getting my money’s worth! It was ‘Middlemarch’ by George Eliot, narrated by the brilliant Juliet Stevenson, a British actor.

The heroine in ‘Middlemarch’ is Dorothea Brooke who suppresses her enthusiasm and intelligence to marry the cold, mean-minded Mr Casaubon. When she offers to help him in the library with his work, she is rebuffed. However, an artist called Will Ladislaw understands Dorothea’s true nature and attracts her attention. Juliet Stevenson does an outstanding presentation of this classic novel and her voices for the many characters are so convincing. Every one sounds different. Middlemarch may be a small town but there’s plenty going on there among its diverse characters; jealousy, conflict, greed and blackmail, to name but a few. Does Will succeed in helping Dorothea escape from her unpleasant husband? You’ll have to read it to find out.

‘Middlemarch’ is a Victorian novel and, because I write Victorian dual timeline mysteries, it was also useful research for me. It was published in 1871 and George Eliot was the pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans, who chose to write as a man back in those days. It’s considered her masterpiece.

From Victorian to modern day - Anthony Horowitz

I’ve always enjoyed the TV series that Anthony Horowitz writes. ‘Foyle’s War’ was compelling viewing, starring Michael Kitchen and Honeysuckle Weeks (what a great name for an actor!). The much loved British detective drama set during World War 2 and its aftermath went on for nine series until, as Horowitz said, he “ran out of war”. He was also a scriptwriter for ‘Midsomer Murders’ in the early days and many children and parents will remember his Alex Rider series of novels about a teenager enlisted to work for MI6. My son enjoyed them when he was the right age.

Quite by accident, I stumbled upon Anthony Horowitz’s latest novels, a series about a grumpy ex-detective called Hawthorne. I’ve already listened to all five that have come out, all on audio, so I’m hooked, but I’m sure they’d be just as entertaining and amusing in book form. I was glad to hear the author say that he has plans to write another seven at least.

Daniel Hawthorne Detective Mystery series

What Anthony Horowitz does with his most recent series of whodunnits is, in my opinion, very clever. He puts himself into the novels as a character, as the protagonist telling the story. He is the real Anthony Horowitz, trying to write his “mountain of words” for his demanding agent, publishers and the various TV programmes he’s involved with. We hear snippets about the filming of ‘Foyle’s War’, which his wife Jill produces, and how things can go drastically wrong. The fictional world creeps in when he mentions how, on writing some of his scripts, he had to rely on an ex-detective called Daniel Hawthorne to ensure his research was authentic. As a character in the books, Hawthorne is highly entertaining and quickly springs to life.

Hawthorne is grumpy, private, eats very little, smokes like a train and considers Horowitz hopeless at solving mysteries in “real life”, after he approaches the author with an idea for a series of books. He asks Horowitz if he’ll write about some of the cases he has been involved with and has solved. Hawthorne isn’t your average detective. He’s a genius, but he’s difficult like Sherlock Holmes, and has been fired from his job as a Detective Inspector in the London Metropolitan police for pushing a villain down the stairs.

The author isn’t so keen on this project in the beginning and tries his best to wriggle out of it, but Hawthorne isn’t a man to take “no” for an answer. The novel shows Horowitz trailing along behind the detective, guessing at clues and making a mess of everything. He sees himself as the Dr Watson to Holmes or Captain Hastings to Poirot, well meaning but floundering. I won’t tell you what happens at the end of the first book but the author gets himself into very hot water! Another annoying thing he finds about Hawthorne is he insists on calling him Tony, which Horowitz hates but somehow can’t stop happening. Later on in the series, even his agent is calling him Tony and has signed on Hawthorne as a client. There are definitely times in the novels when poor Horowitz’s life seems to spin out of control and he has to rely on the detective to help him.

I really enjoyed the second book too which features, amongst other suspects, a female Japanese literary author who is held in high esteem and who takes an instant dislike to Horowitz, calling him “a second rate hack”. There’s an amusing twist involving her as the mystery progresses.

I listened to the Hawthorne and Horowitz series on audio, narrated by Rory Kinnear, who does a great job. So good, in fact, I kept thinking he was Anthony Horowitz speaking, but again I’m sure the stories are also good in e-book and paperback format. A clever and original whodunnit series with some highly amusing moments.

Please note: Headband designs might be different from this one in the photograph

Bluetooth headband for listening to audiobooks

It’s not easy to listen to audiobooks if you share a bedroom with another person! I recently bought this bluetooth MusicCozy headband and I’m pleased with it. It is comfortable to wear at night, not too hot and can be worn for walking or when gardening or doing household tasks. The only problem I found was that the battery ran down after a few nights, so I ended up buying two headbands, and this works well because I can swap over to the charged one when it goes dead in the night and then recharge the other in the morning.