Close to Death

Hawthorne is the detective in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series. Khan describes him as “a diminutive figure […] with eyes that seem[s] to absorb and analyse every detail, a face that g[ives] nothing away, [and] in his mid to late thirties, although it [i]s difficult to be sure as there [i]s something childlike about his appearance” (105). Horowitz views Hawthorne as morally ambiguous, someone who “believe[s] in justice. The only trouble [i]s that he d[oes]n’t care how he achieves[] it” (76). Formerly a police detective, Hawthorne was kicked off the force amid allegations that he pushed a suspected child pornographer and pedophile down a flight of stairs. Because of this allegation, Horowitz assumes that Hawthorne is responsible for Adam Strauss’s death. When realizing that Hawthorne is innocent but remaining silent to protect Dudley, his ideas about the detective grow more complicated.

Hawthorne’s main hobby is model building. The focus and attention to detail that he gives to this pastime mirrors the way he approaches an investigation. Horowitz finds the model building to be an interesting aspect of Hawthorne’s character and wonders, “Was it a throwback to a childhood that had been damaged in some way or just an enjoyable way to pass the time?” (75). DS Khan also senses something dark in Hawthorne’s background, noting, “[He] had begun his career as a juvenile protection officer and in some strange way Hawthorne reminded him of some of the victims he had met” (105).

Hawthorne’s main characteristic, besides his investigative skill, is his extreme reticence. Horowitz and the reader both learn very little about Hawthorne in this novel.

Dudley is Hawthorne’s partner on the Riverview Close case and many cases before that. Like Hawthorne, he is a former police detective and was forced to leave the police force. Horowitz introduces him in the novel as having “sloping shoulders and long, lank hair, untidily dressed in ill-fitting corduroy trousers, a jacket with patches on the elbows and scuffed shoes” and “an air of carelessness” (105). When Horowitz meets Dudley at the end of the novel, he says that the other man “look[s] rather like [him], although [Horowitz is] older and perhaps more smartly dressed” (403). The disparity between these two descriptions highlights the fact that Horowitz’s interest in Dudley is mainly fueled by jealousy that dissipates as he becomes more familiar with the man throughout the case. His envy is based on Dudley’s status as Hawthorne’s peer, his long-time friend, and possibly his confidante. Dudley acts as a foil for Horowitz throughout the novel. Horowitz’s sense, at the end, that they are more alike than different speaks to his changing sense of self.

Dudley is sarcastic, rude, and outspoken, with a dark sense of humor that comes out often in front of the murder suspects. However, he also shows compassion, as when he tells May and Phyllis, upon their exposure as murderers, “You may find people are more forgiving than you think” (189). This compassion and advice is borne out of his own experience. However, Dudley also believes that his job is “making sure the bastards pay for it” (307), an attitude that leads him to kill Adam Strauss several months after the case is closed. At the end of the novel, when Horowitz meets him, Dudley is still unrepentant, even though his actions have meant the end of his friendship with Hawthorne.

Adam is the killer of both Giles Kenworthy and Roderick Browne—and, as it turns out, his first wife, Wendy. Adam is a world-renowned chess grandmaster and, at one point, a celebrity who had his own television show. He and Wendy lived in Riverview Lodge, but when his financial circumstances changed, he was forced to sell to the Kenworthys and move into The Stables with his second wife, Teri. Adam’s chess expertise plays into his murder strategy, and Hawthorne marvels at how Adam is consistently “ten moves ahead” (369). Although Hawthorne solves the crime, Khan and the police don’t investigate Adam, and he goes free. However, Dudley kills him months later, a death that is ruled accidental.

Adam’s wife, Teri, is a constant presence while Adam is being questioned, but she doesn’t play an independent role in the narrative. She is Adam’s first wife Wendy’s cousin, and like Wendy, she is from Hong Kong. Hawthorne believes that she might have played a role in Adam’s murderous plan. He notes that “there was definitely someone behind [Adam] at Richmond station wearing a hoodie when he was ‘pushed’ down those stairs” and reflects that “[s]he seems quite a feisty little number” (380).

Andrew is the only original resident of Riverview Close that remains when Horowitz visits the Close five years later. Before his retirement, Andrew was a criminal defense lawyer. Throughout the novel, he counsels the Riverview Close residents about courses of action and possible repercussions, as well as helping them understand the limitations of their neighborhood code of conduct. At the time of Giles’s death, Andrew is “in his early sixties, a handsome, softly spoken black man with hair that [i]s tinged with white around his ears” (168). In court, he was “courteous, precise […] but he would miss nothing. Those grey eyes of his would pick up the slightest nuance and when he sensed a weak spot he would strike with lethal accuracy” (168). Andrew is intelligent and thoughtful and shows wisdom and experience in his advice.

However, this isn’t to say that Andrew doesn’t have his own issues with the Kenworthys, specifically with Giles. Giles’s racist behavior and constant microaggressions fuel Andrew’s dislike, but he strives to “give [him] the benefit of the doubt” (21). He doesn’t become truly upset until the Kenworthy children destroy the garden he planted in Iris’s honor on the fifth anniversary of her death. Of all the residents of the Close, Andrew offers the most insight into the neighborhood—both to Hawthorne and Dudley at the time of the crime and to Horowitz five years later.

May and Phyllis were the first people to buy into the newly developed Riverview Close. They live in the smallest house, The Gables, bought with an inheritance that May received from an aunt—or, at least, that is the story they tell. May and Phyllis claim to have been nuns for 30 years before leaving the convent when May inherited money. However, during his investigation, Hawthorne discovers that they both killed their abusive husbands and bought their house after they were released from prison.

The women are in their eighties at the time of Giles’s murder, and they live a quiet, tidy life. Phyllis is “the smaller of the two women, with tightly permed hair and a thin frame. Her face ha[s] folded itself into so many creases that if she had been mummified, no one would have noticed” (310). May, on the other hand, has a “large physique,” and “with her bright clothes, her chunky jewellry and the glasses hanging on a cord around her neck, she ha[s] the optimistic look of old age—the round, satisfied, homely cheerfulness of a fairy godmother” (33). May is the dominant figure in the relationship, doing most of the talking for both women throughout the novel. The two women own a tea and bookshop, The Tea Cosy, which sells classic mysteries only, refusing to carry more modern, graphic, and violent detective fiction.

Roderick and Felicity live in Woodlands, the property that faces the Kenworthys’ garden and the proposed site of the new swimming pool. Although Roderick is a mild-mannered dentist, the pool proposal causes him to comment that it is “a fight to the death” (48). Felicity, formerly a “senior associate in a leading firm of chartered accountants” (42), was diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis, “a condition whose main symptom [i]s chronic fatigue” (43). One of the few things that brings her pleasure is her view of the Kenworthys’ garden, which would be spoiled by the pool. This issue is important enough to the Brownes that Felicity even musters the energy to go to the first meeting. In the end, Adam uses Felicity’s situation to frame Roderick for Giles’s murder and then set up Roderick’s death so that it appears that he died by suicide.

Tom and Gemma live in Gardener’s Cottage. Tom is a doctor and, of all the residents, has the most acrimonious relationship with Giles. Because of how the driveways are positioned, Giles often blocks Tom’s car in, preventing him from getting to his job on time. This situation culminates in the death of one of Tom’s patients, and before Roderick’s death and “confession,” Tom is the top suspect in Giles’s murder.

Gemma is a jewelry designer with global success. At the time of Giles’s murder, she has just released a series of jewelry based on poisonous plants and animals and is often portrayed wearing one or another of the pieces during the investigation. Gemma worries about Tom’s drinking and smoking and about the state of their relationship. She is also fiercely loyal to her neighbors and draws a firm line with Hawthorne when he attempts to get information out of her, telling him, “You won’t turn me against my neighbours” (147).