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Review
"A good old fashion whodunit that Agatha Christie would have been pleased to claim as her own." -- Roberta "ALIBI BOOKS ...for readers who need no excuse"
Kirkus Reviews
Malliet's debut combines devices from Christie and Clue to keep you guessing until the dramatic denouement.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read reviews of this book and listened to people talk about it I must say that I was dubious about reading it. I am a real mystery reading fanatic. I don't want too much messing around with my mysteries. I was worried that this one had been given the "cute" treatment to the extent that I would end up throwing it across the room. Well, so much for that worry because nothing could be farther from the truth.
G. M. Malliet has written a very, very good debut mystery novel. Words like "hilarious", "satirical", and "romp" almost succeeded in turning me completely off but I'm happy to say that I found most of that to be hyperbole evidently intended to snag the attention of non-mystery readers. This story does have it's humorous moments, but they happen very naturally in the narrative and are not used to lampoon the genre. The plot follows the tried and true progression of the type of mysteries classified as "cozy" so if you like those then you will probably like this as well. The author uses characters that have been used before by other writers but they are used here to great advantage because of all the twists and turns in the plot. I don't think this can be described as a completely "fair play" mystery (meaning that every clue is given within the story and the reader just has to pay attention to gather them up and come to the correct solution), but it was very definitely interesting to watch the author add little bits and pieces along the way to keep the solution under wraps.
In case you aren't familiar with the basic plot, Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk has invited his four adult children to his eighteenth century Cambridgeshire home to have them meet his fiancee. Since the relationship between Dear Old Dad and his children is based on greed on their part and the delights of changing his will for Sir Adrian, can murder be long in arriving? The police team of Detective Chief Inspector Arthur St. Just and Sergeant Garwin Fear were interesting to watch in the performance of their official duties and will probably get more interesting for me as the series progresses.
There is definitely a liberal dose of tongue-in-cheek written into the novel, but this author has also managed to make sure that the mystery itself is engaging, difficult to solve, and worth reading. Two enthusiastic thumbs up from me and I will now order Death and the Lit Chick: A St Just Mystery (Book 2) (St. Just Mysteries) expecting to be highly entertained.
G. M. Malliet has written a very, very good debut mystery novel. Words like "hilarious", "satirical", and "romp" almost succeeded in turning me completely off but I'm happy to say that I found most of that to be hyperbole evidently intended to snag the attention of non-mystery readers. This story does have it's humorous moments, but they happen very naturally in the narrative and are not used to lampoon the genre. The plot follows the tried and true progression of the type of mysteries classified as "cozy" so if you like those then you will probably like this as well. The author uses characters that have been used before by other writers but they are used here to great advantage because of all the twists and turns in the plot. I don't think this can be described as a completely "fair play" mystery (meaning that every clue is given within the story and the reader just has to pay attention to gather them up and come to the correct solution), but it was very definitely interesting to watch the author add little bits and pieces along the way to keep the solution under wraps.
In case you aren't familiar with the basic plot, Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk has invited his four adult children to his eighteenth century Cambridgeshire home to have them meet his fiancee. Since the relationship between Dear Old Dad and his children is based on greed on their part and the delights of changing his will for Sir Adrian, can murder be long in arriving? The police team of Detective Chief Inspector Arthur St. Just and Sergeant Garwin Fear were interesting to watch in the performance of their official duties and will probably get more interesting for me as the series progresses.
There is definitely a liberal dose of tongue-in-cheek written into the novel, but this author has also managed to make sure that the mystery itself is engaging, difficult to solve, and worth reading. Two enthusiastic thumbs up from me and I will now order Death and the Lit Chick: A St Just Mystery (Book 2) (St. Just Mysteries) expecting to be highly entertained.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk is a well loved cozy writer. His books constantly hit the best seller lists in his native England, and his latest has been there for almost a year straight.
However, his children have a different opinion of their father. The man considers it a sport to manipulate them into fighting with each other. He changes his will constantly to slight which ever one has offended him most recently.
His latest stunt is a remarriage. His children reluctantly show up at his Cambridgeshire manor for the occasion, hoping to talk him into calling it off. But Adrian has some surprises up his sleeve. However, instead of the normal fireworks, the bodies start piling up. Who among the guests at the manor is a killer?
This book delightfully harkens back to the cozies of the golden age. I'm not as familiar with the writers of that time period as I probably should be, but I still got a kick out of watching someone else hit all the conventions of the drama and yet twist them every so slightly. The story is strong; the first murder takes place rather late in the book, but the tension builds nicely up to that point. Once our main character, Detective Chief Inspector St. Just, is introduced, things pick up even more.
Unfortunately, the book wasn't quite perfect. While the suspects are all very strong characters, I felt they were much stronger than St. Just. Of course, he didn't have as many pages to develop. Still, it would be nice to feel like I know him better than I do. The climax, while logical, was overly complex. Finally, the writing style, while trying to harken back to the writing of the 30's and 40's, was a tad overly complex. Every time I sat down, I had to readjust myself to the style before truly getting lost in the story.
Still, I can see why I've been hearing so much good stuff about this book. I'm already planning my return trip to England to visit St. Just again.
However, his children have a different opinion of their father. The man considers it a sport to manipulate them into fighting with each other. He changes his will constantly to slight which ever one has offended him most recently.
His latest stunt is a remarriage. His children reluctantly show up at his Cambridgeshire manor for the occasion, hoping to talk him into calling it off. But Adrian has some surprises up his sleeve. However, instead of the normal fireworks, the bodies start piling up. Who among the guests at the manor is a killer?
This book delightfully harkens back to the cozies of the golden age. I'm not as familiar with the writers of that time period as I probably should be, but I still got a kick out of watching someone else hit all the conventions of the drama and yet twist them every so slightly. The story is strong; the first murder takes place rather late in the book, but the tension builds nicely up to that point. Once our main character, Detective Chief Inspector St. Just, is introduced, things pick up even more.
Unfortunately, the book wasn't quite perfect. While the suspects are all very strong characters, I felt they were much stronger than St. Just. Of course, he didn't have as many pages to develop. Still, it would be nice to feel like I know him better than I do. The climax, while logical, was overly complex. Finally, the writing style, while trying to harken back to the writing of the 30's and 40's, was a tad overly complex. Every time I sat down, I had to readjust myself to the style before truly getting lost in the story.
Still, I can see why I've been hearing so much good stuff about this book. I'm already planning my return trip to England to visit St. Just again.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
28 reviews
73 of 78 people found the following review helpful
Superlative Debut Mystery Series
14 July 2008
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Let us begin this review with a blunt declaration: G.M. Malliet can WRITE. And, more vitally, she can tell a story.
The plot of Death of a Cozy Writer revolves around a wealthy, aging aristocrat's will, a storyline harkening back to Kyd's Spanish Tragedy and Shakespeare's King Lear. Ms. Malliet's novel's central conceit is a British detective procedural that gently skewers the Cozy mystery sub-genre within an English country house setting. Familiar ground, brilliantly re-traversed. Moreover, Malliet manages to honor the sacred concord between mystery writer and reader by faithfully observing the requisite genre conventions, but in her own quirky, tongue-in-chic style.
The author uses the early chapters to depict the various characters with wit and unusual insight. She then deposits them at the nimbly executed meal en famille, a model of nuanced familial interaction and serial revelation. Once the estimable DCI St. Just and obligatory sidekick are introduced into the mix, the pace quickens and the reader is catapulted into a dizzying vortex of misdirection, surprise, and, echoing Greek tragedies, recognition and reversal. So sure, so authoritative is Malliet's grasp of character, plot, and convention as she propels the intricate plot to conclusion, I felt I had witnessed a display of narrative virtuosity equal to that of any first rate mystery writer's very best work.
Appetite whetted, I avidly await the gifted G.M. Malliet's next literary outing. Perhaps she will even include a "Death of an Amazon Reviewer" book in this promising series. Hmmm, I better hide the cutlery......
The plot of Death of a Cozy Writer revolves around a wealthy, aging aristocrat's will, a storyline harkening back to Kyd's Spanish Tragedy and Shakespeare's King Lear. Ms. Malliet's novel's central conceit is a British detective procedural that gently skewers the Cozy mystery sub-genre within an English country house setting. Familiar ground, brilliantly re-traversed. Moreover, Malliet manages to honor the sacred concord between mystery writer and reader by faithfully observing the requisite genre conventions, but in her own quirky, tongue-in-chic style.
The author uses the early chapters to depict the various characters with wit and unusual insight. She then deposits them at the nimbly executed meal en famille, a model of nuanced familial interaction and serial revelation. Once the estimable DCI St. Just and obligatory sidekick are introduced into the mix, the pace quickens and the reader is catapulted into a dizzying vortex of misdirection, surprise, and, echoing Greek tragedies, recognition and reversal. So sure, so authoritative is Malliet's grasp of character, plot, and convention as she propels the intricate plot to conclusion, I felt I had witnessed a display of narrative virtuosity equal to that of any first rate mystery writer's very best work.
Appetite whetted, I avidly await the gifted G.M. Malliet's next literary outing. Perhaps she will even include a "Death of an Amazon Reviewer" book in this promising series. Hmmm, I better hide the cutlery......
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
A most excellent first mystery!
12 July 2008
Format:Paperback
G.M. Malliet is a professional journalist and copywriter with degrees from Oxford and
Cambridge Universities. DEATH OF A COPYWRITER is her first mystery and has already garnered the Malice Domestic Grant and the Romance Writers of America 2006 Stiletto Award in the thriller category.
Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk is as phony as his title. He has also produced one of the truly great dysfunctional families. He is ensconced in his eighteenth-century Cambridgeshire manor, and has married a woman who was accused of murdering her first husband for his money. He delights in using Violet to torment his grown-up children, all of whom have their own foibles. The result naturally turns to murder, and it is up to Detective Chief Inspector St. Just and his sidekick, Detective Sergeant Fear, from the Cambridgeshire Constabulary to sort out the mess. The servants also have their own secrets to cover up, and the result is a jolly investigation marked by hilarious dialogue and commentary:
"The poor bugger really was dead, and he'd been dead awhile. St. Just thought it was little wonder the man who said he was his brother was in such sad shape. The body in the wine refrigerator or whatever it was called was a mess, the skull thoroughly crushed in. The face, itself, however, was intact: In profile, it retained the aristocratic, pampered visage of what the coroner would undoubtedly describe was a well-nourished, middle-aged man."
Malliet writes this little "cozy" with a sense of humor and an eye towards thoroughly confusing the reader. The connections made by St. Just are nothing short of Sherlock Holmes at his most coherent.
Malliet is not unaware of the perils of alcoholism to the family unit, and she uses this as a vehicle to produce the family secrets that would otherwise emerge as far-fetched. But in Ms. Malliet's able writing, it all makes a sordid type of sense. The result is a page-turner that is both entertaining and exhilarating. A most excellent first mystery!
Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer
Cambridge Universities. DEATH OF A COPYWRITER is her first mystery and has already garnered the Malice Domestic Grant and the Romance Writers of America 2006 Stiletto Award in the thriller category.
Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk is as phony as his title. He has also produced one of the truly great dysfunctional families. He is ensconced in his eighteenth-century Cambridgeshire manor, and has married a woman who was accused of murdering her first husband for his money. He delights in using Violet to torment his grown-up children, all of whom have their own foibles. The result naturally turns to murder, and it is up to Detective Chief Inspector St. Just and his sidekick, Detective Sergeant Fear, from the Cambridgeshire Constabulary to sort out the mess. The servants also have their own secrets to cover up, and the result is a jolly investigation marked by hilarious dialogue and commentary:
"The poor bugger really was dead, and he'd been dead awhile. St. Just thought it was little wonder the man who said he was his brother was in such sad shape. The body in the wine refrigerator or whatever it was called was a mess, the skull thoroughly crushed in. The face, itself, however, was intact: In profile, it retained the aristocratic, pampered visage of what the coroner would undoubtedly describe was a well-nourished, middle-aged man."
Malliet writes this little "cozy" with a sense of humor and an eye towards thoroughly confusing the reader. The connections made by St. Just are nothing short of Sherlock Holmes at his most coherent.
Malliet is not unaware of the perils of alcoholism to the family unit, and she uses this as a vehicle to produce the family secrets that would otherwise emerge as far-fetched. But in Ms. Malliet's able writing, it all makes a sordid type of sense. The result is a page-turner that is both entertaining and exhilarating. A most excellent first mystery!
Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Somewhat disappointing
3 Aug 2009
Format:Paperback
#1 St. Just mystery. Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk is a writer of cozy British mysteries, and he's also an absolute beast. Pompous, phony, and cruel to his family, frequently changing his will in favor of whichever of his children has momentarily pleased him (or displeased him the least), he decides to have some real fun by inviting his four children to his wedding. They are aghast of course, seeing a threat to their inheritances, but they all head toward his manor, figuratively attempting to elbow their way into his favor and hopefully talk him out of this marriage to an obvious gold digger. (It takes one to know one!)
Then Sir Adrian drops the bombshell that his marriage is a done deal, that he and Violet are already man and wife and that his will has (yet again) been changed--but he doesn't say how. Shortly thereafter, Sir Adrian's eldest child Ruthven is brutally murdered, and it's not long before he follows his son to the afterlife. Just about everyone has motive to kill one or another of them, so who dunnit?
I admit that I was surprised by the ending, but to be honest, I didn't much care by that point. The book started very slowly, and I nearly gave it up since by the time I hit page 100 (1/3 of the way through the book) there had not yet been a murder, nor had we met DCI St. Just, our intrepid hero. There was just too much set-up, and in reflecting back, the set-up didn't really give many clues to the murderer. Once St. Just entered the scene, things did improve. I like him, and Sgt. Fear too, and wish that his character had been more developed. There is some wry humor that I found amusing, but the overall package of this book was just mediocre to me and it felt like it was "trying too hard." I will likely read the next one, but I've deleted it from my wishlist and just added it to my library list. If St. Just develops further in that book I would say the series has promise.
Then Sir Adrian drops the bombshell that his marriage is a done deal, that he and Violet are already man and wife and that his will has (yet again) been changed--but he doesn't say how. Shortly thereafter, Sir Adrian's eldest child Ruthven is brutally murdered, and it's not long before he follows his son to the afterlife. Just about everyone has motive to kill one or another of them, so who dunnit?
I admit that I was surprised by the ending, but to be honest, I didn't much care by that point. The book started very slowly, and I nearly gave it up since by the time I hit page 100 (1/3 of the way through the book) there had not yet been a murder, nor had we met DCI St. Just, our intrepid hero. There was just too much set-up, and in reflecting back, the set-up didn't really give many clues to the murderer. Once St. Just entered the scene, things did improve. I like him, and Sgt. Fear too, and wish that his character had been more developed. There is some wry humor that I found amusing, but the overall package of this book was just mediocre to me and it felt like it was "trying too hard." I will likely read the next one, but I've deleted it from my wishlist and just added it to my library list. If St. Just develops further in that book I would say the series has promise.
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