From Kirkus Reviews:
Detective Chief Inspector St. Just finds himself with a pretty puzzle when a father and son are murdered in a snow-shrouded Cambridgeshire manor house. The family of wealthy mystery writer Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk have arrived in response to a shocking wedding invitation. Long divorced from his first wife, he delights in keeping his unloved heirs on edge by constantly changing his will. Upon their arrival, they learn that he has already married beautiful, aristocratic Violet Winthrop, who Ruthven, his oldest son, announces was accused of murdering her first husband. Although Ruthven has usually been his favorite, Sir Adrian does not seem unduly upset when he is found brutally murdered in the wine cellar. As for his remaining children: self-absorbed George arrives with a girlfriend as stunning as she is pregnant; Albert is an actor with a drinking problem; and Sarah seems to take pains to remain unattractive while she writes successful cookbooks. In addition, the household includes a private secretary, a cook, her son the houseboy and an ancient gardener. When Sir Adrian is at last fatally stabbed in his study, St. Just looks among the houseguests and staff for the guilty party. As so often turns out in English country-house mysteries, the answer lies buried in the past.
Malliet's debut combines devices from Christie and Clue to keep you guessing until the dramatic denouement.
April 2008
From Cozy Library:
Oh-so-wealthy Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk, the cozy writer in the title, is NOT a nice man. He’s manipulative, mean-spirited and a candidate for World’s Worst Father. He rewrites his will as often as most people write grocery lists, letting each legatee know when he or she is in or out, pitting one against the other. As Death of a Cozy Writer opens, Sir Adrian has invited his four grown children to his Cambridgeshire estate for an engagement party. He’s marrying Violet Winthrop, a woman whose shadowy past includes a dead husband and the suspicion she murdered him and got away with it.
In the opening pages of Death of a Cozy Writer, the author concentrates on setting the stage and developing and assembling the main characters/suspects in Cambridgeshire. After the first murder occurs and Detective Chief Inspector St. Just arrives on the scene, it’s a by-the-book police procedural.
Although G.M. Malliet has written a book reminiscent of Dame Agatha Christie’s mysteries, Death of a Cozy Writer has a decidedly modern feel to it. The writing is clever, in the very best sense of that word, and a bit edgy, with a little coarse language that would redden the ears of Sir Adrian’s "Miss Rampling" character just a tad. Ms. Malliet has a keen eye for sensory details and the skill to describe them deliciously. Her similes are spectacular. And yet, her writing doesn’t draw undue attention to itself, flowing along smoothly and effortlessly, or so it appears.
Death of a Cozy Writer is a book anyone who cut their teeth on Agatha Christie’s mysteries will treasure. I read it once for the story, and plan to read it a second time just to savor the language. It’s that good.
By Diana. First published in the Cozy Library March 10, 2008.
From Publishers Weekly:
Fans of stylish English detective work will welcome Malliet's droll debut, the first in a new series. When Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk, a pompous cozy author, invites his four grown children to his Yuletide wedding to Violet Winthrop at his 18th-century manor outside Cambridge, none of the four is pleased at the prospect of a young stepmother who could inherit their father's vast fortune. Besides, Violet's considered a black widow who did in her first husband. Soon after Sir Adrian announces during a family dinner that he and Violet are already wed, eldest son Ruthven turns up dead in the wine cellar. Sir Adrian's subsequent murder in his office doesn't inspire tears from either his bride or his first wife. Detective Chief Inspector St. Just and Detective Sergeant Fear of the Cambridgeshire constabulary conduct a lively investigation that underscores how the lack and the love of money might be at the root of society's ills.
May 2008
Death of a Cozy Writer: Now available in stores - including your local independent and mystery bookstores - and online at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, Books-a-Million.com, and other online retailers.