Death of a Cozy Writer
A
St. Just Mystery
G.
M.
Malliet
Midnight Ink (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-7387-1248-5 (0738712485)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7387-1248-2 (9780738712482)
Publication Date: July 2008
List Price: $13.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): From deep in the heart of his eighteenth century
English manor, millionaire Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk writes mystery
novels and torments his four spoiled children with threats of
disinheritance. Tiring of this device, the portly patriarch decides to
weave a malicious twist into his well-worn plot. Gathering them all
together for a family dinner, he announces his latest blow —
a
secret elopement with the beautiful Violet ... who was once suspected
of murdering her husband.
Within hours, eldest son and appointed heir Ruthven is found cleaved to
death by a medieval mace. Since Ruthven is generally hated, no one
seems too surprised or upset — least of all his cold-blooded
wife
Lillian. When Detective Chief Inspector St. Just is brought in to
investigate, he meets with a deadly calm that goes beyond the usual
English reserve. And soon Sir Adrian himself is found slumped over his
writing desk — an ornate knife thrust into his heart. Trapped
amid leering gargoyles and concrete walls, every member of the family
is a likely suspect. Using a little Cornish brusqueness and brawn, can
St. Just find the killer before the next-in-line to the family fortune
ends up dead?
Review:
G. M. Malliet introduces Cornish Detective Chief Inspector St. Just and
Detective Sergeant Fear (an interesting play on names here!) in Death of a Cozy Writer,
a stylish English country house mystery.
The cozy writer is Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk, the wealthy author of a
series of bestselling mysteries, who delights in tormenting his four
adult children, and to a lesser extent, his ex-wife, by changing his
will frequently, sometimes cutting one out, sometimes leaving
everything to another. His latest scheme: announcing his intent to
remarry and watching the family trip over themselves to stop the
wedding. Or as his housekeeper puts it, "What Sir Adrian has planned is
not a wedding, but the fireworks." When the family convenes at Adrian's
country estate to "celebrate" the upcoming nuptials, they're surprised
to find Adrian has added a twist to the story: he's already married.
And here's another surprise: she was once accused of murdering her
first husband. What no one planned on, least of all Adrian, was the
brutal murder of his eldest son Ruthven, found in the wine cellar with
his head bashed in. Nor was Adrian planning on being murdered himself,
a knife thrust deep into his chest. With a fresh blanket of snow
surrounding the house confirming no one had entered or left, DCI St.
Just and DS Fear know someone in the house is a murderer.
Death of a Cozy Writer is, in many ways, a study of contrasts. The
author borrows heavily from Agatha Christie, usually to great and
amusing effect. Consider Adrian's amateur sleuth, Miss Rampling of
Saint Edmund-Under-Stowe. That it is similar to Miss Marple of St. Mary
Mead is no coincidence. Other knowing references are made throughout. For
example, at one point Adrian tells St. Just of a storyline in one of
his books where all the passengers on a train participate in the murder
of another. St. Just says, "But, Sir Adrian
... Surely Dame Agatha thought of that first." Adrian's retort: "Of
course she did. But
my book was better."
The pace of the narrative is leisurely at best. It takes well over 100
pages until Ruthven is murdered, and another 50 or so until the title
character meets the same fate. At times it's like watching an extended
game of Clue with Agatha Christie characters as the players. Readers
will get the sense that in the end, St. Just will anticlimactically
declare that the killer was Colonel Mustard with the wrench in the
library and be done with it.
But suddenly, and rather unexpectedly, the plot takes a decidedly
interesting turn, shedding much of the superficiality of the
setup to become an intriguing and intricate mystery. In the
beginning, Death of a Cozy Writer will entertain readers with
its characters, setting, and board game-like features, but in
the end will captivate them with a compelling denouement in a familiar
gathering of the suspects in the drawing room.
Special thanks to Midnight Ink for providing a copy of Death of a Cozy Writer for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Death of a Cozy
Writer
Midnight Ink (Trade Paperback), July 2008
ISBN-10: 0-7387-1248-5 (0738712485)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7387-1248-2 (9780738712482)
Omnimystery keywords for Death of a Cozy Writer
...
Location(s) referenced: England.
