A Fatal Winter

Starred review from August 6, 2012
Agatha Christie fans will relish Malliet’s delicious second Max Tudor novel (after 2011’s Wicked Autumn), which, in classic golden age fashion, includes a closed-circle of suspects and a dramatic final reveal to a captive audience. Tudor, a former MI5 agent who’s now the vicar of St. Edwold’s in Nether Monkslip, looks into the deadly goings-on at Chedrow Castle. During the Christmas season, someone stabs wealthy Lord Footrustle to death in his bedroom shortly after he survives a bout of food poisoning. When his sister, Lady Baynard, hears the tragic news, she dies of apparent shock. Tudor questions the many family members in the castle at the time, all of whom could have had pecuniary motives for murder. Clever deduction and a logical fair-play solution are enhanced by the author’s wry humor (e.g., one character “sound remarkably like an Eliza Doolittle who has skipped a few lessons”). Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary.