Death in Elysium

August 4, 2014
This sparkling first in a new traditional series from Cutler (Double Fault) stars Jodie Welsh, a rich business whiz, who moves to rural Kent to marry a widowed minister. Jodie adapts to life in Lesser Hogben (“Not even Greater Hogben”), keeping a London pied-à-terre that allows the newlyweds a little privacy. When Jodie hires a local lad called Burble to help take care of her garden, some of the church busybodies disapprove, but Jodie has a do-gooding impulse to make a difference in the life of the disaffected youth. She lends Burble an expensive camera, and asks him to take pictures for a new website—and then Burble and the camera go missing. What initially appears to be just a bit of nicking soon grows more ominous when mysterious remains are found and a suspicious fire is lit. A tight plot complements the diverse and entertaining cast of characters. Fans of Katherine Hall Page’s Faith Fairchild series will find a lot to like.

December 10, 2012
In Cutler’s engaging fourth mystery featuring Det. Chief Supt. Fran Harman of the Kent CID (after 2008’s Still Waters), Fran’s upcoming wedding to Asst. Chief Constable Mark Turner is nerve-racking enough without the discovery of skeletal remains buried in the garden of her future home, a former rectory undergoing renovation. The victim, identified as repeat offender Frank Grange, may have been put there by the rectory’s mysterious previous owner, Marion Lovage, the headmistress of a junior school. Meanwhile, Mark’s two grown children—son David, a financial adviser, and daughter Sammie, now squatting at Mark’s house in the village of Loose—take a sudden interest in their father’s love life, if only to try to preserve their inheritance. Making a welcome appearance is antique dealer Lina Townend, the lead of one of Cutler’s other series (Guilt Trip, etc.), who lends her expertise in a search for clues in a cabinet found among Lovage’s stored items.

October 1, 2014
A rector's wife faces a tough adjustment to Kentish village life. After a long, lucrative business career in London, Jodie Harcourt unexpectedly finds love when she accompanies a friend on a blind date. Marriage to country parson Theo Welsh has more than its share of challenges. Of course, Jodie could fix up the inadequate kitchen in the dreary rectory with a wave of her MasterCard. She even has the means to rescue the failing village store and reopen the shuttered youth center. But, fearful that the wary villagers will reject a free-spending Lady Bountiful, she confines her efforts to engaging some of Lesser Hogben's disaffected youth. She hires Bernard Hammond, known to one and all as "Burble," to clean up the rectory gardens, challenges his friend Malcolm "Mazza" Burns to join her on her daily runs, and invites Mazza's sister, Martine, to design a village website. Her efforts reap the scorn of the more conservative members of the parish council, particularly poncy vestryman Ted Vesey and perennial naysayer Ida Mountford. Even Elaine Grant, who wins Jodie's heart by teaching her to bake, expresses doubts about her efforts. And when Burble disappears, taking with him Jodie's expensive camera, she fears her critics may be right. But she also fears for Burble's safety, especially after her cousin, ex-DCI Dave Harcourt, is felled by a tripwire while inspecting a local construction site. Is Elysian Fields more than just the installation of cow barns Elaine insists? Jodie must fight her instinct to flee back to her flat in St. John's Wood to find out. Once Cutler establishes her throughline about the struggles of a country parson's wife, she may do better than the perfunctory puzzle she offers in likable Jodie's debut.

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September 1, 2014

Josephine Harnett never thought she would end up as a vicar's wife. She made a lot of money working in computers and was quite happy. But when Jodie met Theo Welsh, she was willing to fall in love and leave London. Now, she tries to help the village of Lesser Hogben, from hiring a ne'er-do-well to work in her garden to raising money to support the village and parish church. But many of the townspeople view her assistance as meddling. One morning, while out running, Jodie stumbles across some illegal activities and begins to investigate. Unfortunately, after she lends her camera to her young gardening assistant, the former is found damaged and the latter dead. After two attempts are made on her life and the rectory burns down, Jodie is tired of the runaround she receives from the parish committee and takes action herself. VERDICT Prolific British author Cutler (Cold Pursuit; Shadow of the Past) launches a refreshingly different contemporary cozy series with a very unconventional amateur sleuth, a successful middle-aged career woman who trades her London life for marriage, a country vicarage, and murder. The caustic vibe will draw in fans of M.C. Beaton and Alan Bradley, but the focus on local-community atmosphere and its "veddy" British characters recommend it to Jan Karon and Ann Ross readers.

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