This book was a disappointment. I had come across it many times when looking for mysteries and it is highly decorated, for example it received the Agatha Award. I kept reading in a trance of indignation; how can it go on and on and never become the least bit award-worthy, was it about to transform? It did make a feeble attempt at retrofitting but it was just a facade I was curious about what made this book such a failure as opposed to success in my mind.
For one thing, the characters are This book was a disappointment. The point of view jumps all over in an haphazard way, sometimes in a sentence or two out of the blue. A couple of minor characters get introduced as if they were worthy of a major focus while they are then never mentioned again, as opposed to two policemen who are supposedly a mainstay, to be featured again and again in following series , yet in no way given any interesting presence.
This book is, like the Brits would say, a bloody mess and- although a murder mystery- thats not a compliment. I love a good 'twee' murder mystery, set in the countryside, normally involve a plodding village policeman and often based around a feuding family. Death of a Cozy Writer ticks all the boxes. Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk is a murder mystery writer who thrives on torturing his four vile children by threatening to disinherit them. Despite their distaste for their father, when he announces a surprise engagement, all four children come running to their old family home.
What follows in murder and mayhem I love a good 'twee' murder mystery, set in the countryside, normally involve a plodding village policeman and often based around a feuding family. What follows in murder and mayhem. For a start there were no redeemable characters. I felt sorry for his daughter, other than that everyone was very arrogant and pompous.
Malliet describes every woman as being disgusting, fat or ugly. And God forbid a fat woman should have any self confidence or consider herself attractive. It surprised me to find the author was female. The police officers in this novel are quite forgettable. I'm not expecting them to be quirky or have weird characteristics but they need to be memorable. Unfortunately they were quite cookie cutter.
I did like the fact that the murders were linked to the past but more of this needed to be made. By the end I was quite confused as to what had happened and just wanted to be shot of these horrific characters. Oct 24, Karen rated it liked it Shelves: I wish I had read more of the reviews before I read the book. The publicity makes it sound like a real Golden Age mystery, but in fact it is more of a parody than a true example of the type. The characters are stereotypes and their motivations are obvious. The Great Detective doesn't even come into the story until about half-way through.
He really doesn't have to figure out anything. We have already seen most everything at that point. Other parts are well-written, and it did win an Agatha award, I wish I had read more of the reviews before I read the book. Other parts are well-written, and it did win an Agatha award, but I certainly would never suggest this to any of my patrons who wanted a real cozy mystery. Everyone is too unpleasant, and there is no one to make a person feel a part of the story. It's too bad because the concept was good and I was really prepared to enjoy this one on a cool Fall evening.
I got the next 2 from the library at the same time so I will look to see if the concept gets better or not. I certainly won't be watching for any more in the series, or looking at the other series by the same author. Aug 27, Kristine Kucera rated it really liked it. This was a typical murder mystery: It was an entertaining, fast-paced read. The only item keeping me from giving it five stars is how the mystery was solved. The detective used information that we readers did not have - making it impossible for me to make a decent guess.
This won't keep me from reading another one, though. It was a fun, easy read! Overall, an interesting, though not entirely satisfying cozy. The writing and plot were uneven, but I enjoyed St. Just and Sergeant Fear. The narrator, Davina Porter, was excellent! Aug 28, Maria rated it liked it Shelves: This is another of those random selections from the library, the audio version. I have mixed feelings about this book.
The first third was just to set up the whole crime scene, introducing the characters and their horrible personalities. I don't think I liked any of them, mainly because the author was setting them all up to be suspects, and there wasn't a likeable one in the bunch. The plot was so full of motives and side-motives This is another of those random selections from the library, the audio version. The plot was so full of motives and side-motives and side-side-motives that I had a hard time keeping track of it all, and the ending was so Agatha Christie-like that I wanted to barf.
I am NOT a fan of her devious out-of-the-blue endings. The reader should be able to figure out the ending with the clues given. Throwing in a conclusion based on a last-minute "discovery" is frustrating and unfair to the reader. I don't think I'll be reading any other books in this series. Jun 16, Phoebe rated it it was ok Shelves: I kept wondering if I'd started with book 1 in this series, because the author gives no backstory at all to her detectives, except for dropping occasional hints about them.
And we want to know more about them both. Murder calls them in, after the eldest son of Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk is found dead. Family drama and simmering emotion mire Sir Adrian's children, and this time the announcement of his engagement hits especially hard. Malliet gives the reader absolutely no crumbs, and readers who l I kept wondering if I'd started with book 1 in this series, because the author gives no backstory at all to her detectives, except for dropping occasional hints about them. Malliet gives the reader absolutely no crumbs, and readers who like to solve the mystery before the great reveal will find this pretty much impossible in this situation.
May 12, lisa rated it it was ok. I am a fan of cozy mysteries and golden age detective fiction. Maybe there should have been some hesitation. This is the story of the Beauclerk-Fisk family, whose patriarch, Sir Adrian, is a cozy mystery writer. He manipulates his four children—Ruthven the heir apparent , George, Albert, and Sarah—with frequent changes I am a fan of cozy mysteries and golden age detective fiction.
He manipulates his four children—Ruthven the heir apparent , George, Albert, and Sarah—with frequent changes to his will, threatening to disinherit one or all of them as suits his fancy. When the story begins, Sir Adrian has sent all of his children an invitation to his wedding to Violet Mildenhall, and this puts his children in an uproar because they realize this will further jeopardize their inheritance and make their cuts of the inheritance smaller.
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Only, they discover that Sir Adrian has already married Violet. Enter the figure of the Great Detective—St. Now, I said earlier that I like golden age detective fiction, and Death of a Cozy Writer certainly intends, at least superficially, to take its position within this style of detective fiction. Which means that the central character of the novel must be the Great Detective think Hercule Poirot and Malliet follows this convention by giving us Detective Chief Inspector St.
Just of the Cambridgeshire Constabulary. Just made his entrance.
Death of a cozy writer : a St. Just mystery
This was a problem for me because when I find all of the suspects to be petty, selfish, manipulative, self-absorbed, and generally unlikable, I want a character I can like and who will provide balance and contrast to the other characters. I know that that character is intended to be St. When he did appear, well, he was kind of boring and bland. The conventional Great Detective possesses some quality that makes him eccentric but brilliant. There was nothing to attract me to him. Malliet also draws upon the familiar convention of providing a cast of characters before the first chapter begins.
I can see why Malliet gave the character list—it was a way of describing the characters for the reader before actually meeting them and a way to help the reader keep all the characters straight. Still, the character list was a preview of how flat the characters would be. They are character types, and yes, that is often a complaint leveled against golden age detective fiction, but the character list seemed to make that deficiency even more apparent.
Again, the problem for me is that the first third of the book was used for character development, which would have been fine, if there had been any likable characters, or if through the character development the characters became more likable or even appealing and interesting as characters. The author needs to give me a reason to keep reading about these characters I dislike so much. Malliet employs the isolated setting convention and gathers all of the suspects in the same room at the end of the novel so that St.
Just can reveal the killer and unravel the mystery. In this respect, I do think Death of a Cozy Writer fits into the style of golden age detective fiction and readers of this subgenre will enjoy the familiarity. Just, to make his appearance. This novel won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel in , so apparently a lot of people liked it.
Aug 03, Zen Bookworm rated it really liked it. Don't know if I've ever said that about a book before. Brought back memories of reading Agatha Christie when I was a child. This had a great sense of humor to it, sarcastic and cheeky. Mar 04, Allison rated it it was ok. It was not my favorite mystery and it was very slow to develop at many points. The title is slightly misleading as you might think it is an actual cozy mystery when, in fact, I would categorize it as a "general" mystery. It certainly doesn't follow a cozy mystery formula. Nevertheless, the book has a good share of plotting, devious characters and the plot definitely thickens toward the end!
Nov 02, Lori McD rated it liked it Shelves: The author withheld valuable clues from the reader or presented clues such as old photos that the reader couldn't see and weren't described fully, so there was no way to truly solve this mystery. The readers have to sit back and allow DCI St. Just to do it for us. Not my favorite way to read a mystery. My other reticence in reading this book was that I got the impression from reading the book's description that this was set in My other reticence in reading this book was that I got the impression from reading the book's description that this was set in Victorian times.
Free on Kindle Unlimited. Review "A good old fashion whodunit that Agatha Christie would have been pleased to claim as her own. Just Mystery Book 1 Paperback: Midnight Ink July 8, Language: Related Video Shorts 0 Upload your video. When special agent Kurt Hunter finds a boat with the dead body of a famous treasure hunter aboard, the race is on to find his killer. The latest book in The City Murders is out! A Clean Fiction, exciting mystery without the filth. A solid story with real-life characters.
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A teenage mom, a detective, a gorilla and a scientist. Will the revelation that a gorilla is the only witness save or doom everyone? Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review. Read reviews that mention mysteries agatha malliet christie murder detective adrian british english sir beauclerk-fisk inspector fear chief suspects twists dci killer father turns. There was a problem filtering reviews right now.
Please try again later. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. I was expecting a better read with all the good reviews. This one is barely readable and really not worth the price.
The characters are fairly well drawn but none of them are likeable which makes the reader less interested from the beginning. The plot was very unbelievable in many, many places and the ending was like a giant plop that ended up on the last pages, with no real way for the reader to anticipate it. I won't be searching out more by this author since it was like I was working as I was reading on waiting for something to be interesting.
Usually a cozy will also have humor but that was another aspect I did not find, even dry humor. This is more of a dark cozy I guess. That is not at all what I was expecting. This was a very fun read. This is my first experience with G. Also, there are some truly funny though macabre moments along the way. The characters were very well rendered and as there were quite a few of them, I was impressed.
- Death of a Cozy Writer.
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- Sister City.
- Social and Political Thought of Julius Evola (Extremism and Democracy).
- Few Are Angels(Volume 1);
- 1st St. Just Mystery: Death of a Cozy Writer - G.M. Malliet, Writer.
- Ronde fantastique (French Edition).
As this is a mystery, I won't give anything plot-worthy away, I will only say that as murder mysteries go, this one is worth reading. It's perfect for a rainy weekend when you're looking for a good yarn. I have another of G. One person found this helpful. 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. 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.
You can visit her at www. 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. When millionaire and mystery author Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk sends out wedding announcements to his ex-wife and children, the family descends on Waverly Court, their father's large estate in Cambridgeshire.
Family tensions soon break out into murder, and Detective Chief Inspector St. Just and Sergeant Fear are called in. In her series debut, Malliet, who won a Malice Domestic Grant to write this novel, lays the foundation for an Agatha Christie-like murder mystery, although the plot lacks direction and could have used a few more red herrings. Traces of humor add to a story enhanced by the detection skills of St. This will appeal to Christie fans and readers who enjoy British cozies. Thank you for using the catalog.
Death of a cozy writer: Police -- England -- Cambridgeshire -- Fiction. Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction. Cambridgeshire England -- Fiction.