In this charming British mystery, we meet Max Tudor. Formerly an MI5 agent, Tudor takes the small English village by storm when he is announced the new Vicar of St. Edwold's Church. Armed with looks which make women melt at his feet and the training of an MI5 agent, Max Tudor expects a peaceful retirement in the English countryside. But when Wanda Batton-Smythe, the head of the Women's Institute of Nether Monkslip is found murdered, Max's past with the MI5 makes him the perfect candidate to find Wanda's murderer.

As the head of the Women's Institute in Nether Monkslip, Wanda has the authority to organize the much anticipated annual Harvest Fayre. Although the event is meant to raise money for the less fortunate, Wanda uses her position to embarrass and humiliate the people of Nether Monkslip. As the day of the Harvest Fayre draws near, Wanda Batton-Smythe begins to bark orders, while making enemies out of every member of Women's Institute and most of the village. When she is found dead in Village Hall on the day of the Harvest Fayre, Max Tudor dusts off his skills as an MI5 agent and helps the local police find her killer.

No one in Nether Monkslip escapes being listed on the suspects list, especially when most of the residents openly state Wanda's death seems heaven sent. After meeting Wanda's grieving husband, Max believes Major Batton-Smythe is the only person in Nether Monkslip who is crushed by Wanda's death. But when Max rumors begin to circulate that the Major stands to inherit a handsome fortune from his late wife, Max begins to suspect the Major's grief may be the product of some outstanding acting.

The people on Max's growing list of suspects include almost everyone who encountered the overbearing head of the Women's Institute on the day of the Fayre. Wanda's blunt and carefree way of slighting everyone she crossed paths with make it difficult for Max to separate the people who wanted to see her dead from the people who might have actually committed the act. Together with DCI Cotton of the Monkslip- super-Mare police, Max and the notoriously successful police officer team up to bring Wanda's killer to justice. In a small village where gossip is rarely contained, Max uses his position as the local Vicar to follow the trail of clues leading to the shocking and diabolically planned murder of the woman everyone wanted to see dead.

The setting of WICKED AUTUMN in an idyllic English village leaves the readers unprepared for the wickedly planned murder of Wanda Batton-Smythe. WICKED AUTUMN is full of colorful characters, especially the much despised victim who steals the spotlight before her untimely demise. G.M. Malliet fills the pages of her novel with plenty of hot cups of tea, humorous gossip one would expect in a small English village, and gorgeous descriptions of architecture of bygone eras. Readers who enjoy an atmospheric novel with a well- written plot will find the village of Nether Monkslip with its supposedly haunted abbey ruins the next best thing to a trip to England.