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.
What could be more dangerous than cozy village life in the
English countryside? Max Tudor has adapted well to his post
as vicar of St. Edwold’s in the idyllic village of Nether
Monkslip. The quiet village seems the perfect home for Max,
who has fled a harrowing past as an MI5 agent. Now he has
found a measure of peace among urban escapees and yoga
practitioners, artists and crafters and New Agers. But this
new-found serenity is quickly shattered when the highly
vocal and unpopular president of the Women’s Institute turns
up dead at the Harvest Fayre. The death looks like an
accident, but Max’s training as a former agent kicks in, and
before long he suspects foul play.
Max has ministered to
the community long enough to be familiar with the tangled
alliances and animosities among the residents, but this
tragedy surprises and confounds him. It is impossible to
believe anyone in his lovely village capable of the crime,
and yet given the victim, he must acknowledge that almost
everyone had probably fantasized about killing Wanda
Batton-Smythe.
As the investigation unfolds, Max becomes more
intricately involved. Memories he’d rather not revisit are
stirred, evoking the demons from the past which led him to
Nether Monkslip.
In WICKED AUTUMN, G.M. Malliet serves up an
irresistible English village—deliciously skewered—a flawed
but likeable protagonist, and a brilliantly modern version
of the traditional drawing room mystery.
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy