In 1988, the very first Malice Domestic award for Best First Novel was given to Elizabeth George in her first Inspector Lumley series,
A Great Deliverance. Those who know her work know George is hardly a writer of "cozy mysteries" but certainly the Agatha Award for Best Novel that inaugural year -- Carolyn G Hart's
Something Wicked, the 3rd in her “Death On Demand” series fits the bill. Most, but not all, of the First Novel prizes since have been genuinely cozy: that definitely applies to GM Malliet's
Death of a Cozy Writer, the well-deserved winner from 2008. Since then, two more novels in this series, starring Detective Chief Inspector St. Just of the Cambridgeshire Constabulary, have been unleashed.
And what a delightful cozy this is! Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk has made a fortune over the years spinning out best-sellers starring Mrs Rampling who, Miss Marple like, finds dead bodies everywhere she goes, delighting her fans with the working out of the murder puzzle. Briefly married to Cloe Beauclerk-Fisk, she bore Sir Adrian three sons and a daughter (now all one side or the other of 40) -- the ruthless Ruthven (married to the even more ruthless Lillian), playboy and serial entrepreneur failure George (and his current model-perfect squeeze Natasha), failed actor Albert (and his constant companions gin, vodka, rum and their closest friends) and Sarah, a rather large woman with a knack for writing new age cookbooks.
On a moment’s notice, the clan is summoned to the baronial hall at Christmas time to celebrate the coming marriage of Sir Adrian to Violet Winthrop, a woman with a dark past and (not an anonymous 20-something as the children expected) but a woman of a certain age ... near Sir Adrian's age in fact. Now mix in Jeffrey Spencer, Sir Adrian's youthful American secretary and the only one who can decipher the celebrated author's handwriting for transcription, an elderly Italian cook and long time semi-confidant of Sir Adrian, her somewhat no good son Paulo who acts as butler, and a gardener, Watters, so elderly infirm he might need to be repotted himself.
You know what happens next: after a raucous, dramatic family dinner, and a revelation or two plus a possible re-writing of the patriarch’s will … one or more of these eccentrics snuffs it. It’s a cold, wintry night and the police are called in -- DCI St Just and his side-kick Sergeant Fear -- to sort through the clues and inquire of all in house ... for the undisturbed snow in the grounds proves the murder was an inside job. Past is prologue in this tale, and most folks are not who they seem to be; apart from the charming gnarly puzzle, the author has a wicked sense of humour, creating word portraits that left me chuckling loudly (a rarity I assure you). And whodunit? Fair clues, fair game, and still more surprises! This was time well spent and I shall definitely seek out more.
Available at
Kindle and
Kobo for around $10; the Kindle is currently on sale as part of the $2 Amazon Sunshine Sale.