#BookReview In Prior's Wood by G.M. Malliet @GMMalliet @FreshFiction #FFreview

In Prior's Wood by G.M. Malliet
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Agatha Award-winning author G. M. Malliet has charmed mystery lovers and cozy fans with her critically acclaimed mysteries, and this newest one featuring handsome spy-turned-cleric Max Tudor won’t disappoint.

Newly returned from investigating a murder in Monkslip-super-Mare, handsome Max Tudor wants nothing more than to settle back into his predictable routine as vicar of St. Edwold’s Church in the village of Nether Monkslip. But the flow of his sermon on Bathsheba is interrupted when the lady of the local manor house is found in a suicide pact with her young lover.

Lady Duxter’s husband rallies quickly from the double tragedy―too quickly, it is murmured in the village. Lord Duxter already has offered his manor house to a motley crew of writers, including Max’s wife Awena, for his writers’ retreat, and he insists the show must go on.

When a young girl goes missing and a crime writer becomes a target, DCI Cotton asks Max to lend his MI5 expertise to the investigation.

Many suspects emerge as the scope of the investigation widens beyond the writers to villagers who had crossed swords with the insufferably smug crime author. But Max begins to wonder: was the attack on the writer only part of a broader conspiracy of silence?

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I first came in contact with the Max Tudor series when I read the previous book, DEVIL'S BREATH, and I liked it very much. When I got the chance to read IN PRIOR'S WOOD, I was thrilled over the prospect of once again reading about Max Tudor, ex-spy, vicar of St. Edwold's Church in the village of Nether Monkslip. A vicar that now and then solves crimes...

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#BookReview Devil's Breath by G.M. Malliet @FreshFiction #ffreview

Devil's Breath by G.M. Malliet
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Max Tudor must contend with his new role as a father as well as a murder of a glamorous film star in the next installment in G. M. Malliet’s wildly popular series.

Agatha Award-winning author G. M. Malliet has charmed mystery lovers, cozy fans, and Agatha Christie devotees with her critically acclaimed mysteries featuring handsome former-spy-turned-cleric Father Max Tudor.

In The Haunted Season, Father Max Tudor’s former life as an MI5 agent has caught up with him, threatening his newfound happiness with Awena and baby son Owen. Realizing there is no escape from his past, Max, with his bishop’s tacit permission, has offered his services on an as-needed basis.

Max receives the call for help when the body of glamorous film star Margot Browne washes ashore. George tells Max his former colleague Patrice Logan, now heavily pregnant, has asked Five for help—particularly, Max’s help.

It’s a perfect “closed circle” murder since victim Margot must have been killed by one of the group of actors, stylists, scriptwriters, and second-tier royalty aboard. Patrice suspects the yacht’s owner, a playboy film director she’s been keeping tabs on for smuggling, but Max isn’t so sure. Max and DCI Cotton interview the suspects as they loll about one of the luxury hotels dotting the waterfront. Tipped by the playboy director, Max uncovers the truth about the star’s life and death. But would Margot kill—or be killed—to keep her lurid past in the past?

Max’s investigation uncovers a host of motives but only one killer: it seems Margot is not the only person on board with a secret they’d kill to keep.

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DEVIL'S BREATH is the first book I have read by G.M. Malliet. And, thus is this the first book I have read in the Max Tudor series. However, despite being the sixth book was it was no problem for me to get the gist of the story and its characters. I must say that G.M. Malliet did a splendid job of getting new readers to get to know Max Tudor in this book, both his past with MI5 and his new life as a cleric.

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