Wicked Autumn: A Max Tudor Novel [Hardcover]

G.M. Malliet (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 13, 2011 | Series: Max Tudor Novel

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.

One of The Boston Globe's Best Mysteries of 2011

One of Library Journal's Best Mystery Books of 2011

Editorial Reviews

Review

Library Journal, starred review:
"Malliet debuts a superb new series."

"Malliet has mastered the delights of the cozy mystery so completely that she seems to be channeling Agatha Christie... [with] ironic humor that contribute[s] a little spice to the village charm, making the story even more delicious. Religion, espionage, tea, and crumpets: a winning menu." --Booklist, starred review

 

"Agatha Award–winning author Malliet (Death of a Cozy Writer) debuts a superb new series... You’ll marvel at the author’s low-key humor and crystal-clear depictions of small-town life...  Malliet, like Louise Penny, brings a contemporary freshness to the traditional mystery."
--Library Journal, starred review

 

 “Hugely funny, exquisitely well written, Wicked Autumn is a tongue-in-cheek village mystery to be savored.  G.M. Malliet's arch tone and wry humor make her a writer to be treasured.”
--Julia Spencer-Fleming, bestselling author of ONE WAS A SOLDIER

“A superb novel!  Filled with humor and insight, G.M. Malliet creates a fabulous setting in Nether Monkslip and a great series hero in Father Max Tudor.  Rarely have I read descriptions that have left me gasping, in both their hilarity and their painful truth.   A wonderful read.” --Louise Penny, Agatha award–winning author of the Armand Gamache mysteries

“One of the most delightful English village mysteries I’ve read since Agatha Christie stopped writing about Saint Mary Mead.  G.M. Malliet’s sly allusions to both Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot will make Christie fans chuckle, but Nether Monkslip is no village that time forgot—not with its new age citizenry and a vicar who’s a dishy ex-MI5.  Highly recommended.”
--Margaret Maron, Edgar, Anthony, Agatha winner,  and author of CHRISTMAS MOURNING

"A contemporary and deliciously wicked homage to Agatha Christie's village mysteries, with an equally delicious hero who is infinitely sexier than Miss Marple.  Once readers meet handsome, intelligent, witty MI5 spy-turned-Anglican priest Max Tudor, they'll be searching their maps for the village of Nether Monkslip!"--Deborah Crombie, New York Times bestselling author of NECESSARY AS BLOOD

"G. M. Malliet has brought the village cozy into the 21st century--where else could the Vicar be retired from MI5? Written with dry humor and a wickedly accurate portrait of the modern English village, Wicked Autumn is a refreshing and fun read for everyone who loves a really good murder." --Charles Todd, NY Times Best-selling author of the Inspector Ian Rutledge Series

 

 

About the Author

Winner of the Agatha Award for Death of a Cozy Writer, which initially won the Malice Domestic grant, G.M. MALLIET attended Oxford University and holds a graduate degree from the University of Cambridge, the setting for her previous series, the St. Just mysteries.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (September 13, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312646976
• ISBN-13: 978-0312646974
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,783 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am currently writing a new mystery series for Thomas Dunne/Minotaur Books. The first book in the series is WICKED AUTUMN and it will launch September 13, 2011. It features Max Tudor, former MI5 agent turned Anglican priest.

My books are affectionate send-ups of the traditional British mystery. Two of my previous books, Death and the Lit Chick (2009) and Death of a Cozy Writer (2008), were Anthony Award nominees. Death of a Cozy Writer also won an Agatha Award for Best First Novel, having first been completed with the aid of the Malice Domestic Grant. Kirkus Reviews named it one of the best books of 2008.

In addition to the Anthony Award, Death of a Cozy Writer was nominated for a Macavity for best first novel. It also was nominated for a Left Coast Crime/Hawaii 5-0 Award (best police procedural) and a David award, and won a Silver Medal IPPY (best mystery/thriller/suspense).

The second book in the St. Just series is Death and the Lit Chick (2009). Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine named Death and the Lit Chick one of the best paperback original mysteries of 2009.

The third book in the series is Death at the Alma Mater (2010).

Agatha Christie and other "Golden Age" authors have had a big influence on my writing. I am also a lifelong fan of the humor and graceful writing styles of Robert Barnard, Caroline Graham, and Martha Grimes.

More at http://GMMalliet.com/. I'm also on Facebook and Twitter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wicked-good English cozy mystery, August 25, 2011

By 

Annie B "booksrule" (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Wicked Autumn: A Max Tudor Novel (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

I've read all of G M Malliet's books and was thrilled to find this book available through Vine. I wasn't sure that the book would or could live up to all the great blurbs, but I am happy to say that this book far exceeded my expectations. I really hated to have it end.

Wicked Autumn takes place in the village Nether Monkslip where Max Tudor, a former MI5 agent, is now the vicar. The book is full of wonderful descriptions of the village and people in it. The characters are superbly rendered and just eccentric enough to be fun, without going over the top. The murder victim Wanda Batton-Smyth is just horrible enough that it becomes a matter of who didn't want to kill her rather who might want to get her permanently out of the village. Finding out just who did, though, is great fun to read.

This book is extremely well written and flows very nicely. The mystery was well-plotted and proceeds at a nice pace, and the humor felt very natural, not forced. There's enough detail about the village and the characters so that they are fully developed, but aren't so heavy-handed that they get in the way of the flow of the story.

I simply loved everything about this British cozy mystery and feel it more than lives up to the blurbs written about it. I believe that readers who enjoy traditional English cozy mysteries will absolutely love this book. Christie fans may even do a happy dance or two.

Overall, fabulous first book in what I hope will be a long, long cozy mystery series. Perfect book for days that are turning a bit cooler and getting a little longer. Already looking forward to the next Max Tudor book!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cozy with a Makeover, September 13, 2011

By 

R. Larkin "Rosemarie" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wicked Autumn: A Max Tudor Novel (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

As the first in an intended series, quite a bit of this book was devoted to a leisurely set-up so thorough that a careful reader could find his way if dropped suddenly into the center of the village, and could probably recognize many of the characters on the street. No map is necessary (although one would have been delightful.) The cast of characters is listed, so we can probably expect to meet most of them in subsequent books - unless they're killed off first.

Although the lanes are still narrow and some of the buildings may lean a little, Nether Monkslip has had a bit of an update since the days of the traditional cozy. Most of the businesses in town do a brisk internet business in items from antiques to hand-knitted designer sweaters to marzipan candies. Father Max, the new Vicar, formerly of MI5, thought he had found an idyllic place to scrub away the memories that still haunted him.

Of course every pudding has its lumps, and Nether Monkslip's is wealthy Wanda Batton-Smythe, formidable self-appointed Leader of the Community and head of the Womens' Institute. As the book opens, she is busily planning the Harvest Fayre; perfectly sure of how it should be run, running roughshod over any and all other opinions. Are we unbearably surprised when she shows up dead in the midst of the Fayre?

This is an enjoyable fair-play spoof on the mysteries of the Golden Age, with occasional flashes of well placed laugh-out-loud humor. I was a little concerned at how much of Max's past the author revealed in this first book; will he continue to be as intriguing with his angst out of the bag (at least to the reader), so to speak?

I will certainly read the next book to find out.

Updated 11/13/11 to add:
The author has published a charming interactive online map of Nether Monkslip here:[...]
Well worth a look!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent Mystery - But Wooden Characters, October 21, 2011

By 

Chris Apolant "Quill & Ink" (NYC area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wicked Autumn: A Max Tudor Novel (Hardcover)

Outwardly, this book seems to have many of the elements I look for in a traditional cozy, and while the mystery was one you could sink your teeth into at times, I was never really able to get worked up enough about the story to empathize with the characters or care if I picked it up again after setting it down for the night. While this wasn't poorly done by any stretch, the writing was... pedestrian is the only word that comes to mind. The characters were bland and could have been pulled from any book, re-named and inserted here, and the overuse of dialogue tags and needless descriptions did start to get on my nerves after a while.

That being said, when I did manage to get into this, I found it to be worthwhile for the plot alone, and finished because of a genuine interest to find out how it all concluded. So that does count for something, and if you're an enthusiast of cozies (as I am!), this is probably one you'll enjoy settling down with.