Mystery Scene Review

Death of a Cozy Writer by G. M. Malliet
Midnight Ink, July, 2008

Winner of the Malice Domestic Grant and the Romance Writers of America's 2006 Stiletto Award, G.M. Malliet comes to the mystery scene with impressive credentials. Death of a Cozy Writer, the first novel in the St. Just series, fully lives up to the promise of its author's burgeoning reputation. Polished prose and a sophisticated, engaging plot propel this novel set in Britain (familiar territory for Malliet who attended both Oxford and Cambridge).

Death of a Cozy Writer portrays a severely dysfunctional family governed by its nasty patriarch, the extraordinarily successful writer, Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk. Sir Adrian uses his ever-shifting will as a means of dominating his avaricious adult children. When the favored oldest son is murdered, fear and suspicion pervade the household where the family has gathered to receive the news of Sir Adrian's marriage. Less shocking is the subsequent death of Sir Adrian himself, since he engendered no affection from his family. When Detective St. Just takes on the case, he confronts a conundrum: Who most hated the deceased?

Malliet excels at casting red herrings to suggest reasons why any of the characters might have wished to dispatch Sir Adrian. When the artfully concealed truth is finally revealed, however, it will be a surprise to a less than fully-attentive reader. Malliet's skillful debut demonstrates the sophistication one would expect of a much more established writer. I'm looking forward to her next genre-bender, Death and the Lit Chick.

- Lynne Maxwell

This review appeared in the Summer 2008 issue (#105) of the magazine