Review by Booklist Review
The fourth in Malliet's St. Just series (following Death at the Alma Mater, 2010) starring Detective Chief Inspector Arthur St. Just of the Cambridge Constabulary and his now fiancée, Portia De'Ath, a criminologist and mystery writer, is about as conventionally cozy as it gets. We have Portia's last name (a not-so-subtle nod to murder); a beautiful but perilous cliffside setting; and, yes, a body found in the library of a manor house straight out of Rebecca's Manderley. The newly engaged couple rents a cottage in western Cornwall, very near to Land's End. A string of unlikely events (they attend a meeting of locals during which all the seething tensions of the village are laid bare; the local peer invites Portia to his stately pile; and the couple finds the peer prone on the library carpet) puts St. Just at the center of the investigation. The plot is somewhat creaky, but Malliet uses setting to great effect, including the roaring sea, crumbling cliff walks, and a straight drop from the edge of a Neolithic stone circle. For fans of old-fashioned cozies.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Malliet's gripping fourth St. Just mystery (after 2010's Death at the Alma Mater) takes Det. Chief Insp. Arthur St. Just of the Cambridge Constabulary and Portia De'Ath, his criminologist fiancée, to the Cornish village of Maidsfell, where they're soon dragged into an ongoing argument over seafront redevelopment. The townsfolk are angrily split between fishermen proposing a practical new slipway and supporters of the tourism industry wanting to preserve the view that's the backbone of Maidsfell's economy. When St. Just and Portia find Lord Titus Bodwally, a prominent resident with the means to make both sides happy, stabbed to death in his library, what was supposed to be a restful break for the couple turns into a busman's holiday. Their efforts to assist the local authorities lead to an important clue--that someone initially tried to kill Bodwally by feeding him a fish whose poison can be deadly. Malliet draws the reader in with elegant prose and distinctive characters. Fans will hope they won't have to wait another 12 years for the next installment. Agent: Mark Gottleib, Trident Media. (Jan.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Taking time away from his duties as a Cambridgeshire DCI, Arthur St. Just travels with his all-but-fiancee Portia De'Ath to the picturesque village of Maidsfell for a quiet vacation. Guess what happens next. Sad to say, Maidsfell has been ripe for murder for a long time. Celebrity chef Jake Trotter and Michelin star--winner Morwenna Wells are fierce rivals. Fisherman Will Ivey and estate agent Cynthia Beck, agitators who support the Save Our Shore initiative, are bitterly opposed by townsfolk convinced that new development is their only salvation from the plague of Covid-19. The Rev. Judith Abernathy, the curate presiding over St. Cuthbert's while vicar Peder Wolfe dries out in rehab, is recently widowed, and Morwenna and Wiccan practitioner Sybil Gosling are both mourning daughters, Sybil's killed by a drunk driver, Morwenna's by a leap from the Fourteen Maidens, the cliffside standing stones that had been the village's sole claim to fame. Suddenly, however, the murder of Lord Titus Bodwally, the life peer of Revellick House who's a not-so-silent partner in Jake's restaurant, beckons unwelcome new media attention. DCI Tomas Mousse, of the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, urges St. Just, who hasn't had a published case since Death at the Alma Mater(2010), to step in. Partnered by Portia, a Cambridge don in criminology with a sideline writing detective novels, St. Just begins questioning the suspects just as the murderer strikes again. The news that Bodwally ate a poisonous fish before he was stabbed to death scuttles any hopes that Portia's latest title, No Crime Like the Present, will be prophetic. Low-key, highly professional work right up to the unmasking of the surprisingly well-hidden killer. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
