Murder by invitation only

Cambridge's fun-enough third whodunit featuring Agatha Christie's fictional housekeeper (after 2022's A Trace of Poison) is an entertaining homage to Christie's own works. Phyllida Bright is more than a servant to the bestselling author--their relationship is "one of mutual regard, much less employee and employer and more of friends assisting and supporting each other." So when Christie becomes occupied in London, she asks Phyllida to accept a social invitation on her behalf. She'll be summoned to Beecham House as a guest of the Wokesleys to participate in a staged murder mystery party, playing the part of suspect in the fictional slaying of Clifton Wokesley. Shortly after she arrives, however, Clifton is actually stabbed to death, and Phyllida once again finds herself thrust into the position of amateur sleuth. With the help of research Christie conducts in London, the housekeeper sets out to find Clifton's killer, turning up motives from the assembled guests including hopes for an inheritance and anger over a failed business venture. Bolstered by Phyllida's charm and pluck, the lively investigation arrives at a conclusion that's well-clued but hardly surprising. Hardcore Christie fans will relish this solid, if unspectacular, closed-circle mystery. Agent: Maura Kyle-Casella, Don Congdon Assoc. (Oct.)

A prewar-set homage to Agatha Christie's A Murder Is Announced, with the famous author playing a mostly offstage role. While she's waiting for the delivery of the new vacuum cleaner Agatha and her husband, Max Mallowan, have ordered, Phyllida Bright, the housekeeper at Mallowan Hall, opens an invitation to neighboring Beecham House, where "A Murder will Occur / Tonight." Since Agatha and Max are staying in London, they can't attend the festivities, but Agatha encourages Phyllida, who by now has quite the reputation as an amateur sleuth, to go in her stead. So Phyllida's on hand when aspiring theatrical producer Clifton Wokesley, who's rented Beecham House, announces a Murder Game, lies down to assume the role of the victim, and then never gets up again. Beatrice Wokesley is much too distraught over her husband's death to be an obvious suspect, but the same allowance can't be made for any of the other Murder Game performers: divorcée Charity Forrte; Fitchler School headmaster Hubert Dudley-Gore; Beatrice's ex-fiance, Sir Keller Yardley; and Georges Brixton, whom everyone else accuses of having killed their host. The delayed arrival of DI Cork gives Phyllida plenty of time to take a leading role in Constable Greensticks' tedious interviews of the suspects and then adjourn to their bedrooms, which she thoroughly searches without authorization. After Brixton predictably removes himself from the suspect list by getting shot, it seems that anyone might be guilty--at least till Phyllida begins to make enough connections to finger the real culprit. Cambridge graciously declines to offer serious competition to the originality or ingenuity of her famous model. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.