I enjoy reading this kind of book sometimes but I would not want a steady diet of it.

The story did not have a lot of depth but was entertaining. I felt like I should have seen it coming, but I did not. The resolution was well done and interesting. I kept wondering who did it, and that was the kind of ride I was looking for. The author also pulls in too many references to real events and people of the times for me I find that distracting.īut all in all this was an engrossing read. Although I did not notice anything myself, I am pretty sure there were some cases where incorrect words and terms are used. The author is from the US but has spent some time living in the UK. Not me I preferred the castle and the closed circle of suspects. The first book in the series was set in the village of Nether Monkslip and some readers missed that aspect of the series in this book. His love interest, who does intrude into the plot somewhat, is also perfect. Much is made of every woman being attracted to him. There were some niggles but they did not spoil the book overall for me. They provided suspects not in the family and an outside view of the victims and family members. There were two other fun characters, the butler and his wife, the cook. I liked the detectives in this book very much: DCI Cotton, Sergeant Essex and Max. The contrived reasons to explain why the vicar's presence is acceptable are somewhat unconvincing, but this is fiction, so that did not really bother me. And he in turn calls in his friend, Father Max Tudor, ex-MI5 operative, to help with the case. The visitors to Chedrow Castle are about equally divided between Lord Footrustle's heirs and Lady Baynard's heirs.ĭCI Cotton of Monkslip-super-Mare is in charge of the case. The death of Lord Footrustle and his sister so close together leads to questions of who inherits what. Shortly after that on the same morning, Lady Baynard is also discovered dead, in her garden hothouse, but she appears to have died of natural causes. On December 13th, Lord Footrustle is found in his bedroom, having suffered a violent death, which is clearly murder. Very rich, very entitled, not in touch with the real world at all. All, and I do mean all, of the family members are unlikable.

He invites his relatives and heirs to visit at Christmas, and they show up because they want to ensure their inheritance and possibly negotiate for more. He lives in Chedrow Castle with his sister and her adopted granddaughter. None of his relatives, except for his twin sister, Lady Baynard, have any love for him.

Lord Footrustle is extremely wealthy but also lonely.

A fatal winter by gm malliet