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A Fatal Winter: A Max Tudor Novel
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A Fatal Winter: A Max Tudor Novel
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A Fatal Winter: A Max Tudor Novel
Audiobook12 hours

A Fatal Winter: A Max Tudor Novel

Written by G.M. Malliet

Narrated by Michael Page

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

In A Fatal Winter, Max Tudor - Anglican priest, former MI5 agent, and village heartthrob - investigates two deaths at Chedrow Castle. But his growing attraction to Awena Owen complicates his case, as does the recent arrival at Chedrow Castle of a raucous group of long-lost, greedy relatives, any one of whom has a motive for murder. With a cozy setting, intricate puzzles, and a handsome (non-celibate) priest doing the sleuthing, the books in this series are destined to become instant classics in the mystery world.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 30, 2012
ISBN9781611206425
Unavailable
A Fatal Winter: A Max Tudor Novel
Author

G.M. Malliet

Agatha Award-winning G.M. Malliet is the acclaimed author of two traditional mystery series and a standalone novel set in England. The first entry in the DCI St. Just series, Death of a Cozy Writer, won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel and was nominated for Macavity and Anthony Awards. The Rev. Max Tudor series has been nominated for many awards as have several of her short stories appearing in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and The Strand. The Augusta Hawke mysteries, of which Invitation to a Killer is the second, are her first novels set in the U.S., where she and her husband now live. www.gmmalliet.com

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Rating: 3.576923076923077 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

26 ratings21 reviews

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I really like Max Tudor as an investigator-protagonist and the glimpses into his life in Nether Monkslip, but unfortunately this doesn't comprise the bulk of the book, and I found the cast of characters/suspects at the castle so absurd as to be caricatures, no matter how much quirk the author tried to give them.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Father Max is called upon to investigate the deaths of an elderly brother and sister at Chedrow Castle, one an apparent natural death but the other, definitely murder. Before the unfortunate deaths, several relatives were summoned by the Lord of the Manor for a reunion of sorts. But now, with the deaths, this greedy and grasping group only are interested in what they will inherit. Max is becoming fed up and suspicious with the lot of them, and determined to discover who had the most motive for murder. And while most of his brain is occupied with solving this despicable crime, some of his mind is concerned about his duties to his neglected flock. But even more disconcerting, Max finds himself being preoccupied with one Awena Owen, owner of a New-Age shop, a most lovely but totally unsuitable woman for a vicar. Wonderfully written, quite entertaining, and, in the audio version, nicely performed by Michael Page.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    When Lord Footrustle and his sister are found dead in a nearby castle, Father Max is called upon to assist the local authorities in their investigation. The sister's death is found to be natural. The family is full of unlikeable members, any of whom could have had motive for killing the relative for whom few cared. Max stays at the castle -- partially at the request of Lamona -- who was disturbed about the murders, but mostly because he was asked to do so by the local officials. Another person turns up dead before the mystery is resolved. This is a case where the author tried to draw out a mystery far too long. The pacing was too slow to maintain interest, and then it took about an hour to get through the reveal which went far too long. Then it went on another hour just so Father Max could get back to Nether Monkslip to interact with his parishioners. It would have been far more effective and plausible if the castle had been located in his own parish, although I know there are reasons he needed to be unfamiliar with the family. The mystery was definitely weakened by these things. The audiobook narrator, however, did an excellent job. I'm not certain whether I'll read future installments of this series or not. While there is a bit of promise here, both installments I've read are lacking overall.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Reading Part 1 was accomplished with ease. Then Part 2 began and I thought that I might not finish the novel. I preservered but it was a struggle. I don't know that I would read another selection by this author.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    When I read the first book in the Max Winter series, Wicked Autumn: A Mystery (Max Tudor), I was charmed at this modern take at the traditional English village mystery. It was bright and clever, with its amusing take on various village characters and traditions. With this second book in the series, author G. M. Malliet unfortunately falls into a deep sophomore slump.Most of the book takes place away from the village of Nether Monkslip, in Chedrow Castle, where old Lord Footrustle has been stabbed to death while his home is packed full of members his grasping family. Max Tudor, retired MI5 agent and now vicar in Nether Monkslip, is invited to stay at Chedrow Castle after the murder, ostensibly to provide spiritual aid to the family and help plan the funeral. His friend, Detective Chief Inspector Cotton, wants him to use his visit to help with the murder investigation. This setup for Max's investigation seems pretty flimsy, but contriving a reason for an amateur detective to investigate a murder is a common problem with cozies, and this wasn't a lot worse than the usual.The book's Prologue introduces us to the Chedrow Castle denizens, but they're all so similarly unappealing that I had to hold my finger in the book at the character list page so that I could keep consulting it to remind myself who was who. That's not a good sign, especially when I was still occasionally having to consult the page when I was more than two-thirds through the book. The depiction of the characters in this book paled in comparison with what Malliet did with the villagers in Wicked Autumn, and I frequently found myself wishing we were back in Nether Monkslip.Even Malliet's depiction of Max Tudor was off in this book. In the first book, he was somebody I was intrigued by. This time around, though, he was a cipher; just a mechanism to keep the investigative plot functioning. Outside of that, I just kept reading characters talking and thinking about how attractive he is. If I have to be told something like that over and over, rather than shown it, it feels false. Speaking of feeling false, Malliet also hits a bit of a clunker with her description of Max's budding romance with village neopagan Awena. There just isn't any spark in the description of the pair.Malliet's writing isn't up to par this time around, either. There are moments of humor, but it's largely plodding and clunky, except for the extremely short parts set in the village. Written generally from Tudor's point of view, Malliet will suddenly veer into the omniscient, telling us what's in the thoughts of other characters. It's jarring, and these bits don't actually add anything particularly important.The whodunnit itself is middling. It's a fairly clever murder, but one that would have been more enjoyable if the clues had been more clearly presented in the time-honored fair-play mystery style.I thought hard about whether I should give the book two stars or three. I wanted to give it three, but I realized I was considering three stars only because I had liked the previous book in the series and I have hopes that the next book will be better. So, with regret, two stars it is. I sincerely hope Malliet will get back to Nether Monkslip for her next Max Tudor book and return to the form of Wicked Autumn.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a wonderful author. His glib words reflect a great talent. Have completed the Max Tudor series. There are two additional series still to work through. Yea!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A FATAL WINTER: A MAX TUDOR NOVEL by G. M. Malliet. This title is the second book in the Max Tudor series.A New York Times review says it best “There are certain things you want in a village mystery: a pretty setting, a tasteful murder, an appealing sleuth…Malliet delivers them all.”In A FATAL WINTER, Max - Anglican priest, former MI5 agent and village heartthrob - investigates two deaths at nearby Chedrow Castle.A great read. Max Tudor is an interesting, thoughtful sleuth and the setting and plot points add up to mystery writing at its best. ****
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Reading Part 1 was accomplished with ease. Then Part 2 began and I thought that I might not finish the novel. I preservered but it was a struggle. I don't know that I would read another selection by this author.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The story is especially interesting on audiobook, with the delightful narration of Michael Page. The characters bounce from the pages as truly sinister figures, and how to decide which is responsible for the deaths of the patriarch Oscar, Lord Footrustle, and his twin, Lady Baynard. Christmas sings through the chapters or well as the halls of Chedrow Castle, as Max aides Inspector Cotton in finding the killer. Malliet uses many references to The Bible, Shakespeare, and various famous movie lines to unfold the story. A gifted reader could write an excellent paper on all these allusions. In Nether Monkslip, the females plot to catch Max in a matrimonial web, which will be the lucky woman? A most delightful afternoon passed in a wonderful
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Enjoyable sequel to Wicked Autumn, this book takes you out of the English country village of Nether Monkslip and off to a nearby estate for murder most foul. The axiom of, 'Where there's a will, there's a way" is supplanted by, "Where there's a will, there's relatives." The death brings out the worst in the family members. The dear vicar (and former MI5 agent), Max Tudor, is on site, sorting it all out - hopefully before someone else falls prey. I'm looking forward to diving into the next installment in the series, "Pagan Spring".
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Malliet’s second novel featuring Father Max Tudor (former MI5 agent) finds him once again investigating a murder within a highly dysfunctional (although quite the cast of characters) family at nearby Chedrow Castle, located adjacent to his small town of Nether Monkslip. The highly efficient investigating team of Cotton and Essex manage to convince Max Tudor to work closely with them again, taking advantage of Tudor’s MI5 experience, masked by his clerical collar, which is disarming to suspects.Malliet provides commentary on organized religion, failed film careers, and the stodgy opinions of Britain’s view of distant, vague royal lineage “as if WWI and WWI had not transformed the ‘upstairs, downstairs’ way of life.”Well written, with the plot development I have come to expect from Malliet, intelligent humor, a perspective on human behavior and maybe English behavior courses through her novel, setting her writing apart from others who bow to the golden age of Christie and Sayers.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a nice follow up to Wicked Autumn. My concern, at this point, is that there will be only four books in the series!Again, there are parts of this that are almost too perfect. Max is one, as is his (unacknowleged) love interest, Awena Owen. One of the other characters who is interested in Max complains bitterly that Awena is so nice, it's impossible to dislike or resent her. Plus, we discover that Max is a great dancer! And he does dishes! I rolled my eyes a bit, but it's a testament to the writer that I didn't gag and give up on the book.Again, the mystery is very well done. The various characters are well drawn and very realistic, the setting is wonderful and the clues are all there. I enjoyed reading this very much. Mostly, I admit, I enjoy being in Max's head. He's a decent person, which is rare enough in fiction, and he is sincere in his religious beliefs without being preachy or evangelical. (He's Church of England. How much less evangelical can you get?)I just saw that volume three is available, so I'm off to the library to put in a request.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It was a little different than usual mysteries as there were still ~50 pages more once the mystery was solved. I like the main character, X-MI5 now priest. I could do without the cheesy love interest however. Felt cliche. However, she being an "earth mama" and him a priest I am sure it will make for interesting future books. The next in the series is already out. I will hold on reading it just now.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Father Max Tudor is called to the home of a wealthy, dysfunctional family when the lord and lady of the manor die within a few hours of each other. Lady Baynard’s death appears to be from natural causes, her brother Lord Footrustle’s is definitely a bloody, bloody murder. Although he is called to Chedrow Castle by a family member seeking spiritual support, the local cop, Inspector Cotton, also wants Max on site to help him figure out the group dynamics and to informally interview the family members and servants. With his background as an MI5 agent, Max is eminently qualified for the job. But he’s missing Awena, his not-quite lady-love, who remains in Nether MonkslipThe children and grandchild of Lord Footrustle are all horrible, each in his or her own individual way. So, even though the food is good, the company is not. Max and the inspector divvy up the duties but it’s hard to figure out just which one of the family members had the most to gain by Lord Footrustle’s death. And which is the most ruthless.G M Malliet knows how to construct a cozy mystery with the best of them. A Fatal Winter is no exception. Max is great character but I miss his eccentric parishioners at St. Edmond’s. We do get brief glimpses of them in a few chapters. Although there is a bit of coarse language that might be off-putting to some cozy readers, I believe fans of cozies will love G M Malliet.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    A wealthy but obnoxious elderly man gathers his equally unlikeable family around him for Christmas. Before the festivities begin, both he and his twin sister are dead. He's been murdered. Was she murdered, too, or did she die of natural causes? Father Max Tudor, ex MI5 agent, is on the scene to provide spiritual comfort as well as to unofficially investigate the crime at the request of the authorities. The book gave me a feeling of déjà vu. Maybe it's because I had just read essentially the same book by the same author just a few weeks ago - Death of a Cozy Writer. Max spent all of his time in what seemed to be unproductive interviews with various suspects. He didn't seem to look for clues, nor did he seem to be attempting to poke holes in alibis. I was amazed at his ability to arrive at the unusual solution for the murder, seemingly without the assistance of anything other than his imagination.I might have missed a detail or two as I listened to the story because my attention kept wandering. The book is much longer than it needs to be, and the author (or her editor) could have cut at least a third of the content and turned it into a more satisfying mystery. I understood the solution the first time, so I really didn't need to hear Max repeat it to different audiences after the crime was solved and the culprit(s) had been apprehended. I'm not sure many readers will care enough about Max's romantic interest in the completely inappropriate Awena, a practicing pagan, to enjoy the final chapter that serves no purpose other than to describe their growing attraction for each other. I think I'm done with this series.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I appreciate the fact that this book was nominated for the Agatha. I have been reading all the nominees. My favorite so far is the winner , Beautiful Mystery. But, back to this book, Fatal Winter.!it was so slow. So dragged out. Location, characters, plot all there but I had to force myself to finish.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    4
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    When I read the first book in the Max Winter series, Wicked Autumn: A Mystery (Max Tudor), I was charmed at this modern take at the traditional English village mystery. It was bright and clever, with its amusing take on various village characters and traditions. With this second book in the series, author G. M. Malliet unfortunately falls into a deep sophomore slump.Most of the book takes place away from the village of Nether Monkslip, in Chedrow Castle, where old Lord Footrustle has been stabbed to death while his home is packed full of members his grasping family. Max Tudor, retired MI5 agent and now vicar in Nether Monkslip, is invited to stay at Chedrow Castle after the murder, ostensibly to provide spiritual aid to the family and help plan the funeral. His friend, Detective Chief Inspector Cotton, wants him to use his visit to help with the murder investigation. This setup for Max's investigation seems pretty flimsy, but contriving a reason for an amateur detective to investigate a murder is a common problem with cozies, and this wasn't a lot worse than the usual.The book's Prologue introduces us to the Chedrow Castle denizens, but they're all so similarly unappealing that I had to hold my finger in the book at the character list page so that I could keep consulting it to remind myself who was who. That's not a good sign, especially when I was still occasionally having to consult the page when I was more than two-thirds through the book. The depiction of the characters in this book paled in comparison with what Malliet did with the villagers in Wicked Autumn, and I frequently found myself wishing we were back in Nether Monkslip.Even Malliet's depiction of Max Tudor was off in this book. In the first book, he was somebody I was intrigued by. This time around, though, he was a cipher; just a mechanism to keep the investigative plot functioning. Outside of that, I just kept reading characters talking and thinking about how attractive he is. If I have to be told something like that over and over, rather than shown it, it feels false. Speaking of feeling false, Malliet also hits a bit of a clunker with her description of Max's budding romance with village neopagan Awena. There just isn't any spark in the description of the pair.Malliet's writing isn't up to par this time around, either. There are moments of humor, but it's largely plodding and clunky, except for the extremely short parts set in the village. Written generally from Tudor's point of view, Malliet will suddenly veer into the omniscient, telling us what's in the thoughts of other characters. It's jarring, and these bits don't actually add anything particularly important.The whodunnit itself is middling. It's a fairly clever murder, but one that would have been more enjoyable if the clues had been more clearly presented in the time-honored fair-play mystery style.I thought hard about whether I should give the book two stars or three. I wanted to give it three, but I realized I was considering three stars only because I had liked the previous book in the series and I have hopes that the next book will be better. So, with regret, two stars it is. I sincerely hope Malliet will get back to Nether Monkslip for her next Max Tudor book and return to the form of Wicked Autumn.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    When Nether Monkslip's studly (and single!) vicar Max Tudor, formerly of MI5, meets Lady Leticia Bayard on a train returning from London, he finds her an anachronistic, autocratic bore. But when he learns that evening that she has died, apparently of a heart attack after hearing of her brother's murder, he regrets his lack of charity. His slightly guilty conscience and the expressed wish of both brother and sister to be buried from St. Eowald, Max's church, play right into the hands of his friend DCI Cotton, who wants Max on the scene to pick up information about the murder for the police.Max arrives at Chedrow Castle to find that the very wealthy Oscar, Lord Footrustle had uncharacteristically invited all of his far-flung relatives to Christmas festivities. That gesture proved to be a fatal mistake for both the lord and his sister.The author offered enough red herrings in this book for a full dinner course, and I obligingly hared off after several of them. There were so many nasty characters that it was hard to pick just one for the murderer. The pieces finally came together for Max in a way reminiscent of Agatha Christie at her best, and a final clever and unanticipated twist kept me guessing right up to the Poirot-esque grand denoument in the library.Like many second books in a series, A Fatal Winter was not quite as charming as the first. Perhaps it was the collection of Lord Footrustle's relatives who ranged from merely unlikable to outright detestable, or the claustrophobic setting that failed to hold my attention. While this was a quite decent spoof on the classic English Country House murder with many flashes of the author's trademark sly humor, I missed the colorful and slightly dotty denizens of Nether Monkslip, and hope the author returns to the village for Max's next adventure.Note: I received a free review copy of this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Having met Max Tudor and company in the first book of this series, WICKED AUTUMN, I was familiar with and have grown partial to the inhabitants of Nether Monkslip. It's fun to revisit a cozy little place near the English Channel, where there is no end to the shenanigans the local folk can get up to. To be fiar, this time the trouble was to be found at Chedrow Castle, where the area's gentry, or what was left of it were to be found. This time, we find that more than one person will be mourned by someone, or then again...will they? We are quickly introduced to Oscar, Lord Footrustle, and Letitia, Lady Baynard siblings and in fact twins, who have made their home at the castle for many years. Of course they no longer own the place, as some time ago a relative had to let it go to the National Trust, but the family was to be allowed to live there as long as they cared to do so. And what a family it was! There were children, grandchildren, cousins and all sorts, and this year, they were all invited to come to Chedrow to celebrate Christmas together. This was not the ordinary way of thing, as the elderly twins Oscar and Letitia , and their adopted granddaughter Lamorna had all become accustomed to keeping to themselves. That is, aside from Lady Baynard's dinners with those friends from London as she deemed worthy of her time. A bit of a snob, Leticia. The townsfolk were much as we left them. Still in a bit of a tizzy about what had happened in their village, and getting more and more attached to their Vicar, Max Tudor. Some of them very attached, if not downright smitten. But, I don't want to say too much, lest I spoil the story for you. There is mystery, betrayal, romance and even a bit of fun to be had. This of course, happens all in good time. But first, things first. Time to decorate the church for the holidays. And to pay close attention to detail, down to what to do with the cat.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Sometimes I come across a book that leaves me shrugging my shoulders with a kind of "So what?" feeling. This was one of those books. The pros:There is an intriguing array of characters. The family dynamics gave the story both tension and humor. The whodunit mystery allows readers to play detective along with the characters.The cons:The pace is quite slow. Nothing much happens for the almost the first third of the book. Part I, the first 30 or so pages, is an information dump. All the characters are introduced, along with their various problems and relation within the family. Too many unfamiliar characters all at once made for a sort of mind-numbing read. When those characters were finally each brought back into the story separately, I didn't remember anything about their introductions.Some of the characters began to feel more like caricatures than real people. And there were relationships that didn't make sense to me. For instance, I wasn't clear on how or why Max, the Vicar, developed a love interest in a Pagan woman.And, finally, while this book is supposed to be current, the atmosphere and detective work had a historical feel. I had to keep reminding myself this didn't take place a hundred years ago. I think, if it had been set in the late 1800s, it would have made more sense to me.In the end, this one left me feeling indifferent.