{"id":1121,"date":"2013-09-28T17:58:41","date_gmt":"2013-09-28T23:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=1121"},"modified":"2013-09-29T21:44:03","modified_gmt":"2013-09-30T03:44:03","slug":"g-m-malliett-pagan-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/g-m-malliett-pagan-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"G.M. Malliet: Pagan Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I enjoyed the first two books in this series featuring vicar Max Tudor very much.\u00a0 The first, Wicked Autumn, <\/i>was a pitch perfect tongue in cheek send up of a British Village mystery; the second, Fatal Winter, <\/i>adjusted the tone somewhat so that the book read slightly darker than the first.\u00a0 In this third novel, just like Goldilocks on her third try, Malliet seems to have gotten things \u201cjust right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"paganspring\"<\/a>She\u2019s set her cast of characters in the village of Nether Monkslip, and much like the characters in Louise Penny\u2019s beloved Three Pines novels, each character is distinct, though none are as interesting to the reader (and I think, to the author) as the central character of Max, the dishy vicar who resembles Hugh Grant and who used to be an agent for the MI5.\u00a0 Max has lately taken up with the village\u2019s resident pagan goddess, Awena, who if anything is even more secure in her belief system than Max himself.\u00a0 In any case Awena is off canvas for much of this novel, though she\u2019s never far from Max\u2019s thoughts, as he goes through life in a newly happy daze.<\/p>\n

Of course, however, there\u2019s a murder and it\u2019s a dandy.\u00a0 As with many mysteries it\u2019s the unpleasant that are felled, and when retired actor and egomaniac supreme Thaddeus Bottle is discovered dead in his bed one morning, Max, as usual, is helping the capable Inspector Cotton sort through the morass of village alliances, emotions and entanglements.\u00a0 No one seems too cut up about Thaddeus but a murder has its own repercussions, no matter who\u2019s been killed.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s here that Malliet has hit her stride.\u00a0 The tone of the novel is matched with the setting \u2013 not too light, not too dark, and the pace is excellent.\u00a0 Malliet\u2019s actual prose is a delight, well crafted and memorable, and crisp in a way not present in every crime novel.\u00a0 It\u2019s a pleasure to read it, and one of the real pleasures of the books.\u00a0 She\u2019s also amped up her psychological as well as deductive reasoning skills as a writer, and as a reader, it makes Max\u2019s investigating that much more interesting.<\/p>\n

The denouement, in classic golden age style, is something of a surprise, and you\u2019ll find yourself somewhat in tune with the murderer.\u00a0 Those golden age ladies could get you every time with that kind of trick (Ngaio Marsh\u2019s Death is a White Tie <\/i>still sticks with me for that very reason) and Malliet has much in common with her forebears \u2013 Christie, Marsh and Tey.\u00a0 While these novels are updated versions of the golden age version of the village mystery, this is a gentle update.\u00a0 The things a reader enjoyed about Miss Marple\u2019s St. Mary Meade will be similarly enjoyable here.\u00a0 To me, that\u2019s a compliment of the highest order.<\/p>\n

The final reveal is somewhat shocking but Malliet has patiently prepared her canvas.\u00a0 I had a hard time putting this one down.\u00a0 She also leaves Max and Awena at a crossroads.\u00a0 As far as seasons go, \u201cSummer\u201d is the only one left, and I can\u2019t wait to see what happens next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I enjoyed the first two books in this series featuring vicar Max Tudor very much.\u00a0 The first, Wicked Autumn, was a pitch perfect tongue in cheek send up of a British Village mystery; the second, Fatal Winter, adjusted the tone somewhat so that the book read slightly darker than the first.\u00a0 In this third novel, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-1121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-british"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1121"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1141,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121\/revisions\/1141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}