The Haunted Season by G. M. Malliet Narrator: Michael Page
Series: Max Tudor Mysteries #5
Published by Dreamscape Media on October 6, 2015
Source: Library
Genres: Mystery
Length: 9 hrs 21 mins
Purchase at Bookshop.org or Purchase at Amazon
Add on Goodreads
Lord and Lady Baaden-Boomethistle have been in residence for some weeks now, and the villagers are hoping for a return to the good old days, when the lord of the manor sprinkled benefits across the village like fairy dust. Father Max Tudor's invitation to dinner at the hall comes as a welcome novelty; it will be his first time meeting the famous family that once held sway in the area. Before he has time to starch his clerical collar and organize a babysitter, a sudden and suspicious death intervenes, and the handsome vicar's talent for sorting through clues to a murder is once again called into play in this charming and clever story.
I skipped #4 in the Max Tudor series, mostly because Father Max was getting married and having a baby and I just didn’t want to read about the new family, but I just couldn’t pass up the cover for The Haunted Season. Apparently I didn’t need to worry about the baby. He is so well-behaved and calm and peaceful that he barely causes a ripple in Max’s life. And I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, his mother after all is nearly perfect and a healer to boot. Hmm, that sounded meaner than I meant it to. I don’t dislike Awena, and in all honestly she’s not in much of this book.
Lord Baaden-Boomethistle is our deceased, decapitated by a wire strung between two trees while he was out riding his horse. We’ve got several suspects, mostly members of his family. There are a couple clues, a few secrets, and of course Max manages to put it all together, with some help from DCI Cotton, the recurring cop character.
If that was it, adding in the villagers and church members, and bit more of his new curate, Destiny, I would have enjoyed it more. There were a couple things that made me lower it a star or two. First, the miracle of the face on the wall. Not a big fan of miracles in otherwise straight forward (non-paranormal) mysteries. At the same time, Awena, Max’s wife, is actually a healer, like her touch, in addition to herbs and what-not, can physically heal people, so maybe it is partly paranormal, but overall it’s not, so those touches just don’t flow with the rest.
And the end was just not well done. To be honest, I don’t know why it was added on. There’s a big scene involving a character who is part of a theme in the series, but comes out of nowhere in this book. Instead of actually seeing the action, we end up getting an info dump where Max and DCI Cotton tell an associate what happened. It was clumsy. I think I might be done with the series.
I listened to the audio and I do think the narrator did a good job with the variety of characters – and there are a lot. I think listening to it was probably the better option, because at least when there was the long “here’s what happened,” it was kind of like we were part of the conversation too.
About G. M. Malliet
G.M. Malliet is the award-winning author of four St. Just mysteries, seven Max Tudor mysteries, the suspense novel WEYCOMBE, and numerous short stories collected in crime anthologies or published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and The Strand. A new mystery series (AUGUSTA HAWKE) debuted in July 2022 and an 8th Max Tudor (THE WASHING AWAY OF WRONGS) arrives in 2023 from Little, Brown.
She was born into a military family and moved frequently during her childhood, which nurtured her love of travel. She has a B.A. in journalism and an M.A. in organizational psychology; she also received an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge in the U.K. and did further graduate study at Oxford University. Her main field of interest is the psychology of the creative mind.
She worked as a journalist and copywriter for USA TODAY, Thomson Publishing and PBS, pursuing novel writing in her free time. In 2008 her award-winning first mystery DEATH OF A COZY WRITER was published and fiction writing became her full-time career. She has since published dozens of books and short stories.
It’s kind of a relief not to have to add this to my list.
Glad I could help. 🙂
I have not read any of her books. I wonder if I should?
I liked the first three in the series. Obviously, I was not a fan of this one, and I recently DNF’ed her stand alone, Weycombe. I don’t think I’ll be reading any more of hers.
Bummer! I was hopeful with the summary
Me too, and I loved the cover. At least I got it from the library and didn’t pay anything.