In Prior’s Wood: A Max Tudor Mystery

Malliet’s solid seventh Max Tudor mystery (after 2017’s Devil’s Breath) finds Max, a “dashing MI5 agent turned clergyman with a talent for solving crime,” hoping for a respite from crime-solving in the quintessential English town of Nether Monkslip. Of course, that wish is dashed after the bodies of a man and a woman turn up, the victims of an apparent suicide pact, in Prior’s Wood, which was the site of the disappearance of the local squire’s teenage daughter in Victorian times. Skeptical of things as they appear, Max and his friend on the force, Detective Chief Inspector Cotton, pursue the possibility of murder, which leads them to the household of Lord Duxter, a publisher who was knighted for his contributions to the arts and who founded a writers’ retreat in Nether Monkslip. There are some arch touches (as with a character baffled by the title of one of Malliet’s own books), but this whodunit should satisfy most cozy fans. [em]Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary. (Apr.) [/em]