A Demon Summer cover art

A Demon Summer

A Max Tudor Mystery, Book 4

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About this listen

Someone has been trying to poison the 15th Earl of Lislelivet. Since Lord Lislelivet has a gift for making enemies, no one - particularly his wife - finds this too surprising. What is surprising is that the poison was discovered in a fruitcake made and sold by the Handmaids of St. Lucy of Monkbury Abbey.

The powerful Lord complains loudly to the local bishop, who asks Father Max Tudor, vicar of Nether Monkslip and former MI5 agent, to investigate. Just as Max comes to believe the poisoning was accidental, a body is discovered in the cloister well. Can Max Tudor solve the case and restore order in time to attend his own nuptials?

©2014 G.M. Malliet (P)2014 Dreamscape Media, LLC Amateur Sleuths Cosy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Mystery Traditional Detectives Detective Suspense
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ive recently ventured to go for modern writers of the crime mystery scene. and this one is fantastic , id like to meet a vicar like Max Tudor, makes me think of moving to village life :)

great characters

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In the good old fashioned crime solving style, this series of detective books, never fails to entertain.

Investigation at its best

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The increased number of anachronistic Aamericanisms in this, the fourth, in the series is beginning to jar, however.

Cozy in the extreme!

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I really enoyed the story but it is set in England which has no mountains on the South Coast and where we do not use the expression Fall for Autumn and since it was used many many times it jarred badly.

It's Autumn not Fall

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Would you try another book written by G.M. Malliet or narrated by Michael Page?

I have listened to all the Max Tudor series, and while it began promisingly, this book is a disappointment. Obviously these are stories set in the classic legendary village in Nevernevershire; but there are some basic conventions that need to be respected to allow the 'suspension of disbelieve' that makes fiction enjoyable. Unfortunately in this book the rampant Americanisms are really distracting: no aged English nun is going to use the word 'scads', and most English people will remember the Famous Five rather than the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew. The character of Max Tudor too has become thinner and flatter and far less interesting, despite the attempts to introduce excitement by the improbable device of an Anglican priest concealing from his bishop the fact that he is going to have a pagan wedding with the local white witch.
Stock characters, sloppy writing, a plot so improbable as to be uninteresting----I was quite sad, this book marked a definite step down.

What will your next listen be?

I will go back to some of the classic mysteries that are being recorded---I've enjoyed listening to books by some of the early authors whom I didn't know.

Have you listened to any of Michael Page’s other performances? How does this one compare?

No; but while he reads with good pace, he has trouble with women's voices, which always sound whiney.

Was A Demon Summer worth the listening time?

Alas, no.

Any additional comments?

I probably won't bother with any more Max Tudor books.

And by the way, this format for reviewing books is really awful. It means there is often no opportunity to say what one would really like to say about a particular book!

Too sloppy to be convincing

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