DEATH AND THE LIT CHICK (G.M. Malliett)

If you long for a worthy successor to Agatha Christie, G.M. Malliet just might suffice. Despite the trendy title, Lit Chick has most of the elements that made Christie the queen of her genre. Attendees at a literary convention are staying in a Scottish Castle, courtesy of Lord Easterbrook, a publisher on the verge of losing it all but for his star author, Kimberlee Kalder. Kalder is the author of a wildy successful chick lit mystery and is honored by Lord Easterbrook with a big bonus, an event that breeds contempt, jealousy, and even rage among her fellow authors. When Kimberlee is found dead in the "bottle dungeon" of the castle, almost everyone is a viable suspect. Fortunately, Detective Inspector Arthur St. Just has been invited to attend the conference as a presenter (shades of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple!), so he is present in the castle when the crime occurs and available to work with local authorites.

Malliet does an excellent job of creating a Christie-like cast of characters and of leading the reader through a complicated series of clues and diversions. St. Just sifts through the facts and eventually calls all of the supects together in the library for the final revelation, and it make sense. Looking back we can see the clues that we missed and how the puzzle fits together. St. Just is a great modern (and more attractive) version of Poirot. I predict that Malliet's St. Just series will be around for quite a while.