Like Susan Wittig Albert, G.M. Malliet is a master of character and sense of place. Her characters in the Max Tudor series are a bit less "believable" in the sense that they are exaggerated versions of what we might imagine English villagers to be. It's a bit like walking into the village of Dibley (Vicar of Dibley is a British comedy featuring some very strange locals and a female vicar who tries to be the voice a reasonin the village).
Max Tudor is an Anglican priest who found his vocation after years as an MI5 operative who witnessed his partner being blown up by a car bomb meant for Max. Max is everything you'd ever want in a leading man / detective: handsome, compassionate, intelligent, and worldly. He is now married to Awena, a pagan and owner of the local new age shop, and their different spiritual outlooks add a special sense of depth to their marriage and role as new parents, especially considering Max's profession.
The murder in this outing was a bit gruesome. A local landowner, father of 2 rather obnoxious college age children, married to a much younger and very attractive women, is decapitated when someone sets up a wire across the riding path just at his neck level. Max discovers the body and becomes involved in the investigation, which features several likely suspects.
I read a few reviews of this novel on Amazon and they were mixed. Negative reviews cited ease of figuring out the murderer, the author losing interest part of the way through the book, etc. I think it really depends on what you are looking for in a mystery. I am not one of those people that NEEDS to try and solve the mystery as I read, although I do enjoy attempting to figure it out. I am much more entranced by the setting, especially English villages, and the relationships among the characters. I would definitely give this one a thumbs-up, although I can understand why more hard core mystery readers might not. personally, I couldn't put it down!
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