Weycombe: A Novel of Suspense
(Libby/OverDrive eAudiobook)

This stand-alone suspense novel is a departure for Malliet, who has written two ongoing detective series redolent of old-fashioned British cozies. Malliet again takes as her setting an idyllic, thatched-roof village, this time in Surrey. We see everything through the lens of the first-person narrator, Jillian, a transplanted American, who early on quotes Agatha Christie: One does see so much evil in a village. Jillian was recently let go from her documentarian job at the BBC, left with a lot of time on her hands and a disapproving husband. While jogging, Jillian discovers the body of Anna, a local estate agent, and then spends the bulk of the book interviewing people in the village about the murder. Nearly every one of Jillian's sentences is ambiguously worded, which is fascinating at first but eventually becomes annoying. Doesn't this woman know anything for sure? Great suspense at first, but the narrative loses steam with Jillian's repetitive interviews about halfway through. Still, the novel is high on setting and social observation.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2017 Booklist

Jillian White, the narrator of this disappointing standalone from Agatha-winner Malliet (Devil's Breath and five other Max Tudor mysteries), is the bored American wife of a titled Englishman. She and her husband live in the exclusive gated Weycombe community, where one day Jill, the quintessential outsider, discovers the strangled body of her neighbor Anna, an attractive real estate agent. According to local gossip, Anna was romantically involved with several of the local husbands. Jill decides to supplement the official police investigation with a little probing of her own. To this end, she talks privately with many of her neighbors, but there's not much action. It soon becomes obvious that the self-obsessed Jill is more interested in how her neighbors perceive her than in their memories or theories about Anna. The pacing suffers as a result. Malliet is usually a gifted storyteller; hopefully she'll return to form next time. Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

The rich are indeed different from you and me: they're better at hiding their secrets.Residents of the wealthy English village of Weycombe are too classy and buttoned-up to express overt disagreement about anything more fraught than the mission statement of the local book club. But resident Jillian White is American, and even though she's married into an aristocratic family, she hasn't fully adjusted to the lack of outward conflict. Perhaps that's why she's so entranced when her neighbor Anna Monroe is murdered. Jill finds herself drawn to investigate Anna's life and uncover her extramarital dalliances, which may be the least shocking of the secrets she was hiding. Reaching out to Anna's closest friends, Jill learns that the other women in town may have known more about Anna than anyone realized. Although Jill conscientiously questions Anna's social-climbing boyfriend, her chronically ill husband, and various trophy wives and DIY queens, she can claim all too little personal companionship of the sort that might have given her the more complex voice necessary to motivate the plot twists. As Jill unmasks substantive facts that could explain Anna's death, she approaches the insight that her interest in the subject is helping her avoid a more thorough examination of her own life and relationships. The self-referential witticisms give the tale a very slow start; the windup reads like Gone Girl on a Train. One thing's for sure: Malliet has departed sharply in setting and style from the bucolic world of the Max Tudor novels (Devil's Breath, 2017, etc.). Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

This stand-alone suspense novel is a departure for Malliet, who has written two ongoing detective series redolent of old-fashioned British cozies. Malliet again takes as her setting an idyllic, thatched-roof village, this time in Surrey. We see everything through the lens of the first-person narrator, Jillian, a transplanted American, who early on quotes Agatha Christie: "One does see so much evil in a village." Jillian was recently let go from her documentarian job at the BBC, left with a lot of time on her hands and a disapproving husband. While jogging, Jillian discovers the body of Anna, a local estate agent, and then spends the bulk of the book interviewing people in the village about the murder. Nearly every one of Jillian's sentences is ambiguously worded, which is fascinating at first but eventually becomes annoying. Doesn't this woman know anything for sure? Great suspense at first, but the narrative loses steam with Jillian's repetitive interviews about halfway through. Still, the novel is high on setting and social observation. Copyright 2017 Booklist Reviews.

Jillian White, the narrator of this disappointing standalone from Agatha-winner Malliet (Devil's Breath and five other Max Tudor mysteries), is the bored American wife of a titled Englishman. She and her husband live in the exclusive gated Weycombe community, where one day Jill, the quintessential outsider, discovers the strangled body of her neighbor Anna, an attractive real estate agent. According to local gossip, Anna was romantically involved with several of the local husbands. Jill decides to supplement the official police investigation with a little probing of her own. To this end, she talks privately with many of her neighbors, but there's not much action. It soon becomes obvious that the self-obsessed Jill is more interested in how her neighbors perceive her than in their memories or theories about Anna. The pacing suffers as a result. Malliet is usually a gifted storyteller; hopefully she'll return to form next time. Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary. (Oct.)