Wicked Autumn

A Classic Cozy English Village Mystery

I really enjoyed this first book in the Max Tudor mystery series for its dry, witty sense of humor. The writing is subtle, urbane and insightful. The whole story is full of small insular village flavor with a cast of wacky and often strange characters.

Be aware that to me this is a full blown cozy. So don't expect edge of your seat suspense and over the top violence. What you will find is a comfortable (within the limits that this is a murder mystery) listen that easily engages and entertains. Very like Agatha Christie comes to the modern world as a Anglican Priest.

I am looking forward to continuing the series with book two as a winter listen.

34 of 37 people found this review helpful

Too Many Sermons

A lot of the characters are caricatures: the vegetarian, the independent femme fatale etc.
There is quite a lot of preaching about tolerance of difference which I found utterly tedious. The narrator is superb and wasted on such drivel. The author plays it too safe and endeavours to convert the reader to political correctness. A great setting and a fun idea for a cozy but the fearful and timid writing destroyed what it had the potential to offer.

25 of 27 people found this review helpful

Brilliant, but not for everybody

I loved Wicked Autumn, but some may find the writing too literary and the British reader too stuffy. I enjoyed the characters and the setting and found the prose brilliant. When I first started listening, I wasn't able to concentrate to follow the rhythm and accent of the reader, and it doesn't help that they start with the list of character descriptions, which I think was a mistake. However, when I restarted I was completely drawn in and loved the intelligent and elegant prose and the uptight British reserve. It is vital to listen to a segment to see if it appeals to you as much as it does to me.

20 of 22 people found this review helpful

Fun, Easy and Entertaining Listen

I am always on the look out for a good series in which I can lose myself for countless listening hours. Malliet's first novel in the Tudor series passed all of the "tests" I apply when determining whether or not I will be able to immerse myself into the author's world. Wicked Autumn provides an entertaining cozy-style novel featuring the witty, attractive Max Tudor. Tudor is the single, charming village Vicar with an above-average mystery-solving ability due to his previous career. Malliet throws in a steady stream of funny and sardonic comments, quips and observations, which only added to my enjoyment. The narrator (which, as fellow listeners know, can make or break the listening experience) is, in my opinion, fantastic and is now on my list of top favorites. His ability to narrate female voices, particularly the elderly women, is quite entertaining...he has an uncanny ability to sound like a frumpy older English woman. Overall, it was a fun, easy, and entertaining introduction to a series which I can only hope extends beyond the fourth novel, which presumably will be set in summer. My only "complaint" was that it was shorter than many of the novels to which I'm used to listening, and accordingly it was finished fairly quickly. Oh well...on to "A Fatal Winter"!

11 of 12 people found this review helpful

Fun listen in old fashioned way

I enjoyed Wicked Autumn as a social satire more than as a mystery. The writing is witty and observations about current culture very to the point. The village characters are well drawn and catty. My interest began to drag because the novel concentrates more on the secondary characters than on the mystery of Wanda's death. I would have liked more action. This is a true armchair mystery because the main character, the Vicar, spends most of the book sitting down taking the secondary characters back through the day of the murder. Like Malliet's other books, the solution seems forced at the end and unrelated to most of the events or characters in the story. Great narrator.

24 of 29 people found this review helpful

Burnt out antiterrorist/priest deals with murder

It appears to be a quiet English Village with lots of traditions and life centering around the pub and the church - and it is - but the personal and family tragedies behind the scenes stretch out to many countries and many walks of life. Even a backwater can be a boiling kettle of all the emotions, and the job of their nearly-new rector is to try to make peace, provide comfort, and it turns out, to solve a murder.

The good Father Tudor burnt out when he lost his partner to a terrorist bomb, and he is converted to an active spiritual life in the devastation of that loss. But the murder of the most disliked woman in the village, both rich and domineering, both piques his old professional curiosity and needs solving for the good of the parish.

There are a sufficient number of possibilities to keep the story full of twists and turns, and a lot of emotional happenings without a lot of explicit sex or violence.

I'll be interested to read the next in the series.

27 of 33 people found this review helpful

The Best Cozy

If you could sum up Wicked Autumn in three words, what would they be?

Cozy, Easy, Funny

What other book might you compare Wicked Autumn to and why?

Agatha Raisin Series- English village and the cast of characters

What about Michael Page’s performance did you like?

Crystal clear pronounciation and well timed pauses made for easy listening.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes but toward the end I forced myself to turn it off because I didn't want the book to end.

Any additional comments?

AUDIBLE- Please ask for more of GM Malliet's books be made into Audiobooks.

21 of 27 people found this review helpful

Great reader - Great Characters

Do they still have village fairs like that in England?

A pretty good mystery story, definitely a cozy. I liked the idea of a former special agent turned village vicar. Interesting characters and descriptions.

The narration was better than the book - it was superb.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Modern take on Christie

Any additional comments?

A wonderful cozy style mystery with a modern touch. Ex-MI5 agent Max Tudor is world weary. He turns to the cloth, and finds that even in the most quiet of hamlets, murder and chaos preside. As the new Vicar in the sleepy hamlet of Nether Monkslip, all is definitely not as it seems... A fun and engaging listen.

12 of 16 people found this review helpful

I Love This Author, BUT!

Would you try another book from G. M. Malliet and/or Michael Page?

I am a huge fan of G.M. Malliet. I would definitely try another book. Have greatly enjoyed the ones I have read.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Totally switched. Falling Glass. Adrian McKinty. Gerard Doyle a perfect voice for the story.

Would you be willing to try another one of Michael Page’s performances?

He has a lovely voice, just not suitable for this book. Lovely and too plummy! Seems to miss highlights of humor which this author is good at.

Do you think Wicked Autumn needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Not sure the main character is interesting enough.

Any additional comments?

I am sorry that the initial book on Audible from this author is a disappointment. I am a fan of her other books and am hoping that there will be more on Audible. A more suitable performer who could emphasize the humor and the spitefulness of some of her characters would be recommended.

8 of 11 people found this review helpful