Another well-crafted cozy DCI St. Just mystery by G.M. Malliet. Loved the premise, enjoyed the humor and was kept in suspense until the end. This was the second in the Malliet's DCI St. Just mysteries Now on to number #3 - "Death at the Alma Mater"! ( )

Second in Malliet's series featuring DCI Arthur St. Just, a British detective. In this one he has joined a group of mystery writers and agents at an event set up by a publisher at a Scottish castle. One of the writers is murdered, and St. Just helps the local authorities identify the murderer. It's like a closed-room or desert-island scenario, in that the murderer must have been present at the conference. The drawbridge over the castle's moat is the only form of egress, and it makes too much noise to be used surreptitiously.

Not too surprisingly, St. Just and the local officials turn up some interesting dirt on most of the attenders, including reasons for several to have wanted to do away with the victim. Unfortunately much of the information is revealed only at the end, wen St. Just confronts the guilty parties at a gathering of all the suspects. So the reader has virtually no chance of solving the mystery successfully.

St. Just is a moderately interesting character. A widower, he finds himself strongly attracted to one of the writers. Malliet gives us brief but adequate descriptions of the other characters, including snarky references by some characters to others. After an introductory section in which we see many of the attenders preparing and traveling to the castle, we spend most of the book in St. Just's point of view, with a few side trips to others' minds. The book is well constructed and a fun read, with the proviso that mystery fans who like to solve the mystery as they read will find it frustrating. ( )

I enjoyed most of this book and really thought that I was onto a winner; I was a classic locked room crime. However, when I neared the end of the book I realised that there were far too many suspects and really no clues.

In fact, the author gave the reader no hints and it was, unless I missed something, impossible to work out who did the murder.

The plot was revealed in the last chapter with a 'cosy murder' gathering of all the suspects which left me feeling angry that I hadn't been given a sporting chance to solve the mystery before the end of the book.

In a word - disappointing. ( )

Not bad! My favorite of hers so far. ( )

http://ffedor.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html ( )