A Fatal Winter

Max Tudor, Book 2

By: G. M. Malliet

Narrated by: Michael Page

In A Fatal Winter, Max Tudor - Anglican priest, former MI5 agent, and village heartthrob - investigates two deaths at Chedrow Castle. But his growing attraction to Awena Owen complicates his case, as does the recent arrival at Chedrow Castle of a raucous group of long-lost, greedy relatives, any one of whom has a motive for murder. With a cozy setting, intricate puzzles, and a handsome (non-celibate) priest doing the sleuthing, the books in this series are destined to become instant classics in the mystery world.

©2012 G.M. Malliet (P)2012 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Critic reviews

"Clever deduction and a logical fair-play solution are enhanced by the author's wry humor...." ( Publishers Weekly)

Boy, did I call that one wrong!

Where does A Fatal Winter rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It was quite good. Very satisfying story, and the narrator's voice is like warm butter. The thing I like about this author is that in the story you can imagine several other plausible solutions, and I fall for those red herrings every time! I totally called this one wrong too just like the last one.

Who was your favorite character and why?

"Father Brown" -- duh. Although I did like the twins quite a bit as well.

What does Michael Page bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His voice is hypnotic. Sometimes I have to re-wind and listen to it again to actually HEAR what he is saying.

Any additional comments?

SPOILER-ish ALERT: OK, I was going in a totally different direction with the motive, I thought for sure that we were going to learn that Milo (the butler) and Lamora were related due to their Russian heritage. But no!

Not as good as the first Max Tudor book

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The first Max Tudor book, A Wicked Autumn, was really captivating, interesting and had
interesting characters who were complex and developed. Max himself was somewhat introspective and also interesting. This book, the second, was superficial, has stereotypical characters who were not appealing and about whom this reader didn't care.
It is hard to believe this second book was written by the same author, they are that different in quality.

Has A Fatal Winter turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, but it may make me hesitate to buy another by this author.

What about Michael Page’s performance did you like?

OK.

Was A Fatal Winter worth the listening time?

It was boring, and I lost interest.

Any additional comments?

Read the first one, Wicked Autumn, and give this one a pass.

Parts are greater than the whole

OK, it's not the greatest mystery story ever written, but that may be over-looked because of the many witticisms, some slightly submerged. Performance is excellent, and Anglicans everywhere will enjoy the characterization and references to Shakespeare, the BCP, King James, and British history.

A Cozy Christmas Cozy

I fall into the group that really liked this book. The characters are nicely drawn, some a bit crazy, some quite heart-warming. 4 stars is about as high as I ever go for a mystery, so this is the highest rating on my own personal rating scale. As for Michael Page, I liked his rendition of The Care of Wooden Floors better (which I recommend overall). I didn't care for his voice for Max -- too old as someone else commented.

Great book to go to sleep by!

I did enjoy listening to it in bed - a couple of chapters a night and I was sound asleep. For me this is a good thing! The story is interesting and rather fun, and the narrator's voice is soothing. Definitely recommended for insomniacs (and others too)!