Who would have thought a fund-raising weekend of wealthy alumni members at St Michael's college in Cambrige, England would be interrupted by the murder of one of the members?

With a handful of suspects to interview and investigate backgrounds on, St Just is still faced with building a portrait of a woman who, by all accounts was a flighty glamour-puss still yearning for her lost love, while having to endure a weekend reunion with her ex-husband and the woman who who replaced her as his wife.

Although a cozy mystery, there were a few surprising twists to keep this interesting and as always, St Just does a beautiful job building a case against the exposed murderer. ( )

Excellent, humorous, highly recommended. ( )

I found this book a very pleasant cozy mystery, just like the other 2 in the series. The plot is interesting, not too complicated, but also not extremely obvious either.

The book is very readable although, at times, I found the dialog to be a little stilted. I enjoy reading about St Just and Sergeant Fear, although I think there could be less attention paid to St Just's relationship with Portia. ( )

3rd in Arthur St. Just Investigations

Sensuality: Mild

Mystery Sub-genre: British Police Procedural

Main Character: Detective Chief Inspector Arthur St. Just

Setting: Modern day St. Michael College at the University of Cambridge, England

Obtained Through: Publisher for an honest review

It starts like a traditional British mystery, weaving a story slowly and around page 70 the murder takes place. St. Michael's is desperate for money and invites former wealthy graduates back to the school for a fund-raising weekend to solicit charitable donations. But these alumni have intermingled histories, the most famous is how Sir James left his "Paris Hilton-esque" celebrity wife - Lexy, while at school for India. Lady India Bassett is not happy that the threesome will be reunited and while many expected some melodramatic scenes from Lexy nobody foresaw her brutal murder. To top it all off, her body is discovered by India's son! The strands of the various participant's past come back to haunt them.

This book has a nice handful of suspects. Besides the triangle of Sir James - Lexy - Lady India, there is Augie the Texan , Gwen the celebrity reporter, Hermoine the stuffy uptight activist, the financier Karl and his wife Constance, the neglected son Sebastian and Saffron the girlfriend he selfishly uses, and Geraldo the millionaire playboy on Lexy's arm for the weekend.

But hands down the star of the book is St. Just. He is my favorite police detective now. Miss Malliet has created a sparkling main character. He is an experienced investigator yet he keeps from being completely jaded. He is in love and looking forward to marrying Portia (who is featured occasionally in the book since she attends the college.) St. Just is humorous and wonderfully like-able, honorable without being stuffy and appealing as a human being.

The great reveal of the murderer was the campy "suspects are all gathered together". It worked.

The motive for the murder stayed murky until the reveal and without that piece to the puzzle was very difficult for the reader to pinpoint the killer. Like any great mystery novel, the clues were all there and looking back, it was pretty clear. All I can say about the wrap-up is "Well Done, Loved It!"

So I am sold - this is what makes an award winning author. Great book, I am looking forward to the next one.

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http://hollybooknotes.blogspot.com/2010/04/mystery-monday-g-m-malliet.html ( )