Death and the Lit Chick

Author G.M. Malliet has the same fun with backstabbing mystery writers in Death of the Lit Chick as she did with the traditional British house mystery in Death of a Cozy Writer. In this second novel to feature Detective Chief Inspector St. Just, the police inspector has been dispatched to lecture a convention of mystery writers gathered on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland. Readers can begin with the series with Death of the Lit Chick without having read the first novel. Indeed, this novel might make for a better introduction. Unlike in Death of a Cozy Writer, in which DCI St. Just doesn’t appear until 40 percent of the way through the novel, St. Just is on the scene almost right away in Death of the Lit Chick — a great show more improvement — even if, sadly, without his faithful Sergeant Fear this time! And we finally discover what St. Just’s given name is!

In Death of the Lit Chick, Kimberlee Kalder, a fatuous and narcissistic silver-blonde beauty has taken the mystery world by storm with her debut novel, Dying for a Latte -- a novel that appears to be Kyra Davis' Sex, Murder And A Double Latte transferred to the world of Lauren Weisberger's The Devil Wears Prada. I’m not sure what Ms. Davis did to offend Ms. Malliet, but I’m pretty sure that, after this book was released, the pair are no longer on speaking terms!

Nor is Kyra Davis the only one satirized in this cleverly amusing book: The misogynistic Tom Brackett is clearly intended to call the prickly Tom Clancy to mind, while Annabelle Pace’s “plucky, zany, forensic-scientist sleuth” is clearly a twee version of Kathy Reichs’ Temperance Brennan. Part of the fun of reading Death of the Lit Chick is trying to figure out who the various fictional mystery writers are supposed to represent. Some I couldn’t quite figure out. Was Magretta Sincock with her women-in-jeopardy suspense plots supposed to be Angela Carter? Or Daphne du Maurier? Judith Krantz? Shannon K. Butcher? Or someone else altogether? I never did twig who the elegant and affable Joan Elksworthy, the Scottish ex-pat living in Santa Fe, was supposed to be. Nor did I suss out the identities of the sweet has-been writer Rachel Twalley, the conniving publicist Jay Fforde (surely not a dig at Jasper Fforde?), the boozy skirt-chasing American publicist B.A. King, or the skeletal, craggy-faced writer Winston Chatley. And just who was the sympathetic character sporting the nom de plume of Portia De’Ath meant to be? An alter ego for Malliet herself? I suspect that De’Ath, with her twee name, is Malliet since she ends up being the love interest for St. Just. And was the publishing magnate Lord Easterbrook a send-up of the press lord Lord Beaverbrook?

Regardless of who the thinly disguised fictional characters might be, St. Just is still in a particular quandary. Who could have had a motive to kill Kimberlee Kalder, no matter how much of a self-absorbed mean girl she was? With mystery writers as the cast of suspects, St. Just has more trouble than usual eliciting clues. As Portia De’Ath points out about the suspects: “Remember, these people lie for a living: They write novels.”

Lastly, Death of the Lit Chick is one of the few times that Lord Bulwer-Lytton’s opening line, “It was a dark and stormy night,” was used to good effect. And that isn’t Malliet’s only masterly touch: Would-be mystery writer Donna Doone has penned a prehistoric mystery that’s Nick and Nora of The Thin Man recast as the investigative Ugmay and Desirooma. Queried by Desirooma as to how he knows that Bad Batmo is the murderer, the eloquent Ugmay replies: “Me no know, but me find out. Look, see scratches on Black Rock? He no fall, he push.” Ah, a Dashiell Hammett novel for the ages -- the Stone Ages!

I thoroughly enjoyed Death of a Cozy Writer; however, I find that Death of the Lit Chick involves more clever twists and funnier skewering of the conventions. Malicious? Yes, but also delicious! While I wouldn’t want to befriend Malliet (who would want to be fodder for her next novel?), I wouldn’t want to miss her next St. Just novel, either. show less

One of the highlights of my 2008 reading was Death of a Cozy Writer by G. M. Malliet, the first mystery to feature DCI St. Just of Cambridgeshire. I was so completely hooked by the first novel that I pre-ordered the second, Death of a Lit Chick, as soon as amazon.com listed it. I wondered a bit whether the follow-up would be as satisfying, mainly because Malliet created such deliciously wicked characters in Sir Adrian's family, and of course, the only recurring character is DCI St. Just. I needn't have worried, because Death of a Lit Chick features an equally engaging cast of characters. DCI St. Just travels to Dalmorton Castle in Scotland for a mystery writer's conference (he has been asked to attend as a speaker) and finds himself show more confronted with a gaggle of mystery writers, all with clashing personalities and huge egos, along with a publisher, agents, and a journalist. When ditzy superstar "chick lit" writer Kimberlee Kalder turns up dead, there is no shortage of suspects. St. Just is asked to assist the local constabulary with their investigations, which culminate in a hilariously over-the-top drawing room scene worthy of Agatha Christie. A cast of suspects including mystery writers is a challenge, as they all make things up for a living and seem unable to turn off the prevarication under interrogation. As St. Just unravels the web of secrets and lies, the deliciously complex plot comes to a logical yet surprising conclusion. Malliet manages to embrace the classic cozy mystery while satirizing its conventions with her sharp wit, and as we learn more about DCI St. Just, he becomes even more endearing. I'll be pre-ordering the next in the series as well.

http://hollybooknotes.blogspot.com show less

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 show more 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. show less

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"!

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.

Cambridge police detective Arthur St. Just was invited to a writer's retreat in Scotland along with several other writers. When one of the authors dies, the Scottish detective in charge of the investigation asks for St. Just's help since he is an "insider." This was a fun "locked room" mystery to which I listened.