Pagan Spring (Max Tudor, #3) by G.M. Malliet

Pagan Spring (Max Tudor, #3) Reviews

• 
  Leslie Ray

  Max Tudor continues his part time detective duties utilizing his MI5 training. Also continuing is his ongoing romance with Awena Owen. Although they seem to be total opposites, they are really the opposite sides of the same coin.
  After attending a local dinner party with a London drama actor, Thaddeus Bottle, his skills are required again. Thaddeus is found dead and not by natural causes. As he is quite obnoxious, there is not much sympathy nor is there any shortage of possible suspects.
  I enjoy the snippets of procedure from his days at MI5. There is also the lingering backstory of his partner Paul, who was murdered and it was this trauma that eventually let him on the path to becoming an Anglican priest.
• 
  Julie Durnell

  I really enjoyed this third in the series, Max is a great character as a former MI5 now an Anglican priest, but the shining star in this series is the quaint but thriving village of Nether Monkslip and it's wonderful characters. This murder was so cleverly plotted and had me wondering 'til the end of not the whodunnit, but the why and how. Looking forward to the next one that I'll read in the summer!
• 
  Jenn Estepp

  3 1/2? I like this series, but I want to like this series more. Or maybe just I like it more in theory than in reality? I don't know. Looking back at my response to the first two, I find that my response to this one sort of echoes my response to those. It's very literate and well-written. It's solid and I think a lot about the world Malliet has created is appealing. The mystery is okay and, even though the pacing sometimes felt uneven, I read through it very quickly.
  
  However, I also find it pretty wordy and sometimes repetitive. But more, I am having lots of trouble buying - and tolerating - the romance that's coming to play a more and more central role in the story. I am not averse to romance in my mysteries, when well-handled, but I just don't think that it is here. Every time Max waxed rhapsodic about Awena, I found myself stifling an eye roll. It feels rushed and false and too much telling not showing.
  
  I'll probably keep reading the series but it will probably keep irking me. As will the constant comparisons to Agatha Christie. (I am maybe being purist. I think very few people who get compared to Agatha Christie actually truly rival Agatha Christie. G.M. Malliet, for all her skills, does not. I think comparisons to contemporaries like Louise Penny and C.C. Benison are much more apt.)
• 
  Larraine

  This is the third Max Tudor mystery, and I believe it is Malliet's best yet. Reading this is like reading an Agatha Christie. I love the slight tongue-in-cheek as the characters are introduced. The writing group, Writers' Squared is absolutely spot on. (And that apostrophe is VERY important.) Max is invited to dinner. The love of his life, Awena, New Age free spirit and owner of an herb/crystals/natural cooking business, is away doing a cooking class.
  
  
  
  Of course everyone knows that Max and Awena are more than just friends despite Max's attempts to keep their romance on the down low. For Max is, after all, the local Anglican vicar. Talk about mixed marriages! So Awena is now at the dinner, but several newly arrived people are including an overbearing actor and a hairdresser who has recently moved to the town. She is cousin to Lucie, the hostess of the dinner. The overbearing actor manages to annoy everyone.
  
  
  
  We also learn that he and his wife are not on the best of terms. Shortly after the dinner, the gentleman is found dead. His wife knocks on Max's door begging for his help. (Why call the police when you can call the Vicar, grumbles DI Cotton!) Max suspects foul play. He's correct.
  
  
  
  This is a thoroughly enjoyable book by an author who truly is a throwback in many ways - and a thoroughly delightful one at that. I have read every one of her books including the two previous ones that were delightful standalones. Max is definitely one of my favorite fictional detectives.
• 
  Samantha

  I'd have to disagree with most reviewers here and say that I think this series is getting worse as it progresses, not better. Max, Awena, and the rest of the residents of Nether Monkslip are as charming as ever, but the mystery here barely made any sense, and the solve largely came from a whole bunch of information thrown in at the end. The clues sprinkled throughout prior to that couldn't be pieced together in any realistic way by the reader. Meh.
• 
  Elizabeth

  The first book in this series was excellent, exactly what one expects from a British cozy. And because the other series was so outstanding I had high expectations of this series. Unfortunately, the author peaked too soon because it went down hill from there, fast.
  This is one of the few books that I've ever read that I just couldn't finish. I had to MAKE myself finish it. For one thing, there is more romance than mystery. It was all about his longing for her and hers for him after only a day spent apart...and of course, she is perfect in every way without trying. One of those women like the ones on the soaps that wake up with perfect makeup and hair and who is also perfect in every other way. The reader can be forgiven for expecting her to hop onto her unicorn and ride off to save the poor and starving...by herself...with only her wits to use... And then there is the bomb-shell dropped in the last few pages...somebody, please murder ME!! I've never really considered myself a prude, but in a very weird way I kinda expect the vicar to have standards a bit higher than the main character in this series, unless, of course, he is a complete dirt-bag who will get his come-uppance in the end. This doesn't describe Father Max Tudor, he is basically a good guy who use to be MI5 and who REALLY needs to step back and re-evaluate things in his life as regards his day job in the ministry. Somehow, I'm not so sure his flock would be all THAT forgiving, especially just before going to him for confession. Believe me, I'm Catholic and that crap just doesn't fly, I don't care what kind of holy man he is suppose to be.
  I would have liked to see a character with a bit more MI5 who returns to his day job as vicar and A LOT LESS romance. For me, romance is like murder...I get it! All you have to do is say something about there being a body and I understand that someone is dead. I don't need blood, guts and brains all over everywhere, I get it!! That's why I like cozies. In the same manner, all I need is the statement that they are in love...I got it!! I don't need chapter after chapter of all the lovey-dovey crap!!! What happened to all the suspects while the main character is gazing adoringly into the deep, fathomless eyes of his beloved??? And what the crap are "deep fathomless eyes", anyway!?!?
  Anyway, this series needs to be re-classified as a sickly-sweet romance, and not even a good one, at that, and stay away from the "mystery" section! If its a good who-dunnit you want, go with the author's first series and stay away from this one!! As my nephew would say, "Ick!!".
• 
  Trudy Pomerantz

  Well, the characters are not as wooden as in the previous books - or such caricatures. But, having the priest verbally chastise someone for dressing immodestly in church -as if a male minister would ever really be able to make a comment on what a teen is wearing in real life- while having sex outside marriage is past ridiculous. Like God cares more about how someone is dressed for worship but doesn't care about sex outside of marriage? Really?
  
  I don't think I'll bother reading the next book when it comes out later this year.
• 
  Dawn Michelle

  MUCH better than the second one. Whew!!!
  Much of this book was sad - while no one deserves to be murdered, it is tough when the reasons behind the murder make you both seethe and cry; the reveal for this one was tough. It did make for a very good book. And what happens at the end is completely unexpected! Good read.
• 
  Ivonne Rovira

  In G.M. Malliet’s third novel in the series, handsome and perspicacious Anglican priest Max Tudor investigates the death of Thaddeus Bottle, a bullying has-been character actor murdered in his bed. At the top of the list of suspects are Bottle’s beleaguered trophy wife, Melinda; her lover, local architect Farley Walker; several of Thaddeus Bottle’s previous sexual conquests, and some of the members of the village of Nether Monkslip’s writers’ circle.
  
  As in the two previous novels — the serviceable Wicked Autumn and the excellent A Fatal Winter — the former MI-5 agent turned country vicar aids Detective Chief Inspector Cotton in bringing the perpetrator to justice. Malliet combines an interesting plot, lively and eccentric villagers, the developing odd-couple romance between Tudor and neo-Pagan Awena Owen, and the humorous incidents to develop a pleasant cozy that readers will devour. The ubiquitous comparisons with Dame Agatha Christie are, of course, hyperbole; however, readers will thoroughly enjoy Pagan Spring.
  
  While Malliet’s has another series, one featuring Detective Chief Inspector Arthur St. Just, that series is much sillier and doesn’t rise to the same level as the Max Tudor novels. I have but one questions for Ms. Malliet: Surely, this excellent series won’t end as a quartet, will it? Your many fans will want the series to live on long past “Summer.”
• 
  Ronna

  PAGAN SPRING returns us to the small English village of Nether Monkslip where Max Tutor is an ex MI5 agent turned Anglican priest. His love life with the controversial spiritualist, Awena Owins, continues to blossom. Max also steps into a new possible murder. Thaddeus Bottle has moved back to a hugely renovated mansion in his family's home village. But humble he is not. Everything is about him and his desires. He desire is to be the center of everything, and his recent dinner party brings some upstanding townspeople to his home so they can properly admire the "celebrity" amongst them. But perhaps everyone is not quit so enamored as he might have hoped, as he's dead by the next morning.
  
  Malliet fills her book with wonderful dry English humor, exquisite small town cliches, lovely clues, and characters that definitely entertain the senses. In this particular book, she also deal thoughtfully with some very serious subject matter from World War 2. Must read for cozy fans who want everything a cozy promises plus some excellent commentary on serious matters. Her best one yet!
• 
  Rob

  G.M. Malliet is the champion of the contemporary cozy mystery---perfectly balancing Golden Age detective charm with present-day sensibilities. Following the superior 'A Fatal Winter (2013), this recent entry skillfully provides a satisfying resolution and intriguing backstory as to the culprit's motivation for dispatching the loathsome victim, while further developing the burgeoning relationship between the former MI5 operative-turned village Anglican cleric-turned amateur sleuth, and his new-age practitioner paramour. A clever series deftly crafted!
• 
  Gail

  This is one of my favourite 'cozy mystery' series, featuring former spy turned cleric Max Tudor. When a self-absorbed, aging actor is found dead in his new home in Nether Monkslip, Max deduces that his death is not a natural one; the little English town is once more the scene of a nasty murder. This is the third novel in this series; I am anxious to read the next.
• 
  Kathleen Ernst

  G.M. Malliet has created a marvelous series that pays homage to Agatha Christie, but is also fresh and new. Sometimes funny, always charming, this modern series is set in a small English village with a former spy now serving as vicar--and sometimes sleuth. In a crowded genre, Malliet's voice is original and unique.
• 
  Heidi Burkhart

  I am a big mystery fan and especially enjoy the details that Malliet includes in her books. Her characters feel genuine and the story is always captivating.
• 
  Jill

  I’m no prude, but an Anglican priest conceiving a child out of wedlock with a pagan wican seems far fetched to me.
• 
  Kara

  
  We start off with Max Tudor attending an extremely awkward dinner party where various village members, old and new, have some strained conversation along with the excellent food and drink. There is clearly some old history there, along with one of the new neighbors being a pretentions bore that leaves even the kindly vicar longing to punch him in the face.
  
  It’s no surprise which one of them turns up dead the next morning, and Max is on the case to determine who murdered one of “his” villagers, practically on his own doorstep.
  
  Max has something of an overabundance of clues, and struggles to figure out what belongs to the case and what are red herrings.
  
  Luckily, at the end the murderer politely sits down with Max and explain all the why’s and how’s of the murder, along with a thoroughly depressing lesson in history and psychology.
  
  But, balancing out the horrors of why the crime was committed, the villagers are as delightful as ever, charming eccentrics, every one of them.
  
• 
  Lori

  Audible version: I have to agree with many of the reviewers here who say this isn't such a great series, but at the same time, it's perfect for my listening purposes at the moment - just pleasant noise in the background, just a reminder that somewhere in the world (even if just in imagination), there is a place where neighbors know one another and writer's clubs and book clubs still meet and there are people who get up in each other's business because they care. So while the mystery was just all solved and dumped at the end in a long boring story, I didn't care. I can never figure out any of the clues anyway!
• 
  Debbie

  Third in the Max Tudor series, and the first one I really liked. I liked the character of Max, and wanted to like the series more, so tried the third entry. Although I like the character of Awena well enough, I don't really like her with Max. The fact that she was largely missing from this series entry might be why I enjoyed it more. The who-done-it is not so much solved as resolved and although I knew their was something weird going on there I found the resolution a little far fetched.
• 
  Amanda

  I want to like this series more than I do. 2.5 rounded up.
• 
  Helen O'Day

  Very interesting story. Orphans, kleptomaniacs, fading actors, missing earrings, poison, humor and wallpaper all come together for Father Max Tudor to discern the murderer.
  Chirp audio recording.
• 
  Correna Dillon

  The mystery was okay but at this point it's more interesting seeing the developments with max and the rest of secondary characters in Nether Monkslip. Looking forward to the rest of the series either way.
• 
  Nancy

  The vicar is the hero and the heartthrob in Pagan Spring (St. Martin's Press, purchased e-book), the third in G.M. Malliet's witty series featuring Max Tudor, a former MI5 agent whose sleuthing skills were tested in Wicked Autumn and A Fatal Winter. Max has had little problem fitting into the village life of postcard-pretty Nether Monkslip, although he's disappointed the ladies by taking up with Alwena Owen, a New Age herbalist. But several newcomers trouble the community's apparent serenity, including a famous actor and playwright past his prime, his much-younger wife, and an enigmatic hairstylist from France who writes long e-mails. Of course, there's a murder for Max to solve, and he is both helped and hindered by his friends, including the members of the Writers' Square (because everybody has a writers' circle). Old secrets come to light as villagers confront unpleasant truth. Fans of Miss Marple will feel right at home.
  
  from On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever,
  http://patebooks.wordpress.com
  
• 
  Kathleen

  This is another excellent cozy mystery by G.M. Malliet. Do not be mistaken by the "cozy" designation as this book touches, ever so lightly, on the question of evil. Does any level of evil justify murder? Are we all hardwired to kill? Max Tudor is always pondering the nature of evil in the lives of those around him, even as he enjoys the deceptively calm village scenes outside his rectory window. Evil is part of his life, and why he is a MI5 agent turned priest.
  
  Malliet is an excellent writer, who brings us comic relief in the Writers' Square (the whole apostrophe discussion, and that of eyes, was a writer's delight) and in how gossip entertains the village. More subtly she looks at how our perceptions of people, places, and colors can be influenced by a variety of sources. Who is to say which perception is right?
  
  Max’s friend, Awena, has only a small part to play in this book, but it is significant at the end. It leaves the reader hanging as to where their relationship will go next, and how Max will deal with what summer and fall will bring to Nether Monkslip.
  
• 
  Damaskcat

  Murder seems to be following Church of England Vicar Max Tudor around. He attends a dinner party in Nether Monkslip and later that night one of the guests is found dead. Who could have been responsible? There are plenty of suspects and DCI Cotton needs Max's help to unravel the mystery.
  
  Max has found happiness in his private life but fears he may have to choose between his vocation and his life if his Bishop fails to understand about Awena's religious beliefs.
  
  This once again is a book which takes a while to get started but it is worth persevering with it as the characters and descriptions make it worthwhile. I suspect a second reading would reveal things that people miss on first reading. I love the recreation of village life in this entertaining series.
  
  If you like tradition crime stories brought up to date a little then you will probably like this series. It is best to read them in the order in which they were published so that you can watch the development of the series characters.
• 
  ME

  I love this series and I plan to continue reading, BUT...and it's a big but... this protagonist... I just don't know what to think. Is Malliet writing from her own experience as an Anglican? Is the Church of England's practice and beliefs really so vastly different from the Christian faith in America? This is the religious leader of this community and he's sleeping around!! What the what?! Bad enough that he's considering marriage to a woman who is an unbeliever (to the extreme), but he's SLEEPING WITH HER and they're not married. I'm seriously confused. Or Malliet is seriously confused. Or the Anglican church is seriously confused. Can anyone explain this to me?? One thing though, the stories are great and I like this little English town and its people. But Max and his "faith" is a perpetual mystery to me - a true contradiction to the core.
• 
  Rita Marie

  Another delightful visit to my favorite English village -- Nether Monkslip. Romance between our hero, cleric Max Tudor, and Awena Owen, who prefers a more 'open' approach to spiritual values, is proceeding nicely. But obnoxious Thaddeus Bottle has been murdered and absolutely everyone has a motive. Who wouldn't want to kill this jerk? Much work for Max, but he is up to the challenge.
  
  Other villagers, including the 'Writers Square,' attempt to solve the mystery as well, resulting in much visiting, discussion, and cogitating. The solution is surprising (at least it was to me, I never guessed) and very well presented.
  
  A terrific series for any fan of traditional mysteries. I look forward to more of it.
• 
  Debbie Maskus

  I am thoroughly enjoying the audiobooks in the Max Tudor series---I do miss the character list at the beginning of each book and the guide to Nether Monkslip. This centers on spring, on rebirth, on love, but also mingles the horror stories of WWII. The characters jump out of the book and enter the reader's world. I adore the descriptions of the various settings and especially the talk of food. The book contains many surprises, which I will not disclose. A horrible, conceited actor dies and Cotton and Max must discover the killer. I must admit that I feared for the demise of Luther, but learned the Luther has returned to his previous home. I would love to find a list of the various characters that is sadly missing from the audiobook. A very pleasant adventure for an afternoon.