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Malice Domestic #1
Elizabeth Peters Presents Malice Domestic
A collection of mystery tales presents the work of such masters of the genre as Charlotte MacLeod, Barbara Paul, Charlotte and Aaron Elkins, and Audrey Peterson.
Contents: An idea whose time had come / Elizabeth Peters — The perplexing puzzle of the perfidious pigeon poisoner / Charlotte MacLeod — Windkill / D. R. Meredith — The Cottonwood Creek caper / Diane Mott Davidson — Angel on the loose / Valerie Frankel — The ties that bind / L. B. Greenwood — Nice gorilla / Charlotte and Aaron Elkins — Take care of yourself / Janet LaPierre — The last to know / Joan Hess — Henrie O.’s holiday / Carolyn G. Hart — Night visitor / Audrey Peterson — Homebodies / Barbara Paul — Happiness is a dead poet / Sharyn McCrumb — The Jersey Lily; or, Make me immortal with a kiss / P. M. Carlson
Contents: An idea whose time had come / Elizabeth Peters — The perplexing puzzle of the perfidious pigeon poisoner / Charlotte MacLeod — Windkill / D. R. Meredith — The Cottonwood Creek caper / Diane Mott Davidson — Angel on the loose / Valerie Frankel — The ties that bind / L. B. Greenwood — Nice gorilla / Charlotte and Aaron Elkins — Take care of yourself / Janet LaPierre — The last to know / Joan Hess — Henrie O.’s holiday / Carolyn G. Hart — Night visitor / Audrey Peterson — Homebodies / Barbara Paul — Happiness is a dead poet / Sharyn McCrumb — The Jersey Lily; or, Make me immortal with a kiss / P. M. Carlson
275 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
8 people are currently reading
983 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Peters
179 books3,303 followersElizabeth Peters is a pen name of Barbara Mertz. She also wrote as Barbara Michaels as well as her own name. Born and brought up in Illinois, she earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago. Mertz was named Grand Master at the inaugural Anthony Awards in 1986 and Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America at the Edgar Awards in 1998. She lived in a historic farmhouse in Frederick, western Maryland until her death.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
May 6, 2022
If I had picked up these books in order and The Perplexing Puzzle of the Perfidious Pigeon Poisoner by Charlotte MacLeod had been my first introduction to the Malice Domestic series, I probably wouldn't have read any further. It tells the story of a female detective trying to solve the mysteries of both the theft of an heirloom pearl necklace, and the poisoning of the local pigeon population. It's a very hammy story with a great deal of cheerfully devoured scenery. Steel yourself for "Great Scott"s, "Good gad"s, and a plethora of superfluously ostentatious vocabulary.
D. R. Meredith's Windkill reads like it pulled right out of a cozy mystery, which is nice, but it's not a cozy that's particularly memorable. A woman accidently cuts her husband's head off performing a tricky maneuver with her stunt kite, but an onlooker is convinced it was murder. We already know who the murderer is, the story is more about the proving of it. Comes complete with 'cops ignoring main character's accusation so character puts herself at the killer's mercy to prove her accusations and narrowly avoids being killed themselves'.
In The Cottonwood Creek Caper by Diane Mott Davidson a schoolboy finds the body of his principal and narrowly avoids becoming the killer's next victim. I realize the summary turned into the same trope I mentioned above, but there's really nothing else to it. He's a kid; he doesn't investigate anything he just hears what the grownups are saying and gets badgered by his friend to go back and show him the crime scene. The plot is simple, the solution caught me off guard but didn't surprise me, and the characters are no more substantial than air.
Angel on the Loose by Valerie Frankel is about missing cats. That's pretty much it. The story is cute, but the back and forth banter is written to be confusing and the thief was unexpected but the motive weak. Comfortable but forgettable.
The Ties That Bind is a L. B. Greenwood tale about estranged relatives who come together to take care of the cat of their disagreeable relation while he's in the hospital, unaware that the cat was already being taken care of, or that any of the others had had the same idea. The girlfriend of one family member misplaces her necklace and the family tries to find it. This one was actually very good, and it might have been much better without that lazy romantic subplot tacked on. The family members were enjoyable to learn about and they reacted to each other in such unique ways that you feel as though they're based on an actual family. The solution was clever, and, barring the subplot between the two teenagers, was an enjoyable read. No real substance, but the writing and characterizations are top quality.
A dead woman's beaten body is found in a gorilla enclosure in Nice Gorilla by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins, where a gorilla who had been locked out all night is found to be behaving distressingly out of character. The keepers and vet are forced o admit that the damage on the body seem to correspond with injuries they'd expect to see on someone attacked by a gorilla, but one keeper notices something about the ape's odd behavior that might have another explanation. One of the better stories here, and interestingly one of two gorilla-centric murder stories in the first two books. Great characters, great plot, great solution. I'd love to see these characters again in a cozy mystery series.
In Take Care of Yourself by Janet LaPierre, Sabrina Shaw is a writer who knows where she's going with her life. She's making the big bucks, living a free and loose lifestyle, and the only thorn in her side is that her previous life is still pinning her down. But when her latest fling, a sexist con man who's misread her as a woman desperate to settle down and start a family and is getting increasingly frustrated follows her to her past's door, Sabrina can't get home fast enough. This one was pretty damn good. It was a little confusing until the end all but spelled it out, since Sabrina is referred to as Marty by her sister and I thought they were separate people, but Sabrina stringing along the sexist Matt was great to read, and the conclusion to his intrusion into her private life threw me for a loop. Great story.
The Last to Know is a story by Joan Hess about the death of husband, and a fellow mother's inuition that the story of infidelity with the wife's best friend doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. In fact, it'd work a lot better with the other side of that triangle. The solution is obvious from the start and the plot isn't memorable. Pass.
I've read a Henrie O book before, so I went into Carolyn G. Hart's Henrie O's Holiday thinking I would have a leg up. But the book I'd read before must have been further in the chronology because while the Henrie O I knew was a determined but lonely and elderly woman, this protagonist was elderly but spry and fiercely independent, and had a gentleman friend to ring up and keep updated on the situation. I think I might actually pick up the series in earnest after reading this one. Henrie O sees a couple with signs pointing to murder. I love her attitude in this one and her willingness to learn from her mistakes.
Night Visitor by Audrey Peterson is about a wife's murder committed shortly after a PI delivers proof of infidelity. The story was alright but the set up was absurd. Another pass.
Homebodies by Barbara Paul is the story of a death in the world's most accident prone family, and the outsider who' convinced it's murder. Holy shit these people should all be living in bubbles. It was a goofy murder mystery, but the family is so nonchalant about its misfortunes and the fiancé so flabbergasted by everybody that it reads easily and is pretty funny. The solution is clever, the characters enjoyable if not memorable (there are way too many to remember anyone, and it seems almost like new family members were invented anytime the writer needed someone injured), and while I wouldn't sit through a full book of this bunch it was still a good read.
In Happiness is a Dead Poet by Sharyn McCrumb a poet is killed at a writer's convention (much as Malice Domestic started as) and the frazzled planning committee begs mystery writer Rose Hanelon to solve it since the police are delayed by a storm. I loved this one. Rose was a great character to read. She turned the standard cozy mystery trope on its ear and knew damn well she wouldn't solve anything and kept pointing this out; it was everyone else who was pushing her to become one of the heroines she created. And the solution, while okay, was made great for the inverted trope of explaining how each suspect could have done it. The characters were fantastic to read and the story very fun.
Now we get to our last story: P. M. Carlson's The Jersey Lily, the title page of my copy of which, after a bit of research and a comparison to a sample on her website, I believe to be autographed by the author herself. It's the standard rich woman hires an impersonator scheme, but the rich woman in question is using her free time to satisfy a blackmailer. But when the double has to go to the meet-up in her place, it becomes the performance of a lifetime. This story was fantastic. The characters were fun, the motivations were understandable and the solution was clever. And I just adore Bridget Mooney and am hoping to find more with this capable heroine.
The verdict? I can't understand why the opening story was so damned weak. Where the authors promised a place before the stories were submitted? Besides that it was a good showing and I'm on the lookout for more from the Malice Domestic collection.
D. R. Meredith's Windkill reads like it pulled right out of a cozy mystery, which is nice, but it's not a cozy that's particularly memorable. A woman accidently cuts her husband's head off performing a tricky maneuver with her stunt kite, but an onlooker is convinced it was murder. We already know who the murderer is, the story is more about the proving of it. Comes complete with 'cops ignoring main character's accusation so character puts herself at the killer's mercy to prove her accusations and narrowly avoids being killed themselves'.
In The Cottonwood Creek Caper by Diane Mott Davidson a schoolboy finds the body of his principal and narrowly avoids becoming the killer's next victim. I realize the summary turned into the same trope I mentioned above, but there's really nothing else to it. He's a kid; he doesn't investigate anything he just hears what the grownups are saying and gets badgered by his friend to go back and show him the crime scene. The plot is simple, the solution caught me off guard but didn't surprise me, and the characters are no more substantial than air.
Angel on the Loose by Valerie Frankel is about missing cats. That's pretty much it. The story is cute, but the back and forth banter is written to be confusing and the thief was unexpected but the motive weak. Comfortable but forgettable.
The Ties That Bind is a L. B. Greenwood tale about estranged relatives who come together to take care of the cat of their disagreeable relation while he's in the hospital, unaware that the cat was already being taken care of, or that any of the others had had the same idea. The girlfriend of one family member misplaces her necklace and the family tries to find it. This one was actually very good, and it might have been much better without that lazy romantic subplot tacked on. The family members were enjoyable to learn about and they reacted to each other in such unique ways that you feel as though they're based on an actual family. The solution was clever, and, barring the subplot between the two teenagers, was an enjoyable read. No real substance, but the writing and characterizations are top quality.
A dead woman's beaten body is found in a gorilla enclosure in Nice Gorilla by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins, where a gorilla who had been locked out all night is found to be behaving distressingly out of character. The keepers and vet are forced o admit that the damage on the body seem to correspond with injuries they'd expect to see on someone attacked by a gorilla, but one keeper notices something about the ape's odd behavior that might have another explanation. One of the better stories here, and interestingly one of two gorilla-centric murder stories in the first two books. Great characters, great plot, great solution. I'd love to see these characters again in a cozy mystery series.
In Take Care of Yourself by Janet LaPierre, Sabrina Shaw is a writer who knows where she's going with her life. She's making the big bucks, living a free and loose lifestyle, and the only thorn in her side is that her previous life is still pinning her down. But when her latest fling, a sexist con man who's misread her as a woman desperate to settle down and start a family and is getting increasingly frustrated follows her to her past's door, Sabrina can't get home fast enough. This one was pretty damn good. It was a little confusing until the end all but spelled it out, since Sabrina is referred to as Marty by her sister and I thought they were separate people, but Sabrina stringing along the sexist Matt was great to read, and the conclusion to his intrusion into her private life threw me for a loop. Great story.
The Last to Know is a story by Joan Hess about the death of husband, and a fellow mother's inuition that the story of infidelity with the wife's best friend doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. In fact, it'd work a lot better with the other side of that triangle. The solution is obvious from the start and the plot isn't memorable. Pass.
I've read a Henrie O book before, so I went into Carolyn G. Hart's Henrie O's Holiday thinking I would have a leg up. But the book I'd read before must have been further in the chronology because while the Henrie O I knew was a determined but lonely and elderly woman, this protagonist was elderly but spry and fiercely independent, and had a gentleman friend to ring up and keep updated on the situation. I think I might actually pick up the series in earnest after reading this one. Henrie O sees a couple with signs pointing to murder. I love her attitude in this one and her willingness to learn from her mistakes.
Night Visitor by Audrey Peterson is about a wife's murder committed shortly after a PI delivers proof of infidelity. The story was alright but the set up was absurd. Another pass.
Homebodies by Barbara Paul is the story of a death in the world's most accident prone family, and the outsider who' convinced it's murder. Holy shit these people should all be living in bubbles. It was a goofy murder mystery, but the family is so nonchalant about its misfortunes and the fiancé so flabbergasted by everybody that it reads easily and is pretty funny. The solution is clever, the characters enjoyable if not memorable (there are way too many to remember anyone, and it seems almost like new family members were invented anytime the writer needed someone injured), and while I wouldn't sit through a full book of this bunch it was still a good read.
In Happiness is a Dead Poet by Sharyn McCrumb a poet is killed at a writer's convention (much as Malice Domestic started as) and the frazzled planning committee begs mystery writer Rose Hanelon to solve it since the police are delayed by a storm. I loved this one. Rose was a great character to read. She turned the standard cozy mystery trope on its ear and knew damn well she wouldn't solve anything and kept pointing this out; it was everyone else who was pushing her to become one of the heroines she created. And the solution, while okay, was made great for the inverted trope of explaining how each suspect could have done it. The characters were fantastic to read and the story very fun.
Now we get to our last story: P. M. Carlson's The Jersey Lily, the title page of my copy of which, after a bit of research and a comparison to a sample on her website, I believe to be autographed by the author herself. It's the standard rich woman hires an impersonator scheme, but the rich woman in question is using her free time to satisfy a blackmailer. But when the double has to go to the meet-up in her place, it becomes the performance of a lifetime. This story was fantastic. The characters were fun, the motivations were understandable and the solution was clever. And I just adore Bridget Mooney and am hoping to find more with this capable heroine.
The verdict? I can't understand why the opening story was so damned weak. Where the authors promised a place before the stories were submitted? Besides that it was a good showing and I'm on the lookout for more from the Malice Domestic collection.
June 24, 2018
Fantastic audiobook. My favorites are Windkill, Nice Gorilla, Henrie O’s Holiday, and Homebodies. In fact, Homebodies is one of the funniest short stories I have ever heard or read. The reader for Homebodies really does an awesome job.
May 5, 2018
A few of the stories in this anthology were great. My two favorites were "Henrie O.'s Holiday", by Carolyn Hart, and "The Jersey Lily," by P.M. Carlson. The first features a spunky elderly lady determined to avert an imminent murder, and the second features a spunky young lady determined to thwart a blackmailer from ruining the career of Lillie Langtry. Both are excellent. I also enjoyed "Nice Gorilla," by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins (about a gorilla accused of murder), "Happiness is a Dead Poet", by Sharyn McCrumb (about a poet murdered at a literary convention), and "Homebodies", by Barbara Paul (a man meets his fiancee's bonkers - and possibly murderous - family).
The rest of the anthology was less interesting to me, but it was all more or less okay. I didn't skip any of the stories, anyway.
The rest of the anthology was less interesting to me, but it was all more or less okay. I didn't skip any of the stories, anyway.
August 29, 2025
Like every other anthology this book had also turned out to be a mixed bag. There were several stories that had almost compelled me to give up on this collection. But persistence, like every other field in life, eventually paid off. Consequently I came to know about certain authors who have completely vanished from reading scenario by now, but had definitely penned highly readable stuff three decades ago.
I wouldn't waste words on the duds. My favourites, apart from the introductory 'An Idea Whose Time Had Come' by Elizabeth Peters, were~
1. "The Perplexing Puzzle of the Perfidious Pigeon Poisoner" by Charlotte MacLeod: Too wordy and pretentious, but witty enough to carry on.
2. "Windkill" by D.R. Meredith: Wonderful story in terms of characterisation, dialogues, research, and witty execution. Tried to find out a collection of the author's stories, but couldn't find one.
3. "Angel on the Loose" by Valerie Frankel: A classic example of cozy mystery. Loved it.
4. "Nice Gorilla" by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins: This story won an Agatha Award. Huge respect.
5. "Henrie O's Holiday" by Carolyn G. Hart: This one got me totally hooked onto the sixty-plus, smart, sassy and ruthless protagonist. Plan to devour all novels having her as the investigator.
6. "Night Visitor" by Audrey Peterson: Short, very nicely crafted story. Couldn't find any collection of her works anywhere.
7. "Homebodies" by Barbara Paul: The most laugh-out-loud murder mystery that I have read in recent times. Why didn't the author pen more such works?
Rest were either overlong works from people who didn't understand the idea of 'malice domestic' or simply overwrote their tales. But in general, this was a very good collection.
Recommended to lovers of cozy mysteries.
I wouldn't waste words on the duds. My favourites, apart from the introductory 'An Idea Whose Time Had Come' by Elizabeth Peters, were~
1. "The Perplexing Puzzle of the Perfidious Pigeon Poisoner" by Charlotte MacLeod: Too wordy and pretentious, but witty enough to carry on.
2. "Windkill" by D.R. Meredith: Wonderful story in terms of characterisation, dialogues, research, and witty execution. Tried to find out a collection of the author's stories, but couldn't find one.
3. "Angel on the Loose" by Valerie Frankel: A classic example of cozy mystery. Loved it.
4. "Nice Gorilla" by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins: This story won an Agatha Award. Huge respect.
5. "Henrie O's Holiday" by Carolyn G. Hart: This one got me totally hooked onto the sixty-plus, smart, sassy and ruthless protagonist. Plan to devour all novels having her as the investigator.
6. "Night Visitor" by Audrey Peterson: Short, very nicely crafted story. Couldn't find any collection of her works anywhere.
7. "Homebodies" by Barbara Paul: The most laugh-out-loud murder mystery that I have read in recent times. Why didn't the author pen more such works?
Rest were either overlong works from people who didn't understand the idea of 'malice domestic' or simply overwrote their tales. But in general, this was a very good collection.
Recommended to lovers of cozy mysteries.
April 8, 2023
Unread shelf project 2023: book 45.
Ahh! I won’t break this down by every short story, but as a whole, this was a fantastic volume for light reading. Some of the stories were fluff (Pigeon Poisoner, I’m looking at you!) but still fun. I don’t think I’d rate one of these stories below a 3/5 and most were higher than that.
I have the next 2 in this “collection series” and I’m excited to see if they live up to the hype!
Ahh! I won’t break this down by every short story, but as a whole, this was a fantastic volume for light reading. Some of the stories were fluff (Pigeon Poisoner, I’m looking at you!) but still fun. I don’t think I’d rate one of these stories below a 3/5 and most were higher than that.
I have the next 2 in this “collection series” and I’m excited to see if they live up to the hype!
November 12, 2019
Fun little short stories...about MURDER!
Read
May 16, 2020It feels to me like a collection of mystery stories that try too hard to sound like something different instead of letting the uniqueness unfold from within.
September 9, 2020
nice collection. good readers
January 1, 2022
Murder mystery short story anthologies are fucking DELIGHTFUL. This one is no exception. I look forward to more!
Read
January 16, 2022Read as a teenager
April 30, 2024
Collection of short stories. Really liked the last two, “Happiness is a Dead Poet” and “The Jersey Lily”. The rest were not my cup of tea.
January 1, 2025
Not my favorite collection. I’ve read and loved many of these authors but these aren’t the stories I’d choose.
December 31, 2024
Short stories, but all good.
275 pages
275 pages
June 12, 2024
A really solid collection of (mostly) entertaining stories. Recommended.
February 4, 2024
Nice selection of cozy mystery short stories.
February 1, 2015
"What qualified a mystery as a Malice Domestic mystery? 'Malice is self-explanatory, I trust', write the acclaimed Elizabeth Peters in her introduction to this outstanding collection. 'Domestic distinguishes the personal and private aspects of crime from the publoic and impersonal. Our murderers don't kill for the fun of it (serial killers) or for a misguided ideal (assassins and terrorists) or for pay (hired hit men). They only do in people they know and love (or hate)."
~~back cover
A charming collection that showcases the variety available to the human mind and imagination. Of course I liked some better than others, but the star of the show is Nice GorillaM/i> by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins, and is the reason I gave 4 stars instead of 3.
~~back cover
A charming collection that showcases the variety available to the human mind and imagination. Of course I liked some better than others, but the star of the show is Nice GorillaM/i> by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins, and is the reason I gave 4 stars instead of 3.
May 16, 2013
My mom gave this to me last month. I find rating short story collections from multiple authors difficult, because the better stories get dragged down by the not-great ones. This was good, not exciting, some authors I might check out in the future, other stories have already faded from my memory. Not in the league of Christie, and the cover says the collection is in homage to her. Most not long enough to make a true mystery, short murder stories are not easy to craft and not all succeeded.
Time for it to move along to another home so we have more space in ours.
Time for it to move along to another home so we have more space in ours.
May 21, 2014
I found this to be an especially uneven collection. I almost stopped reading it halfway through because many of the stories in the middle were cliched and forgettable, but there were a few that were truly enjoyable and well crafted. Most of my favorite stories were actually in the back third, so I'm glad I didn't give up on them. The best stories balanced reasonably tight mystery plots with a good dollop of humor and tidbits of weird trivia. Overall, it made good bathtub reading, if it didn't quite qualify as great.
December 22, 2014
This was a very good short story mystery series. Many well known authors contributed to this anthology including Sharyn McCrumb and Diane Mott Davidson. All the mysteries are family member related in some way. This was a fun listen.
October 11, 2010
I love mystery books and this one is great because the stories are short and perfect before bed reading. Some stories I liked better than others. Lots of different authors I had never heard of before.
November 21, 2012
Of course the stories varied - some were better than others, but overall, I enjoyed this book. I listened to the mp3 version on my iPod as I walked for exercise, and it was perfect for that - allowing for breaks without losing continuity.
October 23, 2013
This is a cozy little book for when you're in the mood for tea and mystery. I've had this little book since 1994. I'm looking to find more like this for light reading. I usually read classics or noir fiction.
June 24, 2014
If you like cozy mysteries, this is a fantastic collection, with not a loser in the batch. You could tell as much, of course, from the names of the writers involved, from Sharyn McCrumb to Joan Hess to Charlotte MacLeod. Delightful reading.
January 22, 2012
Interesting little mysteries. A quick, relaxing read.
April 23, 2013
Excellent authors, some clever stories, not their most memorable!
August 21, 2013
A little, light fun. Quality and interest of stories varies.
March 24, 2016
Fun collection of cozy mysteries of all kinds.
January 22, 2016
I'm a sucker for a good anthology and this series is great. I love finding new authors and reading an anthology fits the bill.
May 25, 2016
Grade: C-
Reviewing the audiobook version. Couldn't finish two of the stories--performances were too grating. The other stories were pleasantly diverting.
Reviewing the audiobook version. Couldn't finish two of the stories--performances were too grating. The other stories were pleasantly diverting.
November 2, 2016
A fun collection of stories!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews