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Death and the Lit Chick
(St. Just Mystery #2)
by
Wildly successful chick lit mystery writer Kimberlee Kalder is the guest of honor at an exclusive writers' conference at Dalmorton Castle in Scotland. But the fun ends when Kimberlee is found dead at the bottom of the castle's bottle dungeon. Who didn't want to see prima donna Kimberlee brutally extinguished like one of her ill-fated characters? It's up to Detective Chief
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Start your review of Death and the Lit Chick (St. Just Mystery #2)
A wonderful mystery in the style of Agatha Christie, this book includes an enormous cast of characters that, surprisingly, is not confusing. The author includes a long, detailed cast list at the beginning of the book and, at first glance, I thought I would not be able to keep up with them all. However, the author introduces each of them well and begins to weave an intricate web of interconnectedness that is fascinating and really hard to put down. I read this in one long Sunday afternoon and fee
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Huh-larious. From the woman who brought us Death and the Cozy Writer comes a new installment of murder among spectacularly absurd people. This time they’re an assortment of mystery writers at a conference at some Scottish castle. Most of them have a motive for killing the star of the conference, a hack arriviste whose books are obviously inferior and yet, inexplicably, sell better. (The cow probably didn’t even write them herself!) To add insult to injury, she is also a blond knockout who’s abou
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There were holes in the plot big enough to drive a bulldozer through but since it's a farce from start to finish I guess it's okay. It was amusing although I didn't enjoy this one as much as I did the first one.
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I always enjoy G.M. Malliet's writing and I love her contribution to fun fiction detectives, St. Just. Death and the Lit Chick is the second in the St. Just series and it is a pleasurable English manor mystery, when the manor is filled with mystery writers desperate to be published and one young beautiful author who has scored a major hit with a cross-over genre: mystery a la chick lit a la roman a clef. Everybody has reasons to hate Kimberlee so when she is murdered, the problem is too many peo
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"Wildly successful chick lit mystery writer Kimberlee Kalder is the guest of honor at an exclusive writers' conference at Dalmorton Castle in Scotland. But the fun ends when Kimberlee is found dead at the bottom of the castle's bottle dungeon. Who didn't want to see prima donna Kimberlee brutally extinguished like one of her ill-fated characters? It's up to Detective Chief Inspector St. Just to track down the true killer in a castle full of cagey mystery connoisseurs who live and breathe malicio
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Entertaining mystery set in an atmospheric Scottish castle turned hotel - chock full of turrets, priest holes, a moat & drawbridge, and a bottle dungeon. Three stars for the murder mystery and one extra star for the awesome setting. I have to admit, I am loving G. M. Malliet's characters & story endings!
On to the next . . . ...more
On to the next . . . ...more
What I am enjoying most about this series is how well the author lampoons the subject group. In the first book it was the English aristocracy, in this one it is writers, crime writers in particular. I find it so enjoyable how the characters are written to show the worst of these groups, yet it is all still surrounded by a jolly good crime and a really fun yarn.
Inspector St. Just of Cambridge has the dubious honor of presenting a panel at a mystery writers' conference, which includes a stay at the historic Dalmorton Castle in Scotland along with several authors and publicists from the Drawn Dagger (I think that was the name) publishing house. Among them is the gorgeous and poisonous Kimberlee Kalder, who shot to fame and fortune with her chick lit mystery, 'Dying for a Latte.' Everyone at the castle, it seems has some reason to hate Kimberlee, so it's
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Okay so started this novel before an international trip and finished it on the plane and didnt really like the ending, it seemed rushed and contrived to me and the story had so much promise..Okay so this is a mystery along the same vein of one of my favorite mysteries And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie with the smart and thought provoking premise of a group of mystery writers convening in a castle when one particularly annoying author is murderered and because of the eerie secluded sett
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This is the first narrated audiobook I've tried (I've listened to books before, but using the entertainly unmusical and robotic voice that comes with my phone). It's quite difficult to separate my opinion of the book from the narration - I'm fairly sure the story would have read slightly differently to me if I'd read it instead of listened to it.
However, I can listen to books during my day job! I'm trialling a Scribd subscription, which makes audiobooks not so financially steep a prospect.
This i ...more
However, I can listen to books during my day job! I'm trialling a Scribd subscription, which makes audiobooks not so financially steep a prospect.
This i ...more
So how many mysteries have you read where a gaggle of authors head to a conference and one of the dies? Yep. In this one, however, the author seems to be having a bit of fun with us by reviving some classic British mystery scenes and adding cell phones and laptops. I knew instantly where the book was going but the writing was bright and amusing enough to keep me on board. The ending was a bit "meh" but it could have been much worse. I shudder to think of, perhaps, a hot summer day where our hero
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This is not actually a chick lit book. It starts a male detective trying to solve a murder at a mystery writer's conference. It is pretty good, and has some funny moments based around writing a mystery staring characters who write mysteries. However, the big reveal was based largely around not mentioning certain details to the reader. Sure, that made it harder to guess one of our conspirators, but it's the cheap way to do it.
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Jun 18, 2010
Alisonpaddock
added it
I enjoyed this second-in-a-series book. It was a new take on the country house murder. The detective was interesting, the other characters rather broadly drawn. For light mystery entertainment, I think I would try G. M. Malliet again. This was a good antidote to Cold Granite by Stuart MacBride. There is even a line in Lit Chick refering to most current British crime fiction as "tres, tres noir" which Cold Granite definitely is.
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Wonderful! So glad I got this book at Malice! Can't wait to read the one before this and the one after now. Arthur St. Just is a really good character and the send off of the mystery-writing field is hilarious. Really recommend.
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G.M. Malliet won all kinds of nominations and awards for the first in the series. With the second, she's going to do it again. Love St. Just.
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I loved this book. Witty, great characters, intrigue, and entertaining. Exactly what I needed.
This book was a lot of fun and the denouement was surprising.
It was alright; though I would have preferred the murder to happen earlier. The prologue was boring and unnecessary- although the epilogue was okay.
Amazing as usual!!! Can't wait to get to the next of the series.
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The is the first of the 'St Just' series I have come across and I'm not greatly impressed. It's effectively a country house murder in a snowstorm kind of plot, but set in a Scottish castle turned into a hotel surrounded by a moat which is accessed across a drawbridge which is raised at night. Needless to say, the murder takes place when the drawbridge is raised and cannot be lowered due to a power failure. Those in the hotel are an assortment of crime writers, literary agents and general hangers
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This was a fun read. The author pokes fun at the chick-lit genre in a book that is arguably chick-lit. I don't think the irony is lost on Malliet. It doesn't take itself too seriously and that made the book even more amusing and funny. For example, a main character who faced an ill fate is named "Kimberlee;" the characters snark at her dreadful name which we as readers are likely doing as well. A classic who-done-it ensues and there are plenty of suspects among the jealous and cut-throat crowd o
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I'm giving this 4 stars because I once again failed to pinpoint the murderer. This may be partly due to the fact I occasionally tune this out when I'm listening and doing other things (I find this does happen with audiobooks), and it may be due somewhat to the narrator's voice (it lulls me), but I'm going to give credit that it may also be due to the writer.
I'm not overly impressed with this series simply because both books have been focused on writers and their lives, with a lot of what feels ...more
I'm not overly impressed with this series simply because both books have been focused on writers and their lives, with a lot of what feels ...more
Great writing style and humorous homage to the genre. Well, to several genres. Clever and fun, but points taken away for what I took to be a pointless romantic addition/sideplot and (view spoiler). Still, there was enough there to make me request the first one from th
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I'd rate this 3.5, actually. I have always wanted to be a published writer, so a mystery set at a writer's convention caught my interest. The characters are fairly stock issue. The injections of overwrought prose are cringingly entertaining.
St. Just is invited to attend a writer's convention at a remote Scottish castle. The guests include a new money making chic lit author, a reporter, a an assortment of other authors, some rather past the due date, agents, and publishers. Everyone despises Kimb ...more
St. Just is invited to attend a writer's convention at a remote Scottish castle. The guests include a new money making chic lit author, a reporter, a an assortment of other authors, some rather past the due date, agents, and publishers. Everyone despises Kimb ...more
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 mi
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Again, a probably higher star rating that would otherwise be the case because I love the setting - a writers' convention. Having attended my fair share of Star Trek conventions, I really enjoy books set in a similar milieu. I also found the characters excellent and hilarious - nothing like a hearty laugh along with your murder mystery. Truly enjoyed this one.
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Set in a medieval Scottish castle during a mystery writers convention, Detective St. Just, there to give a talk on real crime, must step in to lead an investigation when a murder occurs amongst them. I found this funny, especially how all the mystery writers put their own spin on their alibis' and their take on the murder. It's the 2nd in the St. Just cozy mystery series. I liked the book.
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Didn’t like this as much as the first one in the series even though it had a castle setting.!
Mostly because I thought the St.. Just and Portia relationship was thrown in rather than developed in kind of thoughtful, believable way. Too quick.
I’ll try one more though as the mystery about mystery writers was kind of fun.
Mostly because I thought the St.. Just and Portia relationship was thrown in rather than developed in kind of thoughtful, believable way. Too quick.
I’ll try one more though as the mystery about mystery writers was kind of fun.
I liked Detective St. Jude's character, but all in all I felt that this book dragged on and on. By the end I had lost interest in the characters and didn't really have any interest in discovering the killer.
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I read this right after the first book in the series but I didn’t enjoy it as much. As a mystery it was ok but there was a sad feel to the story and people. Not as much zaniness or humor. I will try a third one tho.
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G.M. Malliet is the Agatha Award-winning author of the St. Just mysteries, the Max Tudor mysteries, the standalone suspense novel WEYCOMBE , and numerous short stories collected in crime anthologies or published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and The Strand.
Agatha Christie is the main inspiration for her writing. Her modern-day favorites include Ruth Ware and Tana French; her TV favorites range ...more
Agatha Christie is the main inspiration for her writing. Her modern-day favorites include Ruth Ware and Tana French; her TV favorites range ...more
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St. Just Mystery
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“[From p. 70 of the Midnight Ink paperback.]
"You have to have a corpse by page fifty-seven. Page seventy at the absolute outside."
"Says who?'
"Why, so says everyone. It's the industry standard."
[There has been, as yet, no corpse.]”
—
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"You have to have a corpse by page fifty-seven. Page seventy at the absolute outside."
"Says who?'
"Why, so says everyone. It's the industry standard."
[There has been, as yet, no corpse.]”
