Murder at Mallowan Hall

Phyllida Bright Mystery Series, Book 1

By: Colleen Cambridge

Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon

Tucked away among Devon's rolling green hills, Mallowan Hall combines the best of English tradition with the modern conveniences of 1930. Housekeeper Phyllida Bright, as efficient as she is personable, manages the large household with an iron fist in her very elegant glove. In one respect, however, Mallowan Hall stands far apart from other picturesque country houses....

The manor is home to archaeologist Max Mallowan and his famous wife, Agatha Christie. Phyllida is both loyal to and protective of the crime writer, who is as much friend as employer. An aficionado of detective fiction, Phyllida has yet to find a gentleman in real life half as fascinating as Mrs. Agatha's Belgian hero, Hercule Poirot. But though accustomed to murder and its methods as frequent topics of conversation, Phyllida is unprepared for the sight of a very real, very dead body on the library floor....

It soon becomes clear that the victim arrived at Mallowan Hall under false pretenses during a weekend party. Now, Phyllida not only has a houseful of demanding guests on her hands - along with a distracted, anxious staff - but hordes of reporters camping outside. When another dead body is discovered - this time, one of her housemaids - Phyllida decides to follow in M. Poirot's footsteps to determine which of the Mallowans' guests is the killer.

©2021 Colleen Cambridge (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Who done it?

Fun, easy, British based read that kept you guessing. Light hearted but definitely a murder mystery.

Humility is nonexistent with Phyllida

I love British murder mystery novels and I love Agatha Christie. That being said, I did not love this book. The arrogance and self-righteousness of Phyllida is extraordinary off putting and makes for a tiresome listen. The plot was fine but I was bothered with how Agatha Christie was portrayed. It was too much for Agatha’s housekeeper to be the one seemingly smarter than everyone else.

The narrator Jennifer M. Dixon has an exquisite voice which I could listen to all day long. However, Ms. Dixon is much older than the characters in this book so it makes for a confusing mental image of Phyllida when paired with the voice.

A unusual but totally fun mystery

What fun to read an Agatha Christie mystery where Agatha is but a minor character, and her housekeeper with a mysterious background is the clever sleuth.
i enjoyed listening to this audiobook as well because the narrator was very good.

solid mystery

I enjoyed this book very much. The mystery was solid and held my interest until the end. The narrator was good although there were several times when she ran out of air before the sentence was done. The editing was not as seamless as I expect from Audible.

Murder at Mallowan Hall

I could almost believe Agatha Christie wrote the book herself!! I loved it! I will continue on with the series!!

Note to narrator

Swallow your spit! No one wants to hear you talk with a mouthful of saliva.

Interesting murder with fun twists

Loved the way the mystery was unfolded. Lots of great development of the main characters.

Excellent reading by Jennifer

The reader was perfect for the story. I thoroughly enjoyed the listening! The plot and characters were interesting enough and the writer didn’t spend time being repetitive- which I appreciated. However, the plot did default to the usual in the end- which was disappointing for me.

Not bad

I just do no like the way Mrs Bright treats the dog. It is very close to abuse

Original and clever premise

Fun, atmospheric, well structured mystery in the style of Agatha Christie but still manages to be contemporary in its sentiment. I immediately looked for other books by this author.
Narrator was brilliant.