Ten years ago, I picked Jodi Taylor’s first Chronicles of St. Mary’s book, Just One Damn Thing After Another, as one of my favorite books of 2016. Taylor was one of my discoveries that year. She had already written 7.6 titles (books and short stories) in the series by that year. There are now fourteen books and more short stories in the series, including Taylor’s Christmas story from 2025, “Murder at Martingale Manor”. If you’ve never met Taylor’s disaster-prone historians, including Dr. Lucy (Max) Maxwell, you might enjoy the comic “don’t ever call it time travel” adventures of the team.
Max, the Chief Operating Officer of St. Mary’s Priory, is recovering in Sick Bay from her latest travel to 1483, where she was shot and on fire. When her husband, Leon Farrell, visits, he has a surprise for her, a Christmas trip back to Devon in 1924, to an isolated manor for an Agatha Christie-type holiday. Leon hopes for a nice comfortable country hotel, good food, peace and quiet. Ha! They’re both from St. Mary’s. What could go wrong?
It doesn’t take long for Max to identify the typical cast of a Christie country house mystery. There’s the older woman, the absent-minded clergyman, the doctor, the military man, and the charming young couple. It’s all comfortable with great food until a body falls from a balcony and lands in front of Max. And, the only one without a cast-iron alibi is Leon. According to Max, “Agatha Christie is all very entertaining until it happens to you.”
Taylor’s latest story is a fun homage to Christie. Any of us who read her mysteries will recognize the characters and the setting. Taylor’s ending, including both wrap-ups, is humorous and perfect. You can actually start with any of her books about the disaster-prone historians. Or, maybe you might want to try her Time Police books. I’m waiting for the first in her new spin-off series, The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal. It features a “not-so-ladylike aristocrat” and an unlikely butler as time-traveling bounty hunters, or, as they say, “recovery agents”. Taylor’s wordplay, humor, and unusual look at history just works for me.
“Murder at Martingale Manor” by Jodi Taylor. Headline, 2025. 105p.
FTC Full Disclosure – I bought and downloaded the short story.
I’m a big fan of this series, but I’ve fallen a number of books behind, though I think I might have some on the Kindle. I definitely have not read this one, but I should, real soon, right? Thanks for the reminder.
I think it cost me 99 cents on Kindle, Jeff. This one was fun with the Agatha Christie twist. Oh, I’m all over the place with this series. I read some, own some, pick up one here and there. I don’t think I’ve read any in order since I first started.
Funny, I think Jodi Taylor is funny and clever, but I haven’t managed to read her various series in order, either. After reading the first three in the first series, I started getting behind and eventually began another of her series. Nice to know she has novellas/short stories, too.
She also has (at least) three collections of the short stories, one a Christmas story collection.
That is funny, Kim, that neither of us read her in order. But, I may have to look for her Christmas story collection that Jeff mentioned. I love Christmas short stories.