Murder at Mallowan Hall (Phyllida Bright Mystery #1)
Colleen Cambridge (Author), Jennifer M. Dixon (Narrator)

I feel conflicted about this audiobook. I did enjoy it and I definitely want to listen to book #2, in the future. Phyllida, the head housekeeper of Mallowan Hall, is a shrewd, judgmental woman, with flashy, bright, hair always, and flashy clothes when off duty. But she also knows exactly how to carry herself while doing her job, until she loses all sense of her work boundaries when a body is found in the library. Once she is on the trail of a murderer, Phyllida interferes with evidence and impedes the official investigation because she thinks she is the one who can deduce who committed the crime. Is there something in her past that makes her feel she is the person for the job, or is it because she's read all of Agatha Christie's books, that gives her the impression she knows how to do murder investigations better than Scotland Yard?

Behind the scenes, Phyllida isn't just the head housekeeper but is actually Agatha Christie's best friend, confidante, and equal. It seems Agatha has faith in Phyllida finding the murderer and possibly Agatha leans heavily on Phyllida's advice and input when thinking up ways to kill people, for her novels. I'd like to know more about Phyllida's past because there are hints of something interesting back there that would cause a friend of Agatha Christie to be happy to hide behind the anonymity of a head housekeeper job.

The two things that hold me back on rating the book higher are part of what make this an "Agatha Christie" mystery type story. One is that there was so many characters, all with potential to be the murderer, that I could not keep up with them. The other thing is that to illustrate just how honed in to detail that Phyllida is, just like Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, the story gets bogged down in details that almost stop it in it's tracks. The most glaring example is the extremely detailed description of the bar owner, who is very much a minor side character. I wish Phyllida's talents and character could be presented with a lot fewer words.

My favorite part of the story is the relationship, as cantankerous as it is, between Phyllida and Bradford, the unkempt, not to be put in his place, chauffeur. I'd like to see more of them and their oil and water characters together. The more Phyllida tries to ignore Bradford the worse she is at it. Just like Phyllida, Bradford appears to have a past that would be very interesting to know and I hope we learn more in the next book in this series. I enjoyed Jennifer M. Dixon's narration of this story, which fit the setting and time period very well.

Thank you to HighBridge Audio and NetGalley for this ARC.

I only got a short part of the way through this book before the narrator body-shamed Agatha Christie (one of the main characters) in a big way, stating the author had recently fallen ill on an archaeological trip with her husband, subsequently losing about 15 pounds and was looking "slim and healthy." This is a really gross and harmful message for women and a completely unnecessary detail for the book. I had no desire to read on.