Murder at Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge was published in 2021. The fifth book in the Phyllida Bright series, Two Truths and a Murder, was published in October 2025.
Our Sleuth: Phyllida Bright befriended Agatha Miller during the Great War (World War I), when Agatha worked at a medical dispensary and Phyllida was a nurse’s aide before being sent to the front lines. Fast forward a few years and Phyllida is housekeeper to Agatha, now the celebrated mystery writer Agatha Christie and wife of archaeologist Max Mallowan.
The Setting: We’re at Mallowan Hall, a “modest” manor house with 15 guest rooms set in the rolling hills of Devonshire, not far from Cornwall, in the southwestern tip of England. It’s the 1930s, so the house has running water, indoor toilets and electric lights. For comparison’s sake, the Downtown Abbey TV series and movies stretch from 1912 to 1930.
The Premise: In the opening chapter of the series debut, Phyllida discovers a body in Agatha Christie’s library, a man with a fountain pen thrust into his neck. It’s the start of a weekend house party and there’s no evidence that an outsider has gained access to the relatively remote home. When Phyllida and Agatha discuss the death, Agatha makes it clear that she has no interest in solving the mystery on her own — though she makes note of the “body in the library” idea, purportedly a precursor to Christie’s 1942 novel of the same name starring Miss Marple. This exchange leads Phyllida to follow her idol Hercule Poirot and put her little grey cells to work in solving the crime.
My Take: References to Agatha Christie, the bestselling mystery writer of all time, abound in detective fiction today. Including her name in a novel — or better yet, on a book cover — can help an author break through the thousands of mystery novels published in a typical year. Not all authors use Christie’s name well; I recall reading a novel featuring a Hercule Poirot-style detective and recoiling at the graphic gore in its pages.
But Colleen Cambridge has done her homework. Fans of Christie will find a methodically researched mystery true to the time period and Christie’s own style of traditional mystery, with a smart detective and a twist ending. Even better, Cambridge includes a diverse cast of characters (let’s reserve discussions of the racism in Christie’s work for another day).
Opening Lines:
“Phyllida Bright had seen her share of bodies during the Great War, so when she discovered the dead man sprawled on the floor, it didn’t even occur to her to scream. The unanticipated sight did elicit a quiet gasp of surprise and then a rush of concern, with exasperation following quickly on its heels. As if I didn’t have enough to manage today, she thought, as her battlefield nurse’s training kicked in and she knelt to ascertain whether the man was, in fact, actually dead.”
Heads Up: Christie is a side character in this series, with Phyllida being the main focus. That works because Phyllida is a fascinating mix of contradictions with a mysterious past. We learn little about her, even her age. We know she’s likely in her 30s, with bright strawberry gold hair, and she runs her employer’s household with rigor and compassion.
Etc.: If you love traditional mysteries like those written by Christie, be sure to check out the Agatha awards given yearly at the Malice Domestic conference. Award winners are mysteries in the Christie vein, with little to no gore, sex or gratuitous violence on the page.
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