Review: THE BUTLER, Clare Mackintosh

• 
  This edition from my local library
  
• Published in 2026 by Podium Publishing
• ISBN 979-8-3470-0926-8
• 199 pages  

Synopsis (Amazon)

The South of France is stunning, though not without its imperfections, from pickpockets to burglars to the occasional cold-blooded killer. But in his twenty-five years of service, Baxter—with a spotless reputation as a polished, well-mannered butler—has never run into any issues catering to the ultrawealthy. Until now.

Baxter’s latest assignment is at Villa Sérénité, where Alec Prescott is hosting a colorful cast of characters, including his ex-wife, his much younger lady friend, and some Hollywood hotshots, after the Cannes Film Festival. But it doesn’t take long for a week of sun, wine, and a family birthday celebration to devolve into bickering and backstabbing. And soon, secrets aren’t the only thing floating to the surface . . .

When one of the guests is found dead in the villa’s glittering pool, the unflappable Baxter must assist the gendarmes in determining who’s responsible. With some standing to gain and others motivated to take it away, fingers are pointed in all directions. A good butler is expected to see everything and say nothing—but what if he too becomes a target?

My Take

The family from hell is celebrating a 21st birthday until one of them ends up on the bottom of the pool. The local police don't have much time to solve the murder but they tell the remaining members of the family they can't leave until the murderer is nabbed. There is a touch of humour when Baxter the butler enlists a local pickpocket to help him work out who committed the murder.  

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.6, I LET YOU GO
• 4.4, LET ME LIE 

Review: LET ME LIE, Clare Mackintosh

• this edition published by Sphere in 2018
• ISBN 978-0-7515-6487-7
• 390 pages
• source: my local library
• author website

Synopsis (author website)

The police say it was suicide.
Anna says it was murder.
They’re both wrong.

One year ago, Caroline Johnson chose to end her life brutally: a shocking suicide planned to match that of her husband just months before. Their daughter, Anna, has struggled to come to terms with their loss ever since.

Now with a young baby of her own, Anna misses her mother more than ever and starts to ask questions about her parents’ deaths. But by digging up the past, is she putting her future in danger? Sometimes it’s safer to let things lie . . .

My Take

Anna Johnson is a wealthy young woman, a young mother, with a baby just 2 months old, conceived after her mother dies. The father of her daughter is the grief counsellor she saw after her mother died.

In the last 18 months both her father and her mother have committed suicide by jumping off Beachy Head, with her mother's death apparently a copycat of her father's. Now, 12 months to the day, Anna gets a card in the post questioning whether her mother's death was suicide.

She reports to the card to the police, to Murray, an ex-detective now assisting at the police station as a civilian. Murray remembers the suicides, seven months apart, and decides to do a little investigation of his own.

The structure of the book builds the suspense, with several points of view: Anna's, Murray's and then an unidentified voice who appears to be one of the suicides. Anna becomes convinced that someone is telling her that her mother was murdered, possibly her father too.

Very readable.

My Rating: 4.4

I've also read 4.6, I LET YOU GO

Review: I LET YOU GO, Clare Mackintosh

• first published in Great Britain in 2014 by Sphere
• ISBN 978-0-7515-5416-8
• 370 pages
• Source: my local library

Synopsis (Publisher)

A tragic accident. It all happened so quickly. She couldn't have prevented it. Could she?

In a split second, Jenna Gray's world descends into a nightmare. Her only hope of moving on is to walk away from everything she knows to start afresh. Desperate to escape, Jenna moves to a remote cottage on the Welsh coast, but she is haunted by her fears, her grief and her memories of a cruel November night that changed her life forever.

Slowly, Jenna begins to glimpse the potential for happiness in her future. But her past is about to catch up with her, and the consequences will be devastating . . .

My Take

The story is narrated through a number of voices. The beginning is a hit and run accident on a wet night in which a 5 year old, Jacob, is killed while crossing a surburban road in Bristol with his mother.

The case is assigned to Detective Inspector Ray Stevens and his team but it is one of those accidents that has no witnesses and the boy's mother is unable to give any details of the vehicle.

The title is inevitably a focus of this book, because the mother did let go the little boy's hand as he ran across the road to their house. But not all of the voices tie in well with the title, and that is where the plot twist comes in. On the back cover Peter James terms the plot twist "astonishing" and I'd have to agree: it certainly took me in.

An excellent read. Recommended.

My rating: 4.6