Reviews for Numbers in the Bible
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
After a ruinous dismissal, professional butler Baxter is forced to contract with a slightly shady luxury vacation broker. His first client, Alec Prescott, has rented Villa Sérénité in Cannes to celebrate his son Carter’s birthday. But he’s twisted the villa’s name to irony by waiting until the flight to tell his girlfriend that his ex-wife Sylvie and Hollywood royal couple Francesca and Damian Huxley would be joining them. Baxter is resigned to smoothing feathers and creating buffers, especially after Alec commits a spectacular array of misdeeds, including assaulting the housekeeper, threatening to disown his son, and randomly announcing his girlfriend’s pregnancy. Understandably, the reactions are complicated when Alec’s body is found. Cannes’ detectives believe that he was murdered by local thieves, but Baxter discovers clues pointing to an inside job. With the help of savvy young pickpocket Red, Baxter sets a trap to unmask the killer. Like Macintosh’s DC Morgan series, this character-driven locked-room mystery reads like a warm hug, but with the added allure of downstairs perspectives on luxury living.
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
When death strikes a posh house party, the consummate manservant turns amateur detective. A brief prologue sets the scene for Mackintosh’s whodunit, describing a luxury villa on the outskirts of Cannes, where a corpse lies undiscovered on the bottom of the sparkling swimming pool (“right in the center, little more than a dark shadow against the sharp white tiles, lies a body, waiting for the dawn”). The story begins four days earlier, as butler-for-hire Baxter (his first name is never revealed) arrives at Villa Sérénité, finding it anything but serene after a wild shindig thrown by its ostensible caretakers. Unfazed, Baxter has the place in impeccable shape by early evening with the help of Miriam and Thierry, his hand-picked housekeeper and chef. Balding, middle-aged Alec Prescott, who’s renting the villa for the week to celebrate his son Carter’s 21st birthday, arrives first with his much younger girlfriend, Kaitlyn. Next comes Alec’s ex, Sylvie, then their friends Francesca and Damian, an actress and producer promoting their latest film at the festival. Carter and his attractive girlfriend, Jade, complete the party. In addition to the obvious tension between Sylvie and Kaitlyn, it’s soon clear that almost everyone in the house has reasons to resent Alec, who insults Francesca, refuses to invest in Damian’s next movie, threatens to stop funding Carter’s tech startup, and harasses Miriam. (And that’s just the first day.) While shopping in town, Baxter encounters Red, a young vagabond pickpocket who has connections to the villa, and perhaps to a notorious burglary gang. It seems everyone has designs on Alec’s money—money Baxter is beginning to suspect Alec doesn’t really have. As a first-rate, professional butler, Baxter is discreet, resourceful, unflappable, and perceptive—exactly the qualities he needs in his unexpected new role of unofficial detective. He’s also kind, with a touching backstory. The other characters are also deftly portrayed, though they’re somewhat one-dimensional. The story moves along swiftly, with snappy dialogue, colorful descriptions of the setting and food, and humorous moments. Mackintosh hits all the expected mystery genre beats, including plenty of surprising twists that keep the narrative feeling fresh and a satisfying ending that hints at further adventures in Baxter’s future. The perfect butler headlines this entertaining mystery. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal
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Mackintosh ("DC Ffion Morgan" series) begins a new series with this mystery/thriller crossover. Anya Kovacs engages Baxter, a butler for hire, to tend to (and snoop on) the high-powered guests who are spending a week at her Cannes villa. Baxter arrives to see that the villa has been trashed by its dodgy caretakers, whom he summarily dismisses. Villa Sérénité is restored just in time for the arrival of billionaire Alec Prescott, his girlfriend, his ex-wife, his son, his son's girlfriend, and a friend. They are celebrating the son's 21st birthday, and much bickering ensues, revealing lies, grudges, and secrets that lurk beneath the surface. Everyone seems to need a piece of Prescott's fortune. When Prescott is found dead, Baxter must then segue from butler-and-snoop to full-blown amateur detective, with a street urchin as his unlikely assistant, in order to protect Anya's reputation and solve the crime, dodging dangers all the while. VERDICT This cleverly drawn homage to Christie and Poirot is an entertaining follow-the-money story, full of sumptuous atmosphere, drawing-room suspense, and a delightful Poirot-ish sleuth.—Susan Clifford Braun
Publishers Weekly
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A week of sun and glamour during the Cannes Film Festival turns deadly in this frothy murder mystery from Mackintosh (Other People’s Houses). To celebrate his son Carter’s 21st birthday, wealthy businessman Alec Prescott invites Carter’s ambitious girlfriend, Jade; Alec’s estranged wife, Sylvie; the once successful filmmaker Damian Huxley; and his wife, aging actor Francesca, to join Alec and Carter at their villa on the Riviera. Catering to this volatile cluster of family and frenemies is Baxter, a buttoned-up butler with a quarter-century’s experience tending to the rich. From the moment Baxter arrives, he faces a series of dilemmas: lax caretakers of the villa must be fired, a pickpocket apprehended, and a burglary thwarted. Yet nothing compares to the dead body he eventually finds in the pool. With reason to believe he might be next, Baxter teams up with the authorities to find the killer before they strike again. Despite a sluggish start, Mackintosh shrewdly mixes soapy drama with quality sleuthing to deliver a diverting tale of murder and money. It’s a solid beach read. Agent: Sheila Crowley, Curtis Brown UK. (June)
