Mad About You: A Short Story

Rhys Bowen on G.M. Malliet’s Agatha Award-winning DEATH OF A COZY WRITER: "The traditional British cozy is alive and well. Delicious. I was hooked from the first paragraph."

On England’s Jurassic Coast, an American retiree and her husband arrive in postcard-perfect Axebury Cove for a quiet “roots” getaway.

When the cliff beneath an ancient oak shears away, a woman vanishes into the riptides and a stranger stands on the brink holding a child.

Accident—or something else, like murder?

The sardonic narrator—equal parts history teacher and human lie detector—watches masks slip: a dowager, a weak man, and a wife who will do anything to keep what’s hers. By dinner, the survivors are seated together, pearls gleaming and secrets intact.

Mad About You is a taut, atmospheric story of deception, class, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.

For readers who enjoy Tana French’s atmospheric tension, Lisa Jewell’s domestic twists, and Louise Candlish’s relationship-driven suspense—delivered as a razor-sharp short read you can finish in one sitting.