A review by robinwalter
Malice Domestic by Sara Woods

4.0

The word "nice" is my favourite example of semantic shift. The earliest recorded uses of the word are pejorative - "dull-witted" "stupid", etc, from its Latin origin, nescius, "ignorant". Over time the word took an interesting journey through various meanings, eventually becoming a vague catchall kind of compliment so bleached and anodyne it is often once again pejorative. If any pedant raises the etymological fallacy with me by insisting words can only mean what they "originally meant", I just smile and say "that's nice." 

The point of that introduction is because the word "nice" occurs early on in  Malice Domestic and its use illustrates nicely everything that I like about this series. In this passage 

Standing alone, his evidence would hang his grandson. What I can’t decide is whether he knows it.” 
“Now that,” said his uncle, with some enthusiasm, “is what I call a really nice point. 


The word "nice" is there used in what has become a niche meeting, that of "fine" or "subtle", indicating careful attention to detail, something which is a feature of Woods writing - "precise prose" as Curtis Evans describes it in his excellent introduction to the book. 

For me her meticulously careful word choice is both a joy to read and appropriate, given that her protagonist is a barrister, someone whose success or failure depends on his skill in choosing exactly the right words, in grasping "the legal niceties".  Woods also puts that precise prose to good use in sprinkling dry humour throughout her stories, as in these examples that made me smile 

 “Well, sir, first I saw Mrs. Cassell, Aunt Agnes, Uncle Gregory’s wife.”
“Is that one person, or three?”
“One, sir. I’m trying to be clear—”
“Then pray continue trying. Heaven defend me from a more obscure statement than you are giving me.”
 
 
 “There was an uncle.” She sounded doubtful. “But I don’t think he was very mad, only he did like rabbits so much, some people do.
 
 
 “Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away. It would be so odd,” he remarked, gently, “to discover for once the meaning of that eminently sensible remark.”
 

It helps too that if there's one thing Antony Maitland is not, it's "nice". This is true in more ways than one, because in addition to not being at all ignorant or dull-witted, he often behaves in a manner that would not be described as "nice" in the blandly complimentary sense either. Instead, he often struggles to control his temper at others' "original" niceness, and that sharp temper and absence of 'nice' behaviour was very much a feature of this story. In his defence (ha!) he had plenty of provocation. 


The title of the book was very apt, as malice seemed to be the dominant feature of the domestic situation surrounding the murder at the heart of this story. SO MANY people seemed so disproportionately nasty and angry and aggressive in their insistence on letting the accused take the fall that I wondered why. The reason came out in the end, of course, thanks to Antony's patient investigation, with a nice happy ending for all those who deserved one. A solid 4/5 

After finishing this second Maitland story, one mystery remains: 
In his introduction Evans mentions that some reviewers dubbed Maitland "the Perry Mason of English mystery",  but I remember Perry Mason (aka Raymond Burr) as solving his cases via courtroom theatrics and so far, neither of the two Maitland mysteries has even really made it to the courtroom. Will Antony EVER strut his stuff in wig and gown to ensure Justice is served? Clearly I must read more of the series to find out. To do otherwise after the fine work Dean Street Press has done reissuing the series would really not be very 

nice.