For my fellow readers who need a break from twisty, past-present narrative books with unreliable narrators and just want a classic mystery, here is your book: The Butler by Clare Mackintosh. Let’s discuss!
The Butler by Clare Mackintosh | Classic Locked Room Mystery
I get a lot of questions about WHERE are all the classic mysteries, and I’m always scouting around for new ones to recommend.
The Butler won’t change your life. It won’t make you fall out of your chair in shock. But I thought it was a well-crafted locked room/closed circle mystery with a fun setting (a villa outside Cannes), a wonderful main character, and a truly villainous (or at least enjoyably shallow) group of houseguests, one of whom is a murderer!
Ah, the Butler. He’s a great fictional character. I’m partial to the unflappable Carson from Downton Abbey, and Baxter is in the same mold. But he has a tragic and mysterious backstory, which is why he had to leave his former employer and work for (horrors!) a staffing agency.
The agency sends him to Villa Sérénité in the South of France to tend to an A-list client and his guests. Things get off to a bad start right away as the caretakers have been partying in the house.
Before long there’s a dead body in the pool. Baxter needs to solve this murder posthaste!
Details on The Butler by Clare Mackintosh
- Publication date: June 16 2026 by Podium Books
- Buy here on Amazon
- Thanks to the publisher for the advance review copy.
Who will enjoy the Butler?
- Fans of classic mysteries like Agatha Christie (who loved a good house party murder).
- Readers who enjoyed The Maid series by Nita Prose
- Looking for more Closed Circle/House Party Mysteries? I have a whole list!
