Maxwell's Point

Peter Maxwell Mystery #12

by M.J. Trow

With girlfriend DS Jacquie Carpenter back at work and little baby Nolan rapidly growing into a feisty toddler, Peter 'Mad Max' Maxwell, Head of Sixth Form at Leighford High, decides to hire an au pair. The exotic Juanita Reyes hails from the sun-drenched isle of Menorca, and whilst the good old British weather can't hold a candle to the Menorcan sun, Juanita doesn't appear to mind a bit. She seems perfectly happy in the sleepy little seaside town, doting on baby Nolan and working hard to improve her English.
Then one afternoon Max returns home to find Nolan gurgling happily in his cot, but sees no sign of his au pair; the lovely Juanita has disappeared into thin air. Meanwhile, two ramblers are surprised and more than a little disturbed when Patches the border Collie digs up an arm, which presumably belongs to a body, on Dead Man's Point - the lonely cliff top rising high over the sea.
Mad Max is no stranger to murder inquiries and, as always when violent death's in the vicinity, his nose starts a-twitching, just itching to be poked into all the places it shouldn't. And, much to DCI Henry Hall's annoyance, the past has proved more than once that Max has a talent for sniffing out killers. But with a missing au pair to search for, and a creepy gardener, troublesome teenagers and reports of a randy rambler to investigate - not to mention a young baby to look after - has Max taken on more than he can handle this time?

Genres: Crime

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 11, 2007

About the author

Meirion James Trow is a full-time teacher of history who has been doubling as a crime writer for seventeen years. Originally from Ferndale, Rhondda in South Wales he now lives on the Isle of Wight. His interests include collecting militaria, film, the supernatural and true crime.

Reviews

[John Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

In spite of my thoughts of leaving the series until the end of the school summer holidays, I was drawn back to Leighford High as their Summer holidays started, coincidentally, on the weekend that most UK school broke up. Sometimes however, you need a book that you can rely on to be a good read and to bring a smile to.your face.

Time has passed since the last book and little Nolan (Maxwell junior) is on the scene and in the care of their au pair while both parents are at work. At least the au pair should have been there.....

So begins this mystery and as a rising body count puts the pressure on the police for a result,  'woman policeman' Jacquie once again finds herself caught between her job and her partner.

Plenty of twists in this one and an obvious clue that I should have made more of. Everything explained in the end and an exciting unexpected finale twist.


Its the first time that I have noticed the Note at the beginning, pointing out that the book was published in 2000 when social attitudes were different. Some would say that is a pity that it has changed and I am sure that Peter Maxwell would agree.  Although his current pupils may have a fear of him, his ex pupils certainly hold him in respect. Such was the case some 40 years earlier when I was a pupil of a similar teacher. Thank you 'Trum'

3rd August 2025

[Alison C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter “Mad Max” Maxwell is, of course, intrigued when someone stumbles on the body of a man buried in a shallow grave at Dead Man’s Point, but he is happy to let his partner Jacquie Carpenter and her fellow police officers get on with the investigation. After all, he is busy with their new baby Nolan, now almost a year old, and he is coming to the end of another year of teaching, the holidays being only weeks away. Unfortunately his child minder, a young Spanish woman named Juanita, has suddenly disappeared and nobody seems to know where she is. Max tracks down some of her compatriots in hopes that someone will know something, but it seems a long shot at best. And then another body is found at Dead Man’s Point, and another…. The 12th Maxwell book is a bit more gruesome than earlier entries, and there’s rather more behaviours and events of a very unsavoury nature, but as usual Max handles things with aplomb and the addition of baby Nolan into the household is quite entertaining. I’m slowly reading through this series, and don’t feel in a particular hurry to get to the next one, but the books are quite good as palate cleansers between more serious fare; mildly recommended.

[PR · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was rough and tumble. Poor Max...he keeps getting himself into trouble of a life threatenin

Tough situation all around. Max cannot stay out of murder investigations no matter how hard (not very) he tries. This time, as in the past and most probably the future he gets himself into some rough, tough, serious and unsavory situations.
Still, the relationships between the main folks and their colleagues, friends and neighbor are what keep me coming back to this series again and again.
I highly recommend these books to anyone who likes great characters, great writing, puzzling crimes without pat solutions, suspense and some intrigue ...these are for you!

[Nick slater · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a slow reader I snatch a few pages at bed time. But I have to say I love this series of books. They remind me so much of my own school days back in the 1970s. Attitudes of teachers, pupils and parents.. I also spent a lot of time working alongside Police officers and i love the charactersand can see parallels with those I knew
The books are :
Funny
Enjoyable
And un- put-downable (I do not think Max would approve of that fictitious word)

YOU MUST READ IN ORDER

[Plum-crazy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mad Max can always be relied on for some great one liners & his wit & sarcasm are a joy!
Max, Jacquie, & of course Count Metternich are now joined by baby Nolan, the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned - enjoyed every word of it. Another really entertaining tale about one of my favourite creations.

[Judi Mckay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cosy crime. Found the lead character really annoying. Not for me

278

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a Long Strange Trip

Difficult not to include spoilers after reading 12 -so far- Wildly inventive plots & characters! Mad Max is So Mad!!!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

MAXWELL'S POINT is the 12 book in what seems to now be a 14 book series. Having never read any of the earlier books, I was particularly curious to see whether or not the series could be picked up well down the track without this reader feeling lost, and more than a little confused.

It did take a few chapters to get used to the sense of humour and the tone of the book. 'Mad Max' is an extremely sarcastic, dryly witty, acerbic sort of a character and the tone and humour is heavy-handed. Once you get used to that, and come to understand what the outwardly awkward old Max is all about, the humour fits and can be quite amusing at times. It's also not too hard to work out that his girlfriend - mother of his son - is a fair bit younger than him, and used to his interfering ways, even if her superiors in the force are less than impressed.

Once you have got into the style and relationships of the book, the story of MAXWELL'S POINT was nicely twisty and complicated. 'Mad Max' as is his wont, gets fully involved in the search for his missing au pair, although it's not part of the police investigation. He also gets himself mildly in the way of the police who are investigating a series of bodies that start to be discovered around the cliffs and beach side of the local area, an investigation which Jacquie is involved in. There is also, in what I would suspect is an ongoing war, a skirmish between 'Mad Max' and the school authorities.

The humour and the style of 'Mad Max' might take some readers a little getting used to, it might be easy to mistake the irony as rudeness, the sly and witty commentary as superiority, particularly if you are not used to that style of humour. But the mystery revealed was fairly laid out for the reader to follow and the main characters were engaging and interesting. The fact that the book is so far into a series didn't leave the reader feeling lost or give you a feeling of missing out on something. Having said that, what really worked for me, was the sheer fun of a central protagonist that is anything but predictable.

[Tria · Rating 4 out of 5]

1st GR read, 11 June 2011; 2nd, 3 August 2016. Intriguing plot, but a little off here and there, and too little is shown to let the reader come anywhere near as close to solving it as Max does, which is a bit of a disappointment. 3.5*