Mrs. Malory and a Death in the Family

Mrs. Malory Mysteries #17

by Hazel Holt

Sheila Malory is less than thrilled when her loathsome cousin Bernard comes to Taviscombe looking for information to complete his family tree. After all, she's got better things to do than listen to Bernard's pompous genealogical lectures and watch him berate his mousy wife. But when Bernard dies suddenly in his rented cottage, it's more than family obligation that keeps Mrs. Malory on the case. Someone wanted Bernard out of the way, and with all the dirt he was digging up on the family, the killer could be more than kin...and less than kind.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, British Literature, Cozy, Crime

309 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 2006

About the author

Hazel Holt is a British novelist. She studied at King Edward VI High School for Girls in Birmingham, England, and then Newnham College, Cambridge. She went on to work at the International African Institute in London, where she became acquainted with the novelist Barbara Pym, whose biography she later wrote. She also finished one of Pym's novels after Pym died.

Holt wrote her first novel in her sixties, and is a leading crime novelist. She is best known for her "Sheila Malory" series. Her son is the novelist Tom Holt.

Reviews

[Josephine (Jo) · Rating 3 out of 5]

8th December, 2009
A very gentle mystery with a nice village theme. When Bernard Prior announces that he will be visiting his family members and conducting research into their family history, his second Sheila Malory is not very enthusiastic to have him stay. Bernard is such a bore but Sheila feels sorry for his wife Janet. Whilst making investigations into the family Bernard is murdered, did he stumble upon something that was best kept secret? Easy to read but maybe the murder and the outcome was also a bit too gentle, not exactly a page-turner but pleasant even so.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first Mrs. Malory book I have read but it won't be the last. It's a solid mystery and I enjoyed the solution. It was a bit of an atypical mystery in some senses, but I won't spoil it by being more specific. It was very entertaining. Really about a 3.8. The book seems very self-contained so I don't think they need to be read in order.

[Drebbles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sheila Malory is not happy when her obnoxious cousin Bernard comes to visit her looking for information for the family tree he is working on. It's all she can do to be polite to him and his timid wife Janet. Other family members also aren't pleased to see him - many of them have secrets long buried that he is uncovering. But as bothersome as Bernard is, Sheila is still shocked when he is found in his rented cottage with his head bashed in. Sheila wonders why someone would commit such a violent act and begins to investigate his death. She has plenty of suspects - not only did Bernard dig up secrets people wanted hidden, his actions as headmaster of a private school hurt more than one person. Also, his family isn't exactly grieving - his wife has come out of her shell and admits she never loved him; his daughter Christine has money issues and could use the inheritance; and he kept his gay son Luke from seeing his own mother.

"Mrs. Malory and A Death in the Family' is a nice gentle cozy mystery. The emphasis is on cozy because the mystery itself is slight. I don't read Hazel Holt's Mrs. Malory series for the mystery, what I enjoy about the series is the emphasis on the characters and their everyday life. Author Hazel Holt spends much time describing the day to day activities of Mrs. Malory as she goes about shopping, cleaning the house, working in the yard, feeding her pets, doing volunteer work, etc. and she feels like a real live character. The other characters are equally well written especially the obnoxious Bernard; his wife Janet who is not as meek and timid as she appears to be; his gay son Luke who loves his mother and would do anything for her; and daughter Christine who is just like her father. Other well-written characters include Sheila's friend Rosemary who is fretting over plans for her Ruby Wedding Anniversary, Sheila's son Michael, his wife Thea and young daughter Alice. The mystery tends to get lost at times and the ending is a bit abrupt and unsatisfactory, a common flaw in the Mrs. Malory series. Still, I enjoy the character of Sheila Malory and reading about English life in a small village so much that I'm willing to overlook the flaws.

Fans of cozy mysteries set in small British villages will enjoy reading about Sheila Malory and her neighbors and friends.

[Damaskcat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sheila Malory receives a warning that boring cousin Bernard is doing the rounds of the family and wants to come and see her. He is researching the family tree in incredible depth and annoying and boring everyone by turns. Sheila finds she is quite sorry for his downtrodden wife, Janet, and when Bernard is found dead in suspicious circumstances her curiosity is aroused.

Could Bernard have discovered something in his researches which others might have wanted kept hidden? When Janet hands Sheila all her late husband's research she starts to go through it to try and discover what might have led to someone wanting Bernard dead.

I found this an interesting and gentle read though it does show how potentially dangerous family history research can be. I like Sheila as a character as she isn't perfect and doesn't do everything right all the time. I also like the background of everyday life where characters still have to do everyday chores and keep the rest of their lives of running as well as solving mysteries.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another pleasant read, the sort that does me for a day. I quibble with a decision given near the beginning, as soon as the word came that Bernard had died of a heart attack before he was hit on the head, that of course the murderer could be charged with offering an insult to a dead body, unless English law doesn't consider that to be criminal behaviour. It certainly covers the situation in this book anyway.
Well, we certainly didn't feel the loss of Bernard although, as one of the genealogically active I do wonder what else would have come up in that very busy family.It was too bad that Bernard's previous enthusiasm is given as steam trains. My husband is both enthusiastic and knowledgeable about them and I don't think anyone would say he is boring on the subject. Of course it's all in how and when you present material. In Bernard's case it would appear to be TMI and he certainly would have both found and broadcast anything he found about any of the branches. You certainly get the feeling that the Bristol Channel area is truly dangerous and that murders have more than just a small chance of occurring there.

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a very good friend in England who I don't get to see very often. I miss her and miss England a lot. Reading Hazel Holt's Sheila Mallory Book is like a mini-visit for me. I am 64 years old and I think Sheila is around the same age so I can really relate to her style of life and her thinking about life in general. All that having been said, I was somewhat ambivalent about this particualr entry. I liked her description of the annoying relative and his mousey wife. The complications and secrets held by families that are seemingly above reproach also rang true. So why did I finish the book with a fuzzy feeling? The ending seemed at first just too easy. But upon furuther thought I began to see it as anything but easy. You know, most of the mysteries that I read do not require me to do deep thinking. This one did.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one a lot. A particularly obnoxious relative is perhaps murdered and Mrs. Malory starts investigating the notes on the family trees he was working on at the time of his death. She finds some questionable background. With the involvement of the dead man's wife and son this has some mild surprises. But as many of her story endings are ambivalant but somehow satisfying.

[Shauna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the Sheila Malory series, they are usually well-plotted with a lot of believable characters but this was a disappointment to me. Sheila is still the same, lots of day to day detail about looking after her pets and attending various charity functions, but the plot was thin and the denouement rested entirely on a coincidence which I found very unsatisfying.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Sheila Malory is less than thrilled when her loathsome cousin Bernard comes to Taviscombe looking for information to complete his family tree. After all, she's got better things to do than listen to Bernard's pompous genealogical lectures and watch him berate his mousy wife. But when Bernard dies suddenly in his rented cottage, it's more than family obligation that keeps Mrs. Malory on the case. Someone wanted Bernard out of the way, and with all the dirt he was digging up on the family, the killer could be more than kin ... and less than kind."
~~back cover

Bernard was a bully. He bullied his wife, he bullied children at the school where he had been Head Master -- he bullied anyone who was unfortunate enough to come into contact with him. So it was no wonder that he was whacked over the head -- it's just that he was already dead of a heart attack when he was whacked. Mrs. Malory, of course, wants to know whodunnit. Janet, the mousy little wife, was with Sheila when the deed was done. Luke, the disowned son, called Christine, the beloved daughter, from his restaurant at 8:00 on the fatal night, so he couldn't have done it. And Christine also had an alibi. Who did that leave? Sybil, now Sister Veronica, a cousin certainly hated Bernard enough but as a nun, she wouldn't have been able to leave the convent. And there was Fred Prior, who might also have not wanted Bernard digging into his branch of the family history.

So, who did do it? The person you least suspected of course.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another wonderful mystery in the Sheila Mallory series by Hazel Holt. I just love visiting with Sheila and all her lovely and sometimes eccentric family and friends in their little English village by the sea. This time Sheila is visited by a cousin that no one in the family, including her, are ever excited to see, Bernard is pompous, a dreadful bore and mean to his long suffering wife and son.

This mystery was a little tricky and I really had no idea until the end of the story who the killer was, and also was a little surprised about how Sheila dealt with the revelation of the killer.

[Pamela Mclaren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Death hits close to home for Sheila Malory when a distant relative — who has been doing research into the family genealogy — is discovered dead.

And while the police are carrying on their work, Sheila is doing her own form of investigation of her own family! Once she decides to get into it, Mrs. Malory settles her readers to read what she discovers and how the whole story turns out.

The Mrs. Malory books have proven throughout the series to be good, solid cozy mysteries that always seem to conclude satisfactorily. Always a delight even though the mystery may be not so much a mystery. Always fun.

[Marty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mrs. Malory’s pompous cousin Bernard is working on the family history. He needs pictures and information that Sheila has. Bernard is oblivious of any comments to him but feels free to walk in and out of their lives – telling them what to do . When Bernard dies, other family secrets come out. Is there a killer in their midst?

[Janet Patterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

It bored the hell out of me.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Puzzling mystery for Mrs Malory when her bothersome cousin insists on visiting her with the intention of tracing the family tree.

[Alison C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Re-read. Every family has one: a relative obsessed with tracing multiple branches of the family tree by subjecting each family member to endless questioning and mind-numbing pronouncements of trivial matters ad nauseum. In Sheila Malory’s family, that person is Cousin Bernard who, having retired as headmaster of a small private boys’ school, has devoted his time and that of his wife to uncovering long-forgotten family lore - and secrets. So when he turns up dead, it is natural to think that a family member did it; the only problem is that Sheila is uncovering so many family secrets that it’s difficult to figure out who might have done the deed to silence Bernard…. In this 17th book in the Mrs. Malory series, we find out a lot more about Sheila’s own extended family, which turns out to be very large. We are still based in Taviscombe, but travel to other locales in the course of her investigation. The clues are well-placed and the possible motives are nicely revealed; overall, one of the more enjoyable in this long-running cozy series! Recommended.

[Kitha Pola · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok read. Meant to read it quickly but ended up kind of bored.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sheila becomes a rock, kindly needed support, to a cousin's wife when he dies suddenly while visiting from Bristol. Or was he murdered? Despite Mrs. Dudley only having a brief tea talk in this one, Sheila has to truly introspect and come to some core truths, particularly about herself. Was her own good nature and giving spirit abused? Rosemary gets the 40th Anniversary celebration she REALLY wants, not the big party. What and which defines a "friend"? Crisp nuance to that answer here.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like it: a grumpy genealogist goes around harassing family members for old photos and family Bibles and winds up murdered! However, the gentleman was a truly unlikable figure, and the protagonist cousin is just boring. I love a good cozy mystery, but this was cozy to the point of napping. I got halfway through and just couldn't go on any further.

[Suzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got interested in genealogy during covid and I can sympathize with Sheila. People too go on and on. Really interesting story. I love Hazel Holt because she sounds like / she writes like we're good friends and she has to include us or dish to us. My mother died twenty years ago and she loved this series.

[Nessy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 because it started rather slow for me... but the story and Hazel Holt's style of writing grew on me while I made my way through the book (not meant negatively at all). it's really an entertaining book, even if it may not be a page-turner, it still is a well-written cozy mystery which left me in the dark concerning the mysteries sollution for most of the book.

[Mary Newcomb]

Cousin Bernard, full of genealogical curiosity and a loathsome personality, has descended. Sheila is still trying to figure out how to be gracious and not get tangled into his world when he is found dead. It is all quite mysterious, even more so when the medical report comes back. Somehow she is able to wade through tricky relatives and figure it all out. Go Mrs Malory!

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

An ok read. Not very satisfying, for me, as the main character, Sheila Malory, came across as quite a passive character whose main aim in life was to make other people's lives easier.

She did solve the crime, however, so that's good.

[Jeanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd give this a 2.5. I was looking for something mindless and this definitely was! My low rating comes because the discovery of the solution is based 100% on a coincidence instead of any sort of detective work or reasoning.

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book - especially Sheila the main character. The story captivated me from the beginning and even though it seemed a bit confusing at times, the overall effect was charming. This book is why I read cozies - to be charmed.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book with the central charcter being an older woman.

[Julie]

another good one. i've already checked the next one out from the library. love the gentility of these.

[Dawn Davies · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very Shallow

[Sandy Weir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still cozy and fun to read Mrs. Malory's views of her world, but I would like to see a bit of change in the characters or scene!

[Homerun2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong entry in a rewarding series.

[Andy Plonka · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little light on mystery, but a good look at British village life with the dry humor which the British do sso well