The Cruellest Month (Lythway Large Print Series) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Hazel Holt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1992 | Series: Lythway Large Print Series

When snoopy, unliked Gwen Richmond is brutally murdered, buried under a collapsed shelf of rare books, Mrs. Malory, in Oxford to do a little research, decides to review the long list of possible suspects. Reprint. PW.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The death of a decidedly unpleasant librarian in Oxford's New Bodleian stirs Sheila Malory, first met in Mrs. Malory Investigates , to probe the present and her personal past. Sheila's godson Tony, who works at the library, finds Gwen Richmond crushed under some collapsed bookshelves. There are indications that Gwen may have been a blackmailer and murder is a distinct possibility. Among the suspects--all once threatened by Gwen--are the girl Tony is in love with, who stole, then returned a valuable book; and a woman don who took an important artifact from an archeological dig. Sheila reencounters Trinity don Rupert Drummond, who had significantly influenced her life when she was an Oxford student; he also had unhappy ties to the dead woman. But it is the past as recounted in Gwen's diary about her farm work as a Land Army girl during WW II that provides the key to the murder and forces Sheila to reexamine what she had considered a happy time in her life. Holt's civilized and tantalizing mystery evokes both modern Oxford and rural wartime England.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Bland Sheila Malory (the widow heroine of Mrs. Malory Investigates) settles her son in at Oxford, then retires to the Bodleian Library, arguably the nicest setting a mystery could have, to research an article on little-known Victorian authors. Her godson Tony, a shy Bodleian staffer, is helpful but fretful: it was he who, a short while back, discovered irascible Gwen Richmond dead in the stacks. The police deemed it an accident, but Tony has found two clues--and with them the dull, naive Mrs. Malory begins delving. She learns that Gwen was hated by many and may have been blackmailing some, including Tony's financially overwhelmed sweetheart; an elderly scholar from Harvard; and the inimitable Fitz, a don under whose spell Sheila and her youthful love Rupert fell years ago as undergraduates. Whodunit? Certainly not the author, who is, correctly, more interested in Bodleian accoutrements, Oxford byways, and bittersweet remembrances of romance. Not as complicated as the author may have intended, but one of the world's great libraries is always worth a visit. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Chivers (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745114911
• ISBN-13: 978-0745114910
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,674,356 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another hard to put down Sheila Malory mystery., October 12, 1997

By 

Elizabeth Bridgham - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cruellest Month (Mrs. Malory Mystery ; no. 2) (Paperback)

An author to replace Christie. Because of her age, I can relate to Ms Holt's Mrs Malory. It's refreshing to be able to read about a woman who has been wife and mother who in midlife can still have a career or two (detecting). I am now a confirmed Hazel Holt fan and cannot wait until her next Mrs Malory adventures are published.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Enjoyable Classic Mystery, July 9, 2010

By 

Nancy "Stepfordmomto2" (CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Cruellest Month (Paperback)

Apparently, everyone has a secret or two, so discovers Sheila Malory while she is at the Bodleian researching data for her upcoming article on little know Victorian authors; and meeting up with old friends.

The rather unpleasant Gwen Richmond was discovered crushed under an avalanche of old books. How could that have happened on its own, things like that don't just happen. But then again, Gwen was a blackmailer, so I guess something's are possible. Delving into Gwen's past, Sheila uncovers quite a few irregularities and with the help of an old journal, the truth soon comes to light.

Unfortunately, not all of the truths that Sheila finds on this trip bring her the peace of mind that she was searching for. Sometimes it's best to keep our past the past and hopefully, the future won't be tarnished with the unscrupulous deeds of others.

I enjoy these older cozy mysteries; they aren't clog up with over the top stupidity that seems to be prevalent in the genre day. Sometimes the writer will wander off the course a bit, but that's OK because there aren't pets with above human intelligence or a man rushing in to save the day. The stories stay true to what a good old-fashioned mystery used to be.

6 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Amateur sleuth, Academic setting, May 1, 2001

By 

Stefanie N (Schuyler, VA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Cruellest Month (Hardcover)

As a long-time Barbara Pym fan, I was curious about Hazel Holt's mysteries. I had previously read her biography of Pym who was her colleague and friend. So, perhaps it was not fair of me to expect or hope for Pymean wit in the work of Ms. Holt. Certainly I found little of it. The main character, Sheila Mallory is a likeable, if dim, amateur sleuth of the bumbling variety. Her various stabs at a solution to the murder of an assistant employed by the Bodlean Library are pathetic. Ultimately, the mystery is easy to solve simply because the list of suspects is so small. The book would be pleasant enough given its Oxford setting, but was ruined for me by the depiction of homosexuals. They are shown as scheming and cruel. (Saying more about their motivations would constitute a spoiler.) Strangely, a novel that seems intended as a pleasant read ends up as a mean-spirited exercise in cliched characters.