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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.,
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,
By
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,
By
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.
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