When Mrs. Sheila Malory's trusted childhood friend, actor David Beaumont, calls upon her to clear his good name in the murder of his aunt and brother, the widowed fifty-something sleuth takes up the cause only to discover that the killer may be closer than she had realized. 10,000 first printing.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
As usual, the charm lies thick as 50-something widow Sheila Malory (Mrs. Malory Wonders Why, 1995, etc.) sheathes her guile in a shell of matronly pleasantry to nab a murderer. Sheila's childhood friend, actor David Beaumont, has fallen on hard times and must raise sufficient funds in order to stay in his Stratford cottage. His ancestral home, potentially his biggest asset, was willed to his old nanny until her death, after which it will be jointly owned by himself and his brother, Francis. The problem is that the old girl clings stubbornly to life. While David, with help from Sheila, is casting about for other types of financial rescue, the nanny conveniently falls down a flight of stairs and dies. At first relieved because he will be able to pay off his debts, David finds Francis, the Dean of Culminster, unwilling to sell in a depressed market. When the brother is poisoned and the police decide to look into the nanny's death a little more closely, David becomes a prime suspect. Believing in his innocence, Sheila uses the full power of her sympathetic, chatty nature to ferret out the murderer. Applying her characteristic deft touch in rendering contemporary English village life, Holt shows no signs of altering the formula that has made this series the very model of the modern mystery cozy.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Fanciers of British-village mysteries will applaud the return of Mrs. Malory (Mrs. Malory Wonders Why, LJ 11/95). Here she agrees to help out a longtime friend who has fallen into serious debt and must sell the family home. Suspicion falls on him when two opponents to the sale die suddenly. Just the thing for a chilly evening.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable literate Miss Marple for the 1990s - races along.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Mrs. Malory: Death of a Dean (Mrs. Malory Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)
Hazel Holt writes confidently and spiritedly, and this outing is no exception. This time the plot allows her to indulge her fondness for Stratford-upon-Avon (elsewhere the series visits Oxford) and the concerns of a rural dweller shine through here and there, convincing us that this is an author with knowledge of her settings.In this novel, Sheila Mallory investigates the sudden death of an unpleasant cleric that she has known since childhood. There are plenty of juicy suspects, and plenty of echoes of the novels of Barbara Pym (whose literary executor Ms. Holt was) in the details of rural and church life. Her busy, confiding tone embraces one, and one almost believes that Taviscombe exists. Mrs. Mallory's relations with the police are perhaps the weak point of this series - even in the jovial West Country one finds it difficult to believe that professionals would let a late middle aged widow tell them what's what - but then detective fiction of this sort requires some suspension of belief. I have thoroughly enjoyed this, and other books in this series, and I look forward to seeing many more.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hazel Holt: A Jewel of A Mystery Writer,
By
This review is from: Mrs. Malory: Death of a Dean (Mass Market Paperback)
Holt is one of the best mystery authors I have ever read and I have been around a long, long time. Mrs. Malory is a widow who lives in the village of Taviscombe in England. She has a son who is a lawyer. There seemsto be quite alot of murders happening in and around Taviscombe (reminding one of "The Midsomer Murders" out on DVD. Mrs. Malory tends to get involved in these murders. Her best friend Rosemary,s son in law is a Detective in the local police department. In this book, The "Dean" is a Bishop in the Episcopal Church. He is also a very evil man. Mrs. Malory (Sheila) had known the Dean since he was a young lad. His brother, David a TV actor has come on hard times and wants a loan from the Dean who won't give it to him. Mrs. Malory thinks the world of David and does everything she can to help him including when he is charged with murder. The Mrs. Malory books are ones you have to, if you can read it at one sitting. You also wish you knew a Mrs. Malory. She is a jewel of a person and a jewel of a detective.
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