Mrs. Malory: Detective in Residence [Hardcover]

Hazel Holt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1994

In her fifth mystery, fifty-year-old British widow Sheila Malory leaves little Taviscombe to teach at a women's college in Pennsylvania where her observations of the complex and sometimes vicious academic infighting leads her into a murder investigation. 15,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her first Dutton hardcover appearance, British widow and author Sheila Malory agrees to an old friend's long-standing request that she teach a course on women writers at Wilmot College, near Bucks County, Pa. Upon arrival, she catches up with her friend and then learns about the college, its members, including drama specialist Max Loring, whom the rest of the English faculty abhors, and the Whittier Institute, the area's cultural center. Sheila and the head of the Institute find Loring's body in a blanket chest in the Whittier Mansion after a concert; then the visiting professor befriends police lieutenant Mike Landis, in charge of the case. Her involvement in the investigation deepens after Loring's similarly despised brother is murdered. Despite a very slow start-the murder occurs a fourth of the way into the story-the charming and intuitive Sheila, last seen in Mrs. Malory and the Festival Murder, whose British sensibilities color her view of America, will charm readers of cozies.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Visiting professor Sheila Malory, a rather timid and wimpish import from Taviscombe, England, becomes the "insider" for a chummy policeman when murder strikes a Pennsylvania college town. Malory gathers hearsay evidence about two odious and universally disliked brothers murdered within days of each other. Various pets appear as part of the domestic scence, but what really creates atmosphere are the gossipy, catty remarks made about the victims. Though Malory appears to be too naive for a sleuth, this marks her fifth adventure and her first appearance in hardcover.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (December 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525939032
• ISBN-13: 978-0525939030
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,243,092 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good choice for its intended audience, April 1, 2001

By 

Stan Vernooy (Henderson, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mrs. Malory: Detective in Residence (Hardcover)

The Booklist review above has it right: nothing outstanding, but pleasant reading. This one delivers exactly what people read cozy mysteries for: good plotting, a sense of time and place, a logical series of clues, a sufficient collection of suspects, a likeable amateur detective. I have two criticisms: First, some of the characters could have been drawn more vividly. I found myself several times leafing backwards through the book so I could remember just who John Smith or Mary Jones was, when they appear on the scene for the first time in 75 pages. Secondly, the final solution of the mystery depends on facts that are unknown to either the reader or the sleuth until the last 10 pages or so. That is generally considered unfair in mystery-writing, but I must say it doesn't seem at all egregious here. It is not one of those irritating cases in which the hero notices a paper clip on the floor of the library, uses it as the decisive clue, and reveals the presence of the paper clip only on the last page when he is triumphantly announcing the solution. In this book, the decisive information is revealed to us at the same time as it is to the heroine.

So we come back to my original conclusion. If you like cozy mysteries in general, you almost certainly will like this one. If you don't like them, you probably aren't reading this review in the first place!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alternative title Murder on Campus, June 10, 2000

By 

John Whelan (Ottawa, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mrs. Malory: Detective in Residence (Mrs. Malory Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Many of Hazel Holt's books have alternative titles, `Mrs Malory Wonders Why ` was originally titled `Superfluous Death', `Mrs Malory, Detective in Residence' was originally `Murder on Campus' and `Mrs Malory and the Only Good Lawyer' was `The Only Good Lawyer...' (the last subtly different!). -SW