Mrs. Malory and a Death in the Family by Hazel Holt

Reviewed by Jeanne

Comfortable widow Sheila Malory receives a warning that her cousin Bernard may be coming to call in search of genealogical information. The warning is due to Bernard being a crashing bore, impervious to hints, and has more than his share of entitlement.  His wife is nice enough, or could be if she weren’t so firmly under Bernard’s thumb, but in this case the better part of valor is to plan to stay away from home as much as possible and not answer the phone.

Alas, another helpful cousin has told Bernard that Mrs. Malory holds an important family Bible so he is determined to pay a call—or several. It’s quite exhausting.  Still, when Bernard turns up dead, Mrs. Malory tries to be sorry, but she can’t help wondering if all the digging into the past has led to his demise.

This was my first Mrs. Malory book, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It’s firmly in the line of British village mysteries where innumerable pots of tea are consumed, and the detective uses information gleaned from friends and relatives to find the answers. The setting feels familiar because of that tradition, and because the author obviously felt comfortable in that setting. I found this book an especial treat because it is actually written by a British author:  recently I have read any number of “British mysteries” written by Americans.  Usually, several times in these books I will pause and wonder about some detail, an expression or such which seems more American than British, or else the author will take time to explain some quaint British custom that no British author would bother to do.  (In one book the American author felt obligated to explain “tea” repeatedly so her fellow Americans wouldn’t think that they were just drinking tea. The first time was okay; it was the next three times that annoyed me.)

Anyway, there was no such problem in this book, which was a nifty little mystery. There are any number of suspects because Bernard enjoyed bullying others as much as he bullied his wife, and he also liked to indulge in some blackmail to get his way. This particular story also has a bit of twist which readers discover early on but which I won’t divulge here to deprive anyone else of the pleasure.

I am definitely going to read more in this series.  Alas, Hazel Holt passed away in 2015 and there don’t appear to be any more books in the pipeline so I will have to make do with the nineteen or so already written.