Hazel Holt

This official biography of Barbara Pym, the writer, describes her upbringing in Oswestry and her life in Oxford. The author talks about the successes as well as the dark years in the writer's life when she was unpublished.

A Life of Barbara Pym

A Lot to Ask

Sheila Malory, a middle-aged widow and expert on nineteenth-century novelists, turns detective when an old friend asks her to investigate the mysterious disappearance of his fiancee from a small English seaside town

Mrs. Malory Investigates

The sleepy seaside town of Taviscombe has more than its share of gossips and schemers. It also has Mrs. Sheila Malory, a widow whose gift for judging character and unmasking murderers is as impressive as her knowledge of nineteenth-century literature. Mrs. Malory's sleuthing talents are tested once again when she comes upon the body of one of her friends, a sweet elderly lady. Miss Graham's death by poison is quite convenient for a local doctor of dubious reputation; the dead woman's refusal to move thwarted Dr. Cowley's plans to build a nursing home. But Mrs. Malory knows that nothing is as simple as it seems, especially when it is revealed that Miss Graham left a considerable fortune. Another suspicious death during a fireworks display further complicates matters. These two very different murders--one furtive, the other violent--can't possibly be related. Or can they? Superfluous Death is the sixth of Hazel Holt's Mrs. Malory mysteries.

Superfluous Death

When local author Sheila Malory is asked to research the history of Mere Barton, she has her reservations; particularly as 'The Book' is one of the many projects of Annie Roberts, the most unpopular resident. Indeed, it seems that hardly anyone has a good word to say about her. When Annie suffers a fatal bout of self-inflicted food poisoning, there is more relief than grief around the village. However, as Sheila continues work she discovers there is more to Annie's unpopularity than just a forceful personality. Was the death as accidental as it first seemed?

Any Man's Death

When Sheila Malory's young granddaughter starts riding lessons at the local riding school, Sheila is happy to have the excuse to spend time there with her friends who run the place. The affable Charlie Hamilton, former Olympic showjumper and owner of the school, and his wife Josephine seem to have bounced back from previous incurred debts and to be living a charmed existence teaching the local children to ride. But is everything quite as it seems? When Charlie's body is found in the stables the inhabitants of Taviscombe are left appalled and disturbed. His death is the first of a succession of unexplained sinister happenings, and with the local police at a loss, it is left to Sheila, at her most persistent, to get to the bottom of the mystery.

A cozy English murder mystery

A Time to Die

When Sheila Malory is warned that her second cousin Bernard Prior is visiting members of the family in order to research their genealogy, she considers it nothing more than a bore. However, when Bernard is found dead in suspicious circumstances, Sheila begins to suspect that his innocent pastime may have led to something more sinister. Never one to let sleeping dogs lie, Sheila takes it upon herself to discover the truth behind Bernard's demise. What secrets lie buried in the family past? And what will happen to those who try to uncover them? Our intrepid modern-day Miss Marple is about to learn that murder can often hit uncomfortably close to home, and that appearances can be deceptive...

A Death in the Family

Eva Jackson is Rosemary's cousin and she has moved back to her childhood home in Taviscombe after the untimely death of her beloved husband Alan. As is the way of the village, Eva has been pounced upon by the local charities, and it is during a coffee morning that she mentions to Sheila Malory that she fears Alan might have died an unnatural death. Sheila is intrigued and sets out to find out more. But when Eva's body is discovered after a supposed insulin overdose, Sheila wonders if the killer might still be at large in the charming Devon countryside.

Death is a Word

There is no doubt that John Morrison is an accomplished doctor. But his arrogant manner has made him many enemies in Taviscombe - even the patients he cares for don't much care for him. So it is not entirely surprising when he is found stabbed to death in his office. There is a wide variety of suspects to choose from, and Sheila Malory - inquisitive as usual - sets out to investigate the crime.

A Sheila Malory Mystery

Mrs. Malory and No Cure for Death

My Dear Charlotte is a British murder mystery that takes place in the Regency period. Unlike other popular Regency mysteries and romances, My Dear Charlotte is based on the letters of Jane Austen to her sister Cassandra. While the story is new, the details having to do with balls, dinners, and other social events are given in the words of Jane Austen herself, making this a historical mystery novel of extraordinary veracity.

With the assistance of Jane Austen's letters

My Dear Charlotte

Eva Jackson is Rosemary's cousin ( 'umpteen times removed' ) and she has moved back to her childhood home in Taviscombe after the untimely death of her beloved husband Alan. As is the way of the village, Eva has been pounced upon by the local charities, and it is during a coffee morning that she mentions to Sheila Malory that she fears Alan might have died an unnatural death... Sheila is intrigued and sets out to find out more. But when Eva's body is discovered after a supposed insulin overdose, Sheila wonders if the killer might still be at large in the charming Devon countryside...

While in Stratford, widow Sheila Malory always stays with her old friend, actor David Beaumont. On this visit she finds him in dire straits: his career is on the skids and his finances are in ruins. Unless he can convince his penny-pinching brother Francis to sell their jointly owned family home in the seaside village of Taviscombe, the bank will repossess his cottage. Francis, Dean of the Culminster Cathedral, does not believe that charity begins at home. He refuses to put the house on the market or provide a loan. Mrs. Malory offers David a place to stay in her own home in Taviscombe so that the two brothers might meet in person to find a solution. Even if Francis can be persuaded to sell, one impediment remains: their ancient and addled nanny has been told that she can stay in the home until she dies. Even after Nana's sudden death, Francis insists that they hold on to the property. When he dies from consuming high tea laced with poison, the police conclude that both deaths were murder. Unfortunately David is their prime suspect. Determined to clear her friend's name, Mrs. Malory applies her considerable skills as an amateur sleuth to identify the real culprit. She has seen her share of evil, but even Mrs. Malory is shocked by what her investigation turns up. Death of a Dean is the seventh of Hazel Holt's Mrs. Malory mysteries.

Death of a Dean

A friend asks for Sheila's help when his fiancee vanishes from her West County seaside town. Plumbing the depths of the coffee-morning circuit and the long memories of many a pillar of the local community leads Sheila to a horrific discovery.

Gone Away

Gossip has it that the wealthy widow Edith Rossiter's scheming daughter is pressuring her to sign over a substantial inheritance against her wishes when Mrs. Rossiter--and her sleeping pills--disappear.

The Shortest Journey

Barbara Pym

Caro is the wife of Dr. Alan Grimstone, a lecturer at a provincial university in a West Country town in England. She knows her circle believes that she should be doing more with her life. She is the mother of a young daughter but relieved to be able to leave the girl in the care of an au pair. Her one selfless act--reading aloud to a former missionary at a rest home--is sullied when she allows her husband to 'borrow' some of the old gentleman's papers in order to get the better of a colleague. Caro's sister is a social worker disinclined towards marriage and children, but is she happy? Despite appearances, Caro is content enough. Until she learns that that her husband Alan has a wandering eye. What is happiness? The knowledge that one is loved? Academic renown? Or is it friendship with eccentric friends and the sight of the first crocuses of spring or the Virginia creeper in autumn? Barbara Pym completed the first draft of her satirical "Academic Novel" in 1970, ten years before her death. It was first published posthumously in 1986, thanks to her friend and biographer Hazel Holt.

An Academic Question

Amateur sleuth Sheila Malory must sort through a host of motives and suspects when she sets out to investigate the murder of arrogant local physician John Morrison, found stabbed to death in his Taviscombe office. Original.

Hazel Holt

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