- Paperback: 300 pages
- Publisher: Pan; New edition edition (11 Oct 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330484575
- ISBN-13: 978-0330484572
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 910,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
The latest Sheila Malory mystery takes place at an exclusive girls' school, where murder has taken place...
Book Description
Working at an exclusive girls' school should have been a pleasure for Sheila Malory - until she begins to suspect murder has taken place . . . Sheila Malory is delighted if a little terrified to be asked to help out at the prestigious Blakeney's Girls' School after a long break from teaching. And she soon realises just what a hard act she has to follow, for she is replacing a teacher who died tragically - though not everyone believed that Margaret Hood was a healthy influence on the girls . . . When the unpopular headmistress is also found dead in the school grounds, Sheila begins to suspect that all is not as it seems at this well-to-do establishment. And it appears that there is no shortage of people with the motive for murder . . . 'The writing is easy and fluid; sly wit and irony lurk on every page' Sunday Times
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Much as I've enjoyed the Mrs Malory stories as a series, the quality has fallen off badly in the last two books.
"Fatal Legacy" was most definitely the best of the series, with the author steadily gaining in style, pace and interest up to that point.
Then came "Lilies that Fester". I've already reviewed that book so I'll not go into it in detail other than to say it was abyssmal.
The next book, "Delay of Execution", marks something of a comeback, but it still isn't anything much to write home about.
The problems are, basically, in the areas highlighted by the reviewer from Seattle. The characters are thoroughly two dimensional - even Mrs Malory - and the plot is totally sequential with not a diversion or red herring in sight.
This is not to say that the identity of the murder is ever obvious - it isn't, not even to Mrs Malory - and far from our heroine detecting the motive and identity of the "executioner" that person simply owns up on the spur of the moment, even though they clearly are no longer under suspicion.
As a light read about the kind of politiking that goes on in an English private school the story reads smoothly and is mildly interesting. As a murder mystery, however, it is pretty weak, not least because the author never really engages our sympathy for either of the two women who die.
In each case there is considerable ambiguity about whether the death was an accident or a murder, but the ambiguity is never developed upon so as to create any real tension. Still, having said that, at just 212 pages this isn't exactly a major tome, and I personally found the plotting substantial enough to hold my attention for the limited amount of time it took me to read the book through to the end.
In short, the quality of the story telling is still a long way off the author's earlier standard, and whilst it's a pleasant enough time filler, I'd be wary of recommending it to anyone who isn't already a DEDICATED fan of Mrs Malory's adventures, and maybe not even then.
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