Mrs. Malory and Any Man's Death (Sheila Malory Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Sheila Malory isn't one of those "take charge" kind of people, but she certainly knows someone who is. Annie Roberts of the nearby village of Mere Barton was once the district nurse and everyone knew that she ran the village and everyone in it. One of those annoying types who is always in the middle of everything going on and who seems to know everything about everything. But it seems that Annie's knowledge about one particular subject wasn't as extensive as she had proclaimed. Before she became ill Annie had roped Sheila into being in charge of gathering information about Mere Barton and then writing a history of the village. All the subscriptions have been gathered. All Sheila needs to do is the research and the organizing and the writing, of course. One very interesting piece of paper Sheila finds seems to be some kind of coded reference to various people living in the village. It will take skillful questioning for Sheila to find out why each person's name appears on the list.

I have to admit that I wasn't particularly excited about reading this book. I placed my order for it before the release date to have it delivered to my Kindle and then completely forgot about it. Surprise! Amazon doesn't forget. I figured that I might as well read it, even though my first Sheila Malory mystery had not been a riveting read. I'd given it (Mrs. Malory and A Time To Die (Mrs. Malory Mystery)) a 4 star review but decided not to pursue the series any further. I am very pleased now that Amazon remembered what I had forgotten. This was a VERY good book. Ms Holt continued with her low key approach to the mysterious happening in the village of Mere Barton and allowed Sheila Malory to quietly and thoroughly investigate while doing research for the book on village history. There is no police investigative presence in this novel. I really enjoyed the natural conversations, the warm friendliness of Sheila, and the human faults and failings of each of the people involved in this story. It was almost as if something of this nature had happened to one of my own friends and now we were all trying to figure out what happened. Once again, as in the first book I read in this series, there is no police investigative presence involved. The entire situation is slowly and quietly solved by Sheila Malory.

My only fault with the book is the ending. I think that I understand the decision made by the author to have the resolution come about in the way she did, but I cannot help but wish a different solution had been chosen. Each reader must decide for themselves if this is the way they would have wanted the story to end. For me, I would have liked something else. Still, a very high 4 star rating this time because I found myself reading just as quickly as I could advance those Kindle pages. I even changed the font size to allow more words per page so I could read more of this fine book faster. Ms Holt had me totally fooled, but for my mystery lovin' self, that was a very good thing.

The character development in the Mrs. Malory series is so well written by Hazel Holt that I feel a part of the village, maybe living next door.
For me the highest compliment I can give an author is to make one so familar with the characters and settings that we feel a part of the story, and Hazel Holt does this every time. Thank you Hazel11

Sheila Malory respects but also resents the take-charge attitude of a local retired nurse, Annie Roberts. Small in size but big in personality (or bossiness), Annie essentially runs the village and controls the activities of its inhabitants. Even Sheila isn't immune to her domineering personality and finds herself involved in the writing of the village's history because she can't tell Annie "no." Before the project is even started, though, Annie dies of mushroom poisoning. Most people are willing to accept it as an accident, but Mrs. Malory isn't quite as sure. Her curiosity leads her to begin a subtle investigation of a list of people she finds among Annie's things. What did they have in common? As Sheila comes to discover, they each had some small shameful incident in their past and she used her knowledge of it to gain control over them. Most of the things are small and really not that important, but did any of them mean enough to give the victim a motive to try to silence Annie forever? The solution to the mystery isn't an easy one, which is also typical of Holt's work, but it does bring emphasize an important point: "We are told that you should love your neighbor...a hard things to ask. Not all neighbors are lovable; some may be unpleasant, even wicked. Must we love them? And then, we ma ask, who is my neighbor? The preacher John Dunne...provides one answer: 'No man is an island,' he says. 'I am involved in Mankind.' We are all connected to one another...look at each person you meet in your daily life - whatever your opinion of them may be - with a fresh eye, as first of all a fellow human being. Part, like you, of mankind...." I thought of the other words of Donne's sermon. "Any man's death diminishes me...And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls: it tolls for thee."

Although the Mrs. Malory series is your typical cozy mystery series, there is something about Hazel Holt's writing that imparts an intellectual feel to the books and makes them very enjoyable reading. She deftly handles a large cast of characters that are full-bodied and realistic. Analysis of their interactions, character traits and personalities are a major part of the book and, though understated and low key, it really adds depth to what would otherwise be a ho-hum mystery. Though not too complicated, her plots are always intricate enough to keep the reader guessing until the end. I enjoyed this book as I have its predecessors!