Books by Hazel Holt

Everyone in the small seaside village of Taviscombe is looking forward to the festival. So is Mrs. Sheila Malory-that is, until the unpleasant Adrian Palgrove joins the planning committee. Mrs. Malory, an avid reader of nineteenth century literature, is dismayed to find the man constantly in her path. First Adrian gleefully informs her that he has been appointed executor of the estate of a renowned author, whose private life he intends to expose. Soon his bad behavior has alienated his fellow committee members. One of his many enemies despises him enough to murder him just as the festival is underway. Mrs. Malory has impressive credentials when it comes to solving murders, but with so many suspects, she hardly knows where to begin. The fourth of Hazel Holt's Mrs. Malory mysteries.

Mrs. Edith Rossiter, a rich matron, also has a wealth of greedy relatives-a cold-blooded daughter, a wastrel son, and a desperate sister. Because she is in excellent health, none of them can hope to inherit anytime soon ... So when Edith vanishes from Taviscombe''s finest nursing home, the police suspect the worst, despite the lack of evidence. Mrs. Rossiter was a close friend of Mrs. Sheila Malory, who as usual applies her skills as an amateur detective to delve into the lives of the missing woman and her hopeful heirs. Was Edith addicted to sleeping pills? What did the mysterious couple seen in Edith''s company want from her? The truth will be stranger and more startling than even Mrs. Malory could have possibly imagined. The third of Hazel Holt''s Mrs. Malory mysteries.

Widow Sheila Malory has been looking forward to her stay at the Bodleian Library in Oxford as a chance to research wartime women writers and catch up with old friends from her college years, the one "purely happy" time in her whole life. Her relaxing idyll is interrupted when a librarian, Gwen Richmond, is crushed to death beneath collapsed bookshelves. After the "accident" proves to be murder, Mrs. Malory's godson Tony, who also works in the library, asks her to help investigate. Gwen was manipulative and unpleasant, so there are no shortage of suspects. The dead woman's World War II diary reveal dreadful truths that may lead to the killer; they will also force Mrs. Malory to revisit the past in a new and colder light. The second of Hazel Holt's Mrs. Malory mysteries.

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.