RogerBW's Blog

The Cruellest Month, Hazel Holt 03 May 2025

1991 mystery. Sheila Malory has returned to Oxford to do some research at the Bodleian. Her godson, working there, found the victim of a shelf collapse, who turns out to have been a thoroughly bad thing and probably a blackmailer. But the police were quite happy to say it was an accident…

The first book in this series felt surprisingly old-fashioned for something that came in 1989, but this one is much less so: on the one hand many of the significant events happened in various eras of Back In the Day, and on the other Sheila's son Michael is coming up to his final exams, but has time to lend a hand in the investigation where it's needed. (Those of us who have met Hazel's son Tom Holt will certainly recognise the model.)

Even once Mrs Malory admits that there may well have been a murder, clues are sparse; many people had means, motive and opportunity, and some of the alibis are distinctly flimsy. And whatever dark secret caused someone to kill Gwen Richmond rather than go on under her thumb is certainly not the only one that will be exposed.

The murder isn't the only thing that will need to be resolved, for that matter; Sheila runs into a charismatic tutor whose discussion group she was brought into by her first love when she was up, and there's past to be dug up there too. For my taste this strikes the balance perfectly between bringing in other matters and developing character while giving the murder mystery primacy.

Even though, without truly damning evidence, the villain is brought to confess (incorrectly thinking there are no other witnesses), this feels not like a convenient way to wrap up the book but like something entirely in keeping for this specific villain: yes, they would like to hear themselves lay it all out to someone who can do nothing about it.

For me a distinct step up from the first, and I already quite liked that one.

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Previous in series: Gone Away | Series: Sheila Malory

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