The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Hazel Holt’s Mrs. Malory Mystery Series

Every once in a while I read a book that makes me feel like I absolutely just have to shout about it. (I mean this in a good way!)

Hazel Holt is the British author who writes the Mrs. Malory Mystery Series. (For those of you who love E. F. Benson’s Lucia novels, perhaps you have read the two follow-up books in that series, written by her son, Tom Holt.) She has also written “My Dear Charlotte” – a Regency mystery book.

Holt’s Cozy Mystery series features Sheila Malory, a middle age literary critic who lives in the fictional Taviscombe, a very Cozy British village. (Every once in a while, however, she visits London in order to do required research.)

Sheila has a son (Michael) who is seldom at home, but who has a terrific relationship with her. As a widow, Mrs. Malory is very independent, which is perfect – since her amateur detective status requires her to be able to come and go as she pleases. Of course, Foss and Tris (Sheila’s cat and dog) think she is dependent of them!

A lot like Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, people trust and confide in Mrs. Malory. She is able to glean information from people in order to figure out the who and why of the mystery at hand.

Even though Holt is still writing the Mrs. Malory Mystery Series, it is very reminiscent of mysteries that were written before the 1960s. Holt’s series would qualify (to me) more as a classic mystery series.

Hazel Holt is one of my favorite authors not only because of her writing style which is very easy to read, but also because I like her characters and setting.  Mrs. Malory, Rosemary (her best friend), the quaint village, and all of its inhabitants are interesting to me. I would enjoy meeting the people who inhabit Holt’s mystery books, as well as visiting the town. I even enjoy Sheila’s pets! All of these are woven into well-thought-out mystery cases that I happen to enjoy a lot.

If you’re interested in reading more of these brief revisits of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page on my site.

Time Keeps On Slippin’, Slippin’, Slippin’

I think I mentioned that my daughter sent a lot of her belongings home last summer by UPS. Unfortunately the truck her things were in was involved in an accident, and she lost three of her large boxes. (Fortunately, no one was hurt in the accident!) So here comes another “unfortunately”>>> She lost three of her work suits, and many other items, including an afghan I had crocheted for her when she was little. She was quite attached to the afghan, not because I am a great crocheter, but for sentimental reasons.

The yarn company no longer makes that multi-colored yarn, so we spent several days at the beginning of the summer trying to find a yarn that would closely resemble the previous afghan’s yarn. We came up with two different colors, one of which matches her current bedspread at her home, and the other which matches her bedspread at our house.

I am glad to say that I finally finished her afghan. My husband and I took it up to her this past weekend. I hope this afghan becomes as cherished to her as her lost/destroyed one. For some reason, it took me longer to crochet this one than it did the last one. Of course, it could just be my memory playing tricks on me. Perhaps I just think I whipped the last one out in record breaking speed because time seemed to go so much faster – back when I had little ones at home.

Steve Miller knew what he was talking about: “Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ – Into the future”

Laredo, Brownsville, and Points In Between

My husband and I have headed down south, to Laredo and Brownsville. We have lived in San Antonio for about twenty years, and have never headed down this way.

We have no great plans. We will be looking at a few apartment complexes, since our daughter will be moving down here next year. Other than that, we’ll see what happens. It’s one of those lazy “vacations” with no place in particular to go to, but lots of possibilities.

We have never been “birders” but are thinking about possibly joining a birding expedition one of the days. Neither of us knew that this part of Texas is apparently a huge birding enthusiast’s dream!

I told my husband that I would be interested in visiting some of the birding places in this area, and there are quite a few of them. The Edinburg World Birding Center, the Sabal Palm Audubon Center and Sanctuary, several parks, and even a battlefield that all feature good bird watching possibilities and/or activities. Who knew? (Certainly not us… but we aren’t birders!)

I have to admit that I am pretty tired of only seeing doves and house finches in San Antonio. I used to get Blue Jays in the yard, but had to discontinue feeding them peanuts, since the squirrels made off with them more often than the Jays. And I haven’t seen a Cardinal in months. So, I wouldn’t mind seeing a colorful bird of some sort this weekend.

It’s odd >>> I never was interested in birds before. It seems that since Sprite has been gone (our 16 1/2 year old puppy) I have become more interested in other animals, perhaps thinking that it would make me get over Sprite. My husband and I have talked about another pet, but we’re just not sure we are ready for a big commitment like that again. As much joy as Sprite gave all of us, her last few years were very difficult for her – and for us. A lot of worrying…

I’ll let you all know about our attempt at “birding” for the first time. Neither my husband nor I would have EVER guessed we would look forward to trying this new adventure. Who knew?

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