Review
Investigative journalist Leonora Staveley retired to Exmoor twenty years ago. From an illustrious career travelling the world she has now become reclusive, preferring life alone with her animals in her cottage on the moors. Worried Sheila Mallory, an old friend, decides to check on her and discovers her ill, cold and living in circumstances that most people would describe as destitute, despite her wealth. Rushed to hospital, Leonora survives only a few days before dying of suspected e-coli, caught from her natural stream - her only water supply. Sheila soon discovers that some people are relieved at Leonora's death and this sets her mind to thoughts of murder. Was it Leonora's brother who wanted her cottage back in order to develop a leisure centre? Was it her neighbours, the Bamfilde brothers, who wanted a share of her stream? Or was it the strange young man seen camping nearby, shortly before her death? Hazel Holt gives Sheila Mallory full rein and looses her inquiring mind to try and solve the murder - if that is what it is. Easy to read, vaguely reminiscent of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, it is an enjoyable gentle crime book set against the beautiful backdrop of Exmoor. - Lucy Watson
Product Description
It is twenty years since Leonora Staveley retired as an investigative journalist to live on Exmoor, surrounded only by her beloved animals. Living with an increasing lack of concern for her own welfare, her house filled with the relics of an extraordinary life, no-one was too surprised when she suffered a fatal bout of food poisoning. But Sheila Malory suspects something far more sinister was involved in the death of her friend. For a number of people had good reason to want this wealthy lady out of the way.