Sheila Malory isn’t the only villager discontented with the new vet, who has been brought into the practice because he has money to keep it running, which the dedicated staff does not. However, Malcolm Hardy is a very unpleasant man - quite oleaginous toward pet owners, yet deeply nasty to everybody else. So when he dies mysteriously at the vet’s surgery, everybody is relieved despite being uneasy that a murderer appears to dwell among them. And Mrs. Malory is not about to let the staff at the practice shoulder the blame, not if she can find the real culprit…. This is the 14th in the Mrs. Malory cozy series, and it returns to form in the sense of having the murder victim be someone that the reader (and the characters) are quite happy to see dispatched; in the event, I didn’t cotton on to the real killer until quite late in the book, which is always fun in a mystery! The descriptions of small-town life in England are as pleasing as ever, and the solution may leave readers feeling quite satisfied; recommended. ( )

Another village tale with Mrs. Malory as the sleuth. This one has lots of suspects, and I was not able to detect the right person until nearly the end of the book. Lots of motives, means, and opportunity here. These mysteries always make me feel right at home in Taviscombe with Sheila and friends. What will I do when she is no more?? ( )

Undemanding crime story about the death of an unpopular vet. ( )