Aunt Dimity Takes a Holiday

Rating:
Summary: Another Great One
Review: I'm an Atherton fan. Have loved every Aunt Dimity so far. Nancy hit the mark again on this one. Easy read and fun characters. Honestly, I did have some tears at the end.
Appreciate her development of the characters. Keep up the good work.

Rating:
Summary: The latest Aunt Dimity is as good as the rest
Review: The Harris family is in turmoil. Everyone understands that Derek is estranged from his father the Earl. When the family is summoned to a family reunion of sorts, Emma finds out that she was never told the whole story. Derek never even told her his real name! Understandably upset and apprehensive about the upcoming visit, she asks Lori Shepherd to come along with her. Lori's husband Bill informs her that he is one of the Earl's lawyers and they were going already. Lori and Emma wonder what other surprises are in store for them, and what secrets of the past will be revealed.

This is one of my favorite series and I always look forward to the next. Although a little short for my taste, this is a wonderful cozy. Derek's background was always a mystery, and everything is explained in this novel, Nell is featured as usual, and we see a little more of Peter, who has been largely invisible since, Aunt Dimity and the Duke, which is a shame. I read this one in one sitting and plan to reread it soon. It is nice to read something that is not too violent and ends happily once in a while, so I look forward to these books.

Rating:
Summary: The latest Aunt Dimity is as good as the rest
Review: The Harris family is in turmoil. Everyone understands that Derek is estranged from his father the Earl. When the family is summoned to a family reunion of sorts, Emma finds out that she was never told the whole story. Derek never even told her his real name! Understandably upset and apprehensive about the upcoming visit, she asks Lori Shepherd to come along with her. Lori's husband Bill informs her that he is one of the Earl's lawyers and they were going already. Lori and Emma wonder what other surprises are in store for them, and what secrets of the past will be revealed.

This is one of my favorite series and I always look forward to the next. Although a little short for my taste, this is a wonderful cozy. Derek's background was always a mystery, and everything is explained in this novel, Nell is featured as usual, and we see a little more of Peter, who has been largely invisible since, Aunt Dimity and the Duke, which is a shame. I read this one in one sitting and plan to reread it soon. It is nice to read something that is not too violent and ends happily once in a while, so I look forward to these books.

Rating:
Summary: Needs an editor with common sense
Review: The latest Aunt Dimity outing was pleasant, if not particularly substantial. But there's one thing that doesn't make sense...in this or any of the books. If I'm not mistaken, Lori is supposed to be in her mid-30s. Yet her mother and Aunt Dimity met when they were both volunteers during World War II. If the books are set in the present, this doesn't make a whole lot of sense unless Lori was born at least 20 years after the end of the war. It's not *impossible*...but it certainly is a stretch...Or have I forgottedn something from one of the earlier books.

Rating:
Summary: Great Weekend Mystery
Review: This book is a good mystery. The plot is always complex, but not confusing, and very well written. These stories are perfectly situated in England. The titles of these Aunt Dimity series are a bit misleading. By the title I thought it would be about a little lady who travels and gets involved in little mysteries, like Agatha Christie's Poirot and also her Miss Marple, etc. The stories are about a woman named Lori, who is married to a lawyer husband (who travels a lot) and has two little twin baby boys. In this particular story, she is invited, by her neighbor and friend, Emma, to come with her to meet her husband's wealthy English family (who she doesn't know existed). Her husband is the lawyer for Emma's in-laws, and so Lori is invited and goes with both her friend and her husband. On their arrival a sculpted bush (to look like a turtledove) is in flames. Soon, anonymous poison pen threat notes start arriving to a certain person in the book, and Lori has to figure out who's writing the notes, etc. Aunt Dimity was a rich eclectic woman. She was the best friend of Lori's mother, and having no family of her own to pass on the huge trust fund she had accumulated over the years, she passed it on to Lori when she died, along with her little stone cottage, set in the heart of the English countryside, and a blue bound journal. Through this journal she communicates with Lori, even after her death. This part is kind of strange, though I say it myself, but adds a bit of quirkiness to the book that is charming.This book is a great (shorter) mystery novel, a great way to just cuddle up, read, and relax during the weekend.

Rating:
Summary: A TREACLE TART
Review: This is an oversweet treacle tart of a story, which is too bad because it has all the necessary ingredients of the classic mystery. Nancy Atherton has mixed a weekend at a grand country house with mysterious events, poison pen threats, and the twin specters of disinheritance and murder. What it lacks is some spice to balance all the sweetness and light. In AUNT DIMITY TAKES A HOLIDAY the men are all sensitive, the women are all beautiful, and the children are all above average. Two characters, including sleuth Lori Shepherd, are inseparably attached to stuffed animals and a stuffed elephant named "clumps" figures in the plot. Shepherd has another altogether more fantastical familiar, Aunt Dimity, who is a dead family friend who communicates with her by writing in a blue journal. Aunt Dmity supplies facts about the other characters, suggests avenues of investigation, and even offers advice on clothes.

Nancy Atherton has all the chops of a good mystery writer. She is skilled at description, writes believable dialogue, and is good at creating an ominous mood. I wish she would lose Aunt Dimity and find some real bad people to inhabit her stories.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but not enough detecting
Review: When her friend finds that she is a Vicountess and is called to the family estate, American Lori Shepherd agrees to go along. When the friend mentions murder, Lori packs the notebook that allows her to communicate with the ghost of Aunt Dimity, a woman who knows everything about manners, who is who is English nobility, and has helped Lori solve several mysteries in the past.

On the manner, Lori finds that her friend's fears may not be irrational. Steven, nephew to the Earl, has been getting death threats and is injured when his horse unexpectedly balks at a jump. There certainly are a lot of suspects, including Nell, Lori's friend's daughter who may wish to preserve her father's inheritance, the evil lawyer Gina, who may also have designs on Lori's husband Bill, and a long-forgotten vallet. Using her own energy and Dimity's common sense (Lori seems to tragically lack any of this), Lori uncovers hints of motive, opportunity, and method.

Author Nancy Atherton has created an engaging and multidimensional character in Lori Shepherd. The supernatural element is well integrated and furthers the mystery rather than simply solving it through magical means. I would have liked to see Lori do more solving, however, rather than simply finding an assortment of clues. Lori and Dimity both ended up too much bystanders than key actors in the solution to the mystery.