Dig Deep for Murder

Rating:
Summary: Can't warm up to new series
Review: I enjoyed Kingsbury's Pennyfoot Hotel series, so when that concluded, I decided to try her new Manor House series. It isn't half as enjoyable. Since the first book, I have continued to hope the characters would grow on me, but they haven't. The lack of a smart, sympathetic female lead in a story that is built upon the premise of a plucky Englishwoman attempting to hold her village together during WWII is a major downfall.

Kingsbury poor handling of several plotlines (Polly's Age, Culture shock, Unexpected (?) resent ment of the English,etc) was not up to her usual standard. If I didn't know it was the same author, I wouldn't believe it. The Women and American military characters particularly rub me the wrong way. My neighbor was a WWII vet and he said that before they left US soil, they got a HUGE lecture about living in England- especially about behaviors that brought home war brides. How many times can Lady Elizabeth brush off lies and actions with the "It's wartime" excuse? It's become tiresome. Something I never thought I'd say about Kingsbury.

Rating:
Summary: Better than the last entry
Review: I enjoyed this episode much more than I did the previous entry in this series. There is not much of a mystery and the author uses a plot that I have read before in another mystery with regards to how the murderer attempts to get by with his/her crime. This particular book is more of a chapter in the life of the village rather than a mystery as more time and words are spent on the daily trials and tribulations of WW II life in small-town England than the mystery itself. I had almost decided not to buy this book after the last one, but am glad I did and will definitely buy the next installment. I do have to say, as I said in my review of the previous book, that once again, there are typos in the book. Berkley Prime Crime, do you not have spellcheck?

Rating:
Summary: I finished the book, but it's not a great book
Review: My mother lived in England during World War II (married a GI), and I'm a history major, so I know a far amount about this period, but I don't think the author does. It sounds like she threw in a few tidbits and thought that was enough, but I thought she got a fair amount wrong. As to the mystery itself, it was obvious to me about half way through the book what was going on -- so obvious that I thought it had to be a red herring. It wasn't.

Still -- this was a pleasant enough book to read, and it held my interest reasonably well. It has a certain charm. I'm told that the other series by this author is better -- I hope so -- I just ordered some books in that series (before I'd read this book). This was simply not the kind of work you'd expect from someone who has published so much -- I wonder if it is an early work that got published after later work was successfully published.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining romantic mystery set in WW2 England
Review: This is the fourth installment of Kate Kingsbury's Manor House series set in World War II England. Lady Elizabeth Hartleigh is a 31 year old divorcee who lives in the family manor house in the quiet village of Sitting Marsh. She is scraping by since her former husband gambled her money away but life must go on and appearances must be kept up.
As part of the war effort, she has given some of her land over to victory gardens for the villagers. During weeding of one of the neglected plots, a body is unearthed. Since the victim is one of her tenants, Lady Elizabeth is bound to find out what happened since the incompetent retired constables seem to have no interest in doing so. Along the way she enlists the help of Earl, an American Air Force officer billeted in one wing of the Mansion, who provides the romantic interest. Thrown in for good measure are side plots of solving petty thievery of food, and an accident and love interest involving Elizabeth's 16 year old assistant. What I enjoyed the most, was seeing life in an English village during wartime, where people go about their daily lives despite rationing, blackouts and loved ones off to war.

This book is an example of an old-fashioned English "cozy" mystery where the mystery is solved without undue bloodshed in a civilized way. An easy read and entertaining story.

Rating:
Summary: Can't warm up to new series
Review: World War II is raging and the residents of the small hamlet of Sitting Marsh are looking to the lady of the manor Lady Elizabeth for guidance during those perilous times. They don't know that the owner of the manor house is cash poor due to her ex-husband's gambling debts. Lady Elizabeth keeps up the appearance of a wealthy titled landowner so she can be a comfort to the villagers and an example of inspiration due to her contributions to the war effort.

She has donated a half-acre of her land to the villagers for a Victory Garden so they can grow fruits and vegetables to add variety to their rationed diets. When her assistant Polly takes over one of the plots of a recently deceased villager, she unearths the body of a man whose face is all smashed up. Feeling responsible for all her tenants, even those deceased, Lady Elizabeth embarks on her own investigation, one that almost gets her killed.

DIG DEEP FOR MURDER is a delightfully refreshing cozy that sheds some light on how the small English towns coped during the war years. The interaction of the heroine with her house staff and some of the more colorful villagers are quite humorous and helps defuse the action when it gets too intense. The mystery is well constructed and the heroine's investigation follows a logical path, which makes for a very believable plot appreciated by the audience.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: delightfully refreshing cozy
Review: World War II is raging and the residents of the small hamlet of Sitting Marsh are looking to the lady of the manor Lady Elizabeth for guidance during those perilous times. They don't know that the owner of the manor house is cash poor due to her ex-husband's gambling debts. Lady Elizabeth keeps up the appearance of a wealthy titled landowner so she can be a comfort to the villagers and an example of inspiration due to her contributions to the war effort.

She has donated a half-acre of her land to the villagers for a Victory Garden so they can grow fruits and vegetables to add variety to their rationed diets. When her assistant Polly takes over one of the plots of a recently deceased villager, she unearths the body of a man whose face is all smashed up. Feeling responsible for all her tenants, even those deceased, Lady Elizabeth embarks on her own investigation, one that almost gets her killed.

DIG DEEP FOR MURDER is a delightfully refreshing cozy that sheds some light on how the small English towns coped during the war years. The interaction of the heroine with her house staff and some of the more colorful villagers are quite humorous and helps defuse the action when it gets too intense. The mystery is well constructed and the heroine's investigation follows a logical path, which makes for a very believable plot appreciated by the audience.

Harriet Klausner