Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin

Rating:
Summary: Utterly charming
Review: Aunt Dimity books seem to bring forth all manner of "cliches" from reviewers. Cozy, warm, witty, charming. They all fit but the Aunt Dimity books are more than that. The main character is Lori Shephard, an expatriate American living in a village in England with her husband and twin sons and a host of friends in the village. Lori was left her cottage by her mother's longtime friend, Aunt Dimity. Lori's mother was a widow who raised Lori on her own. After her mother's death, Lori is in the depths of despair, out of time, money and love. The "discovery" that the friend that her mother told her bedtime stories of over the years actually existed and had left Lori her estate, changes things for Lori. She finds that she can communicate with Aunt Dimity, and goes to her for advise over the years. With Aunt Dimity's insight and help, Lori solves a number of mysteries in her own village, and surrounding area.

I love the Aunt Dimity series, cannot wait to start a new one and am always sad when it is over. My own copies are worn and well-loved and I have "introduced" Aunt Dimity to friends and family over the years, even the ones that I thought personally might not be "worthy" of reading her...and there has been only one that didn't fall for her.

I only wish I could give this series more than 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Warm and Wonderful!
Review: I loved this book so much that I started reading it for a second time the minute I finished it. It is a "cozy" in the best sense of that tradition. Sit by a fire, drink a cup of tea, and enjoy the book and the great recipe at the end. The characters are endearing, and the story is touching. By the end of the book, I was wishing that Lori and Miss Beacham lived in my neigborhood. The book is a great escape, but it also teaches an important lesson about the true meaning of charity. I feel just the way Lori did at the beginning of the book-I have had enough of the bad news and tragedies that inundate and overwhelm us. This book made me smile and made me wish it didn't end.