Customer Reviews

Aunt Dimity: Detective (Aunt Dimity Mystery)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was pretty disappointed in this latest Aunt Dimity installment. I really enjoyed all the previous books in the series, and was very much looking forward to this one.

The "Lori-meets-attractive-men-and-must-resist-their-charms" angle is getting tiresome. It was just plain annoying to read about her aborted dalliance with Nicholas. If this is so important to the author, why not split up Lori and Bill and turn her into a divorced mom, entering the dating scene.

The "quaint" townsfolk are starting to annoy me, as well. And, to me, the mystery was not believable either. Neither was the secret behind Nicholas's visit to Finch.

I am really glad I did not pay full-price for this book. I will certainly read the next installment, but if it turns out to be as lackluster as this one, I may forego any further Aunt Dimity novels.

Having been in the vortex of some pretty vicious rumors recently, I found myself totally engrossed in this book. I haven't read any of the Dimity series, but I enjoyed this one.

I have to admit the Lori-resists-a-handsome-man was a bit off-putting because there was enough tension in the main plot line to keep the action moving forward.

Atherton's message here was: one bad apple CAN spoil the whole bunch -- if you're not careful. It happened in my town and it happened in Finch.

In this cozy, number seven of the series, it is the victim you will love to hate, and that makes it all the cozier. All of the Dimity books are well-plotted but this plot is the tightest, with such a nasty victim that the many possible suspects are logical. The Dimity ghost appears less and less, as is reasonable since Lori is maturing as a detective. As in previous Dimities, family life and the hectic village provide a setting to allow laser-like views of human nature that make "cozy" a funny term. A real who-done-it!

I have read four of the Aunt Dimity books, and while I greatly enjoyed Aunt Dimity and the Duke, I have not enjoyed the others quite as much. This book is an appealing little cozy, but Lori annoys the daylights out of me. I am not a prude by any means and I understand the joys of observing the appealing members of the male species as much as any woman, but geesh, girl, get a grip.
I thought Aunt Dimity Beats the Devil was over the top with the whole, "let's get into bed naked with a total stranger for body heat." But I thought maybe it was the whole possession thing going on, so let's give it a try. But I swear, you would think there were no other hot women running around in Finch or the surrounding areas the way Lori gets the attention of every cute man within a 50-mile radius.
I think the books are basically interesting and the storylines are cute. They would be good beach reads or curl up in comfy chair books. But I can't be the only one for whom the "Lori stumbles on mystery and, oh my goodness, there is a sexy man just waiting to help her detect or search abandoned ruins or keep warm on those lonely cold English countryside nights" twist is getting a bit old. If you are going to have her totally man crazy, she might as well be single and living it up.
If Dimity can make her journal fly off shelves, why can't she fly into the back of Lori's head and whack her a couple of times when she behaves this way?
Make her a bit more likeable, please! Or bring Emma back in as the major character. She had her flaws too, but she was likeable.

While the premise of the Aunt Dimity books is original and could be entertaining, Ms. Atherton is stuck on the same theme in her books. Yes, there is some sort of mystery, but the focus seems to be more on the mutual attraction between Lori and a man other than her husband, Bill. Please! I stopped liking Lori about the third time this happened, and could not finish the last Aunt Dimity book I tried to read. Seems like Ms. Atherton is living vicariously through her fictional character. I used to write stuff like that in 7th grade, but then I grew up. I agree with another reviewer...if it's so important for Lori to be attractive to each new man in town, then let poor Bill divorce her and marry a woman who can be faithful to him and not lust after every man who comes along.

Mix Agatha Christie with Stephen King's good twin and you have the Aunt Dimity mystery series--now seven long--by Nancy Atherton. Aunt Dimity is the most benign of ghosts who has left her fortune and a golden cottage in the Cotswalds to her best friend's daughter, Lori Shepherd. In this installment Lori investigates the murder of the village busybody who has created doubt and fear among the eccentric villagers through her malicious gossip mongering.

Assisted by Aunt Dimity, who communicates through elegant copperplate manuscript in a slender blue notebook, Lori eventually uncovers the murderer, and as importantly, is able to, barely, resist her feelings for a man certainly not her husband. This series is frothy and light, all the while acknowledging the sexual side of the the major protagonists. (Agatha missed that trick as I recall!).

I'm a big, burly, slightly profane middle-aged man and I really like this series. You can start anywhere--I started with this one--but were you able to read them sequentially you'd have a better understanding of the characters as the author develops them over time. But wherever you are able to start, start!

The mystery interested me more, and the characters were mostly
more fun. And I enjoyed the rather unusual killer.

This is a wonderful series for those of us who love a good mystery and hate all the sex and violence that is put into the books for NO REASON. These stories have you on the edge of your seat and make you feel like you really know the characters. Light fantasy - but great mystery.
Ideal for a stormy night.

Lori Shepherd has just returned from a holiday visit to her husband Bill Willis' family in Boston. She is surprised to learn that a newcomer to the village, Prunella (Pruneface) Hooper has died, apparently a murder. The vicar's mysterious nephew and Lori are intrigued by the mystery, and the fact that the police have no clues and no witnesses, although many people were out and about that morning. Pruneface was very unpopular with the local populace, being a vicious gossip and possibly a blackmailer. Lori finds out that the people of Finch have many secrets and that Aunt Dimity, although wise, does not know everything.

This is the latest in a very good series featuring Aunt Dimity, a ghost who communicates with Lori and Bill via a blue journal. This is a very good addition to the series and I read it in one sitting.

In what I consider a REAL cozy, only horrible, nasty people die and the killer isn't terribly nice, either. This mystery fulfills the first part admirably. While we don't know the personality of the murder victim in 1879, "Pruneface" Hooper was evil. The lie she spread about Kit Smith alone is enough to earn Hooper that status. It's a good thing for her grandson that she died before he became a teenager. I do hope his father can turn him around.

Loved the reason Aunt Dimity can't communicate with Pruneface. Although virtually everyone in Finch hopes the killer is never found, Aunt Dimity doesn't agree. Her reason turns out to be correct.

Of the suspects, who killed the Queen of Malice? Was it Mr. Wetherhead of the Miniature Train Museum, who isn't as lame as he used to be? Was it Miranda Morrow, the telephone witch?
How about Sally Pyne who runs the tearoom? Did she serve Pruneface a dessert that was just instead of sweet? Did the pub-keeping Peacocks cook up something besides calorie-laden food? Isn't Peggy Taxman going overboard on her displays of grief over the death of her old friend? Why is Mr. Barlow missing?

As for Nicholas Fox, is the sexy martial-arts instructor really trying to find the killer to help his uncle, the vicar?

There's an old saying that there's no smoke without fire. Is there ANY truth behind the rumors Pruneface was so eagerly spreading?

Unless you happen to be a horrible and nasty person yourself (in which case I recommend you find a different series to read), you should be satisfied with the author's choice of killer.

There's only one nit I'd like to pick about this book. One of the themes I've loved in this series is that Prince [and Princess] Charmings come in all shapes and sizes. That's why I find the changes in Emma and Bill so disappointing.