Aunt Dimity and the Duke (Aunt Dimity Mystery) [Paperback]

Nancy Atherton (Author)

Book Description

Series: Aunt Dimity Mystery | Publication Date: November 1, 1995

A compelling prequel to Aunt Dimity's Death. When avid gardener Emma Porter's longtime lover dumps her, she sets out on a summer-long driving tour of England's glorious gardens. A Dimity-contrived coincidence brings Emma to Penford Hall, where dark rumors and suspicious circumstances lead her on the path to mystery--and unexpected love. Reading tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Atherton's second novel proves more amusing than her first (Aunt Dimity's Death) as it recycles several characters from that mystery/ghost story. Bostonian Emma Porter-a 39-year-old computer analyst and ardent gardener recently jilted by her longtime lover-is on her own in England, exploring Cornwall's gardens. A seemingly chance encounter leads her to Penford Hall, a name prominent in the tabloids five years earlier when a rock star's death peripherally involved Grayson Alexander, the 14th duke of Penford. At the Hall, Emma is greeted by Grayson as the savior of his ruined chapel garden, waiting to be restored in time for the village "Fete" that occurs once every 100 years to celebrate a legendary local supernatural event. That act is memorialized in a chapel window being examined by restorer Derek Harris, a widower who soon becomes Emma's romantic interest. Also present is a fading supermodel whose acerbic tongue cuts the story's high sugar level until she is rendered unconscious by a blow to the head. The source of Grayson's largesse and the identity of the model's attacker, when revealed, leave some questions unanswered, but romance runs rampant, happy endings abound and most readers will be smiling at book's end.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Atherton follows Aunt Dimity's Death (LJ 10/1/92) with a lightly Gothic-flavored forerunner set in a Cornwall mansion. Emma Porter, fortyish computer nerd and gardener, becomes entangled in a mystery involving the Duke of Penford. Aunt Dimity herself appears only in name-but no matter.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (November 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140178414
• ISBN-13: 978-0140178418
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #330,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Charming Feminine Gothic Is Delightful Addition to Series, January 3, 2005

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aunt Dimity and the Duke (Aunt Dimity Mystery) (Paperback)

Although this is the second in the charming Aunt Dimity series, it is chronologically the first in the ongoing story of one enchanting English woman who changes lives for the better.

This time we meet homely American computer nerd Emma Porter. She has just been dumped by her longtime beau for a glamorous younger woman. Rather than cancel their planned trip to view the gardens of England, she decides to make the journey solo. An avid gardener herself, she feels this is just the balm her troubled ego needs. She gets far more than she bargained for when a pair of elderly sisters send her to view fabulous gardens owned by a Duke. Before hse has barely set foot on the soil, she finds herself designing the Duke's chapel gardens, preparing for a once-a-century fete, reconnecting a handsome handyman with his two young children, solving the murder of a rock star, and leading the Duke to wed the woman he has desired for years. Meanwhile, Aunt Dimity keeps her finger in the pie and all live happily ever after, or so we surmise.

If you like your mysteries light with a good-natured ghost and love in the air, you'll enjoy this one.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Aunt Dimity series, June 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Aunt Dimity and the Duke (Aunt Dimity Mystery) (Paperback)

If you aren't acquainted with Aunt Dimity, you have a wonderful experience in store for you. Do it now! Don't read the synopsis...just buy the books...all of them...then read and enjoy. They are delightfully unexpected. Both the men and the women in our family love them. We feel that the less you know about them before you read them the better. We only wish there were more of them.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read the Entire Aunt Dimity Series..., March 14, 2004

By 

K. A. Stevenson "WIAPilot" (Tucson) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Aunt Dimity and the Duke (Aunt Dimity Mystery) (Paperback)

Nancy Atherton does not center this book around her usual title character, Lori Shepherd - but rather around her English neighbors and best friends. It is a delightful sideroad to travel down.

The entire series is simply delightful and a great read.