Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin [Hardcover]

Nancy Atherton (Author)

Book Description

Series: Aunt Dimity | Publication Date: January 31, 2005

Nancy Atherton’s charming Aunt Dimity series has won the hearts of cozy mystery fans everywhere. Now, Lori Shepherd, feeling a touch world-weary, decides to become a volunteer at the Radcliffe Infirmary, where she can spread a little good cheer in the community. There she meets Elizabeth Beacham, a kind, retired legal secretary with no family except a brother who has mysteriously disappeared.

Lori is saddened when Miss Beacham passes away suddenly after only a few visits. But when she receives an envelope containing a set of keys and a letter Miss Beacham wrote to her just a few days before her death, it becomes clear that there was much more to the gentle invalid than met the eye. Notices start arriving around the village of the large bequests made before her death. And Lori finds that Miss Beacham’s flat is filled with priceless antiques—an inheritance too precious to remain unclaimed. Armed with a few clues and Aunt Dimity’s help, Lori begins to unearth Miss Beacham’s secrets and, ultimately, the surprising truth about her next-of-kin. In this page-turning installment, Aunt Dimity reaches beyond the grave to help another kindly spirit finally rest in peace.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The premise of the Aunt Dimity series sounds a bit twee even for confirmed cozy lovers: wealthy American Lori Shepherd, living in the Midlands region of England, communicates with "Aunt Dimity," a deceased family friend, through a mysterious journal. For readers willing to play Atherton's game, however, the series can be thoroughly entertaining. To know Lori, who manages to be incredibly altruistic yet not particularly angelic, is to love her. Reading about her life in her snug cottage with her five-year-old twin sons and kind husband is as comforting as a cup of hot cocoa, with the denizens of her tiny English village serving as the marshmallows on top. This time Lori, volunteering at the hospital, befriends a certain Miss Beacham and is greatly saddened when she dies. Then Lori receives a letter from the deceased asking her to solve a mystery: Where is Miss Beacham's estranged brother? Fans of complex plots and taut suspense won't find succor here, but lovers of simpler pleasures will purr quietly. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Back Cover

"Atherton’s series is for those who like the puzzle of a mystery minus the corpses. . . . Put on the teakettle and enjoy."
—Rocky Mountain News

"A charming mystery, filled with warmth and affection."
—Deadly Pleasures --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; First Edition edition (January 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670033782
• ISBN-13: 978-0670033782
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #573,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what it sets out to be -- no more and certainly no less, April 10, 2005

By 

Dr Cathy Goodwin (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin (Hardcover)

Why five stars? Because Nancy Atherton promises a light-hearted romp -- what I call airplane reading, something to take our minds off where we are and what we're supposed to be doing. We don't ask a lot of those books: just smooth writing, comfortable setting, likeable characters and enough interest to keep the pages turning.

And that's exactly what Atherton serves up here. Visiting a nursing home, Lori befriends Ms. Beacham, legal secretary who dies almost immediately. Lori learns that this unassuming woman has left legacies to all sorts of people, including herself. And she agrees to take on a quest for Ms. Beacham's next of kin.

Atherton breaks a number of mystery conventions with this book, leaving us with plot that's gentle even by cozy standards. Even MC Beaton wreaks more havoc in her country villages! A novice writer probably wouldn't be allowed these lapses. Still, Atherton plays fair with the readers, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the characters.

As a newcomer to the Aunt Dimity series, I plan to go back and read more. After all sometimes we don't want a meaty tome: we're satisfied with an airy, exquisitely baked puff pastry.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars COMFORT READ, February 17, 2005

By 

Sandy Rhoad "Insatiable reader" (Branchville, SC United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin (Hardcover)

Please read the ENTIRE series - beginning with the first. You won't be able to put them down. In this last book in the series Aunt Dimity takes a backseat to the story - but it is okay by this time. You become so much a part of the family that you want to stay - not close the book. This series is home, a place to go when you feel like crying or giving up. It is a comfort zone of reading and I guarantee that it will lighten your life and you will search for more like it and be eager for the next in the series. Give it a try.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Life of Riches is more than money, March 20, 2006

By 

Gayle Surrette "omnivorous reader" (Brandywine, Maryland) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin (Aunt Dimity Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

I love this series. The premise is that Aunt Dimity, who is dead, can communicate with Lori Shepherd via a journal. Lori talks and Dimity writes her responses for Lori to read. I can accept this because these stories are rich in friendship, love, trust, caring, and community.

Lori's twins boys are now 5 and as active as ever. Lori stays active in the town of Finch, the church, and now visits at the Radcliffe Infirmary those patients who have no other visitors. It's at the Radcliffe that Lori meets Elizabeth Beacham, a retired legal secretary. They hit it off immediately and become friends. But as is the nature of cancer, Miss Beacham dies and Lori is devastated. Then she learns that Miss Beacham has left her a desk in her will. Lori feels that she has to find Miss Beacham's brother who disappeared years ago to find out why his sister died with no family at her side.

Of course this starts the chain of events that cause Lori to learn that Miss Beacham was more than she appeared to be. She also learns that cities can also have communities as tight knit as Finch. She recruits helper on her journey to find Kenneth Beacham and manages to lose her temper, jump to conclusions, and finally approach her goal.

As usual, there is a message to the book. This one examines our preconceptions of people and their roles. If you haven't read any of the previous Aunt Dimity books you can start with any of them including this one but why rob yourself of a wonderful, relaxing, reading experience--start at the beginning with Aunt Dimity's Death. Enjoy.