Customer Reviews

Miss Tibbles Investigates

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This novel blends Regency romance with the English house party murder mystery. Mrs Merriweather, formerly the governess Miss Tibbles, is called to help one of her former pupils sort out the mysterious happenings in her family's country residence. Bodies show up and the local magistrate is called. Colonel Merriweather makes another appearance and lends a hand in the investigation.

While an enjoyable read, the book could have used more careful editing. The changing family relationships of the "poor relation" secondary family to the primary characters created confusion. While the mystery is well-plotted and the actions of the characters understandable in the context, the relationships issue detracted from my enjoyment. It is almost as if their were two stories patched together to make one novel.

However, I did enjoy this novel very much and hope that Ms Kihlstrom further expands the story line in this direction.

Miss Tibbles, former governess, now happily married to Col. Merriweather, is back!!

At the request of a former charge, Lady Fairchild, Mrs. Merriweather goes to Kendall Hall for a visit. Almost as soon as she arrives, she senses that all is not well. There is an air of unease and secrecy at Kendall Hall. And everyone seems to have something to hide! Lady Fairchild is afraid that her husband may be having an affair; Lord Fairchild is receiving threatening letters; Pamela Fairchild must hide her love for her childhood playmate, Julian Deerwood, and welcome the woman he loves, Catherine Winley. And what is Catherine Winley hiding? And then on the night of the ball, a man who could pass for Lord Fairchild's twin is found murdered.

Adding to all, Mrs. Merriweather also has to contend with the snobbish behaviour of the inhabitants of Kendall Hall, both above and below stairs, because of her former profession as a governess. Things are definitely not easy for formerly formidible Miss Tibbles this time! Nonetheless, she does manage to solve the mystery and untangle all the romantic entanglements.

A fun read, and the fact that it was easy to figure out the murderer and his motives does not detract at all. But too much happpened all at once. Everything tied together nicely in the end, but if there had been fewer secrets, it might have made a little easier reading.

I prefer my books with a little action, a little characterization. I want to read books where the characters change from beginning to end. I like my mysteries to be mysteries and not obvious enough to be guessed in the first third of the book. Miss Tibbles doesn't even solve this mystery herself. Though it would appear that she might have, we never saw it, and thus this reader was left completely unsatisfied. One character in the book does solve the mystery... on an extremely flimsy remark. I certainly didn't believe it.

Oh, the prose of the book is nice enough, but nice doesn't stretch any boundaries. It doesn't make me think. If the author truly likes this character, I hope that her next book lets Marian (and please settle on how the reader is presented with her name!) flesh out a bit and entertain some bolder, perhaps even flamboyant characters whose lives, manners and viewpoints are changed by their circumstances. Just because the Regency era was so constrained doesn't mean that a 21st Century reader must be similarly constrained.

This was my first story by April Kihlstrom, and I was impressed by some aspects of this Regency - I liked the characters she created, they seemed like real people and all did believable (to me) things, and the plotting was quite good, too. I really liked the character of "Miss Tibble" - this is the first time that I have encountered her, and I am looking forward to finding some other books *about* Miss Tibble. And there was quite a good storyline, with plenty of different threads running through it, and I liked the ending - although a bit dark, it was still realistic. And all was resolved pretty well, I thought.

However, it still did not come together for me for as an enjoyable read, and I really wondered why. Perhaps it was the writing that was missing something, the disjointed way that all the many plot-lines were presented, or the too-quick ending where all the various threads were joined together in just a few pages. Whatever it was, although this story had a lot of potential, it was missing that "spark" that makes a really good read.

But I will definitely be on the look-out for other books by Ms. Kihlstrom - the characterization and plot of this book were excellent, and perhaps in another book her writing is improved.

I met the author at a romance writer's workshop where she was a wonderful guest speaker.
I bought the book to see how it is that this woman is such a successful author.
I was impressed with her story and the skillful and entertaining way she told it.
I have an autographed copy for sale.

I have yet to figure out why Miss Kihlstrom felt the need to write another story with Miss Tibbles in it. This book was uninteresting. The romance was set betwen 16 year old Pamela and her childhood friend, Julian. Julian thinks he is in love with another girl. Pam's father is behaving rather odd and his wife, Pam's mom, who had Miss Tibbles as a governess, sends for her to help the family. Miss Tibbles was always a rock to those she served. However, she is now a married woman with a small child. Why she went to help, after her former charge only wrote her once in two years, it a bit weak. And when she arrives at Pamela's home, she is greated at the steps entering the home with such distain that she should have turned around and left. She is described in the book as a dab, strange woman. What an appealing vision...Also, a romance regarding a 16 year old girl is not, not, not romantic. I realize they married younger back then, but girls were 18 when presented. A 16 years old pining for love lost is silly. And creepy. I wonder if Miss Kihlstrom thought she was writing a "sweet valley high" book...