Customer Reviews

The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood

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If you have read any of Beatrix Potter's children's books you will be in wonder that Susan Albert manages to assume the character and write such a wonderful series of books. I have long loved Potter's art and even longer loved Ms. Albert's herbal mysteries. To find both talents combined in one work of verbal art is the best of all worlds. This series (3 books now) will take you into a realm of peace, and a world of excitement. Please give yourself a gift of the finest dimensions and read this series - and then move on to the herbal mysteries. Ms. Albert is a master at her art.

Third in the third series by Albert, we once again visit Beatrix Potter's farm that serves as her refuge from her parents and London society. As before, there are several mysteries woven into the plot, while several of them are amongst the many animals that are known to populate Potter's fictional children's books. Upon Beatrix's arrival to the Lake District, her farm has been overrun with rats. Beatrix soon manages to employ several cats to assist in the problem, but she is unwittingly helped by an unknown resident of her farm, who then has to take care of the cat problem once the rat problem has been addressed. The animal denizens and their lives are just as interesting as the humans in Albert's Cottage Tales series - and Beatrix is a character that readers will come to love and respect just as the villagers have, using her observational abilities to assist in many ways without intruding upon the privacy of others.

This is another great addition to Albert's Beatrix Potter series. The characters, including the animals, are simply wonderful. Albert can really paint a picture of people and places that makes you feel if you are sitting at a table in the English countryside!

This isn't a traditional murder mystery - in fact that is no murder at all! Albert manages to create a mystery without the requisite murder. The plot is still involved and interesting as you learn about the characters and their lives. We get to revisit a lot of characters from the past two books as well as meet some new ones.

If you are like me and not usually into talking animals, don't skip this book for that reason. The animals add so much to this story and it not at all "childish," although this IS a book you could read to your children and not worry about.

Definitely worth the time to read!

Although Miss Beatrix Potter spends much of her time in London behaving as a dutiful daughter who makes life easier for her society parents, her true home is in the town of Sawrey. Her heart belongs to her estate Hill Top Farm and though she can only make infrequent visit there, the villagers accept her as one of their own because they sense a kindred spirit. Her latest visit in the spring of 1907 forces her to deal with the rat population that has taken up residence in her home and the out building. One of the rats, a timid, professional type, advertises for cats to take up residence and kill the rats.

As more and more cats answer the ad, Miss Potter is concerned that Major Christopher Kittredge of Raven Hall, at the urgings of his wife is willing to build villas on his property on the shores of the lake. She fears that the project will spoil the atmosphere of the village. The vicar of Sawrey is dealing with his own problem. His cousins the Thextons have outstayed their welcome and he doesn't know how to get rid of them. Miss Pother has an idea how to do just that when she wants to out a blackmailer and a bigamist She also would like to find a way for a bright lad to continue his education but the indenture papers are about to be signed.

This is a charming, beguiling and enchanting work about an adult author who is responsible for overseeing her parents' household still believing in the magic of the fairy folks. Fans who like the Mrs. Murphy mysteries where the animals speak to one another and look out for their humans will thoroughly enjoy this piquant cozy where the crimes committed are of a non-violent nature which fits the serene atmosphere that the author successfully creates.

Harriet Klausner

This third book in the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter is just as much fun and as charming as the first two. It makes you want to find the Potter illustrations from her "little books," so that the faces and personalities of the people involved in the stories become even more familiar.
With the world as it is now, it's a joy (and a relief) to immerse oneself in the world of a century ago with the friends one met in childhood.

If the village of Near Sawrey put out its weekly newspaper about the fortnight during which this story takes place, some of the headlines would read: "Major Christopher Kittredge returns to Raven Hall with his Lovely New Bride" and "Rat Explosion at Hill Top Farm Threatens Village" and "Village Plans May Day Celebration" and perhaps "Stay Clear of the Cuckoo Brow Wood on May Eve." The society column might feature: "Miss Beatrix Potter Returns to Hill Top Farm" and "Local Society Attends Grand Reception at Raven Hall." As salacious as these headlines might be, the devil is in the details.

The third in Susan Wittig Albert's Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter series continues to enchant both grownups and young women edging toward adulthood. How lovely it is to curl up with a book about an old-fashioned, out-of-the-way English Lake Country village, complete with sheep birthing lambs and delectable smells coming from the village bakery, with dogs, cats, rats, and other four-legged animals conversing so sensibly. With just that, however, the tale could become dull in no time. So throw in a few wicked, scheming adults, some rowdy, shameless rats, a few mercenary cats, a bit of romance, some children who need a bit of help, and, of course, Miss Potter, and you have a rousing tale.

Albert builds the tale and weaves multiple plots with skill and charm. And all is resolved satisfactorily, except for the question of whether or not there are really fairies in Cuckoo Brow Wood. To find out what the story is behind each headline, you must read and revel in The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood.

by Judith Helburn
for Story Circle Book Reviews
www.storycirclebookreviews.org
reviewing books by, for, and about women

These are just wonderful stories - for children, for fans of Beatix Potter, for anyone who enjoys mystery and fantasy. I picked up these books quite by accident, and found them reminiscent of my old favorite classics like "A Secret Garden." Very interesting stories - both as stand alone books and as part of the series.

Once again Susan Wittig Albert delights us with the third novel in The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter. The heroine in this novel solves another crime and befriends and assists three young people in the village who are in need of help from the "wee folk". This novel speaks of love and compassion in both the human and animal world. The characters are evolving wonderfully and the animal ones have become more realistic, if that's possible. People and animals alike work together to make the world of Near and Far Sawrey a better place. I anxiously await the next novel in this series.

My wife read it from cover to cover in two days, what more can I say. Too bad I'm not a murder mystery fan...

If you like cozy mysteries, mysteries that take place in a rural English setting, have read and enjoyed Susan Wittig Albert's China Bayles series Thyme of Death (China Bayles 1), or are at all a fan of Beatrix Potter, this series is for you. The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Woods is the third in this series. While it is helpful to have read the other two books The Tale of Hill Top Farm: The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter (Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter Mysteries), The Tale of Holly How, since many characters both human and animal repeat, the book also stands on its own. I especially enjoy when animals are given a voice in a believable way. The story works in parallel...with the human storyline and the animal one. The animals find the clues and figure out the mystery before the humans but are unable to get the humans to understand. In this way it reminds me of the Rita Mae Brown/Sneaky Pie Brown Mrs. Murphy mysteries Wish You Were Here (Mrs. Murphy Mysteries). The characters are well-drawn and the mystery free of the bloody gore and tension in many other less-cozy mysteries. As a sideline, you also learn a lot about the life of the beloved children's author, Beatrix Potter. I sincerely hope this series continues.