18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delightful English Cozy Mixes Beatrix Potter's Animal Tales with Murder, July 29, 2006
This review is from: The Tale of Hill Top Farm (The Cottage Tales of Beatrix P) (Mass Market Paperback)
"The Tale of Hill Top Farm" is a delightful debut story in an engaging new mystery series by veteran mystery writer Susan Wittig Albert. Ms. Albert has done a fine job of blending biographical information from the life of Beatrix Potter (author of "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and other children's tales) with a compelling murder mystery of her own imagining.
This story introduces the reader to the real Lake Country Village of Sawrey, along with a large host of imagined village inhabitants. As the story opens, one of the village's middle-aged spinsters is found dead in her cottage on the day right after her birthday. The venerable Miss Abigail Tolliver seemed healthy enough at her birthday celebration, and when the village doctor pronounces that she passed due to heart trouble, the local gossips are quick to suspect that Miss Tolliver was poisoned. When Miss Beatrix Potter arrives in town to survey her newly purchased farm, she finds herself looking for answers to the mystery surrounding Miss Tolliver's death. Other strange goings-on in the village include the loss of the Parish Village Register, which contains the church records of the village, and the mysteriouos disappearance of a large sum of money donated to repair the village school roof. The village animals also get involved in trying to solve these mysteries.
Just like the Peter Rabbit stories, all the village animals can talk, but not all the humans can understand them. The animals in this story are embued with much personality, as are the village locals.
I have thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Albert's China Bayles series, and I expect that this series will be one to savor as well.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beatrix Potter buys a farm..., September 4, 2007
This review is from: The Tale of Hill Top Farm (The Cottage Tales of Beatrix P) (Mass Market Paperback)
It's England in 1905, Beatrix Potter has purchased Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey in the Lake District. Local farmers are upset that the farm is now owned by an outsider and a woman at that. On arrival, Beatrix Potter finds the woman she was to board with, Abigail Tolliver, has died unexpectedly and foul play is suspected. Beatrix rents a room at Belle Greene and begins to get a feel for her farm from Mr. Jennings who she hopes will stay on to run it for her. But the town is uneasy with Miss Tolliver's death, a missing painting, a theft at the school, a head teacher that seem bent on mischief and mayhem, and now a London woman owning a local farm.
Since the book is based on an actual historical figure, Beatrix Potter, the story must fit into the spaces in her life not covered by her diaries, writings, letters, and other documentation. I haven't read much about Potter and knew little of her except for her children's books and her love of nature, biology, and science. I was enchanted by the story. The character of Beatrix Potter is rich in contradictions and yet steeped in the traditions and strictures of her time. Albert has given us a woman who yearned for love, independence, and growth but who felt obligated to obey her parents every whim at the expense of her own happiness. Yet, Potter's mind is quick, concise, and her courage, especially when needed by others, is unfailing. I hope to be able to take advantage of some of the suggested resources listed in the back of the book to learn more of Beatrix Potter's life.
The story is a wonderful mix of characters including animals as well as humans. The point of view shifts from the animal views to those of humans with distinct and interesting contrasts for the same events. The mystery is low key and while the solution is fitting and satisfying it's not so much the mystery as the wonderful insights into small town mores and society. This is truly a town filled with believeable people living their lives in 1905 England.
Reading the story is a quite trip in time and a delightful vacation in another place with people you may end up caring about as if they were your own neighbors.
Book also contains a Historical Note, Glossary, List of Resources, and recipes for Tatie Pot, Sponge Cake, Elsa'a Grape's Gooseberry Sauce, Bertha Stubbs's Rhubarb and Strawberry Tart, Gingersnaps, and Mrs. Stokes's Treacle Pudding.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another engaging cozy., March 27, 2006
This review is from: The Tale of Hill Top Farm (The Cottage Tales of Beatrix P) (Mass Market Paperback)
Susan Wittig Albert (and her husband) are no strangers to creating characters that live and breathe. This author has yet again managed to create a very engaging story along with her quirky characters. In this series her animal characters are just as believable and enjoyable as the human characters are. I am planning to read it as one of our family read aloud stories, even though I just finished reading it and am looking forward to the next installment of this series.
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