Aunt Dimity Down Under

I love this series! My mom introduced me to Aunt Dimity about 12 years ago - so I'm pretty hooked! These are the ONLY mysteries I read! Light enough that I can read before going to bed (others give me nightmares, silly, I know) and if I only have a few minutes I can pick them up without having to spend too much time either rereading or remembering what was happening when I last put it down. If you are a lover of mysteries or this is your first foray into the genre, I highly recommend them. Although you don't have to read them in order, it does help! A great read for a rainy afternoon-evening with a cat on your lap!

Aunt Dimity is off down under. The Pym sisters need the help to find a long lost relative. Ms Atherton brings Lori and Aunt Dimity to New Zeland. Lori finds out some things about Bill and also much more about the Pym sisters. It is a well written book with much love for some of the old characters in her prior books that help bring all the story to a sweet ending.

This series hasn't run its course yet. See the other reviews if you need long, drawn out plot points: all I need to tell you that if you've liked the other books in this series, you should like this one as well. We don't see much of the denizens of Fitch, but when you're this far into a series, you do need to do something different with your characters. If you're a new reader looking for a cozy mystery series, they don't get any cozier than these. Start at the beginning of the series, and you'll never look at a favorite stuffed animal quite the same way again. They're gentle books, mysteries without the murder. They're not Great Literature, but you can't beat this series for a pleasant afternoon's reading.

This book is a series, but stands on its own. I really like the stories and highly recommend the books. I have the entire series. Each can stand alone, but it's more fun to read them in sequence! Aunt Dimity is a spirit who writes to Lori Shepherd in a notebook. Dimity had been a close friend to Lori's mother during the war. Her mother had told her stories about Dimity when she was a little girl, but she thought that her mother made them up. Dimity left property in England to Lori when she died. The village is excitedly looking forward to the marriage of Kit and Nell. Everything has been scrubbed, invitations are out, everything is ready! Lori gets a call that the wedding is off because the very old Pym twin sisters are dying. They insist that they see her. They ask her to find Aubrey for them. They send her to their solicitor who tells her that Aubry was an older rakehell brother. She assumes that they want to find his grave in England. However, he also tells her that Aubrey had gone to New Zealand, and that that is where she must track him down! Her husband takes over their twins and household. He has a close friend in New Zealand, who meets Lori and helps her with her search. Aubrey had a son who was no better than he had been who had a daughter also named Aubrey, but goes by Bree. Bree had been raised by her grandparents, Aubry and his wife. They had kicked her father out but took him back in when he swore he'd reformed. He hadn't. She tries to find Bree, but she has always just left for another place. Bree whacks off her hair, gets tattooed, has piercings down on her face as she is completely distraught. Lori finally catches up with her and tells her that her great-aunts want to see her. Bree had thought that her drunken father had made them up! He was always cursing them. (It turns out that his father had set up a trust for his sisters when he became successful in New Zealand.) She convinces Bree that her aunts really want to have her and they go back to England. People are shocked at Bree's tattoos and piercings, but the aunts tell everyone that if they are not nice to Bree, they will come back and smite them! After the funeral for the Pyms and a reasonable time for mourning, the wedding finally takes place. No blood, no guts, no gore, just a story about a lot of normal people! A book that leaves you smiling and feeling good.

There's a wedding and a funeral, but before those can happen Lori must go to New Zealand. She's on the trail of family for the Pym sisters and ends up traveling across the country to find who she's looking for. Amusingly, it's during the time that the Lord of the Rings movies were being filmed that the book is set so there's a bit of that included in this novel as well. Plus, there's very little Peggy (I really don't like that character!) This is another solid entry in the life of Lori Shepherd that I thoroughly enjoyed.