Aunt Dimity's Death

This book unlike many beginning books for Authors is riveting right from the start. The storyline weaves a colorful and engrossing mystery of personality and characterization. Unlike many mysteries this Author doesn't often use a dead body as motivation for her mysteries. The mystery is often about someone's life and the choices they make. I like that rather then only focus on a murder the Author finds life and secrets just as intriquing. Those who love a good murder might mistakenly pass this one up. The secret to this Authors sucess is in the telling of the story. As you read the book you grow to care about these people you are reading about, their concerns become your concerns; their curiousness about something mysterious becomes your curiousness. It's like seeing people argue on the street. You know you shouldn't listen in but you do it anyhow, because there is something so drawing about watching details unfold through dialog and learning perhaps more then you wish to know about anothers life. This is the key to Athertons appeal for me. In the end I find the living mystery she presents just as much fun as a whodunit. The first book is the thread that binds the second book and so on throughout the series. To miss the first book in the series is to be confused. It's a must for anyone who wants to understands the dynamics of her characters to read the 1st book. Anyone who doesn't is missing out on the whole core story.

One damp and dreary day, I decided to try a book by an as yet unread author, Nancy Atherton. And oh joy, oh joy, it was a real delight. Words like cozy, charming and delightful come to mind easily. It was the perfect book for a rainy Fall afternoon. I only got up from my chair once to get a cup of tea and stir the fire. Yes, it is that kind of book. It has all of the elements, likeable characters, an English cottage, a benevolent ghost, the much loved English mystery...sort of...and a touch of romance. All I can say is that I promptly ordered every book in the series and am looking forward to my next day off and that next cup of tea and roaring fire, with a stack of these "Aunt Dimity" books beside my chair.

This is what you need when the noir world of Kinsey Milhone is weighing you down and you've read one too many quick come-backs in the Janet Evanovich books. Poor (and I do mean poor) Lori, cruelly dumped by her ex, has landed in Boston in reduced circumstances. Depressed by her mother's death and a string of soul-numbing temp jobs, she's astounded to learn a storybook character her mother created was indeed an actual person. Lori's circumstances begin to change. She moves briefly into a lush and lovely mansion and from there into a lilac-sheltered cottage in the Cotswolds. All is idyllic, but there are (natch) mysteries she has to solve - who was Aunt Dimity? Why was she wandering the London Zoo one miserable afternoon during the Blitz? And who is haunting her cottage?Put a kettle on. Bake a batch of oatmeal cookies - recipe's on the back page. This book is a balm for a rattled and weary soul.

I'd read AUNT DIMITY'S DEATH once before and found it enchanting. I liked the fact that Lori's Prince Charming isn't storybook handsome. I've loved ghost stories since I was a child, so the supernatural element didn't bother me. My second reading was even more special. I saw my mother only twice a week. I knew she wasn't well, but she didn't tell me she had heart trouble. I said goodbye to her one night before I went home. The next morning my sister called me to tell me she'd died in her sleep. 2 1/2 months later it was the annual Friends of the Tucson-Pima Library used book sale. Saturday was my only chance to go, but I woke up not wanting to bother. The sale had always been a gala day for my mother and me. I couldn't bear the thought of going without her. When I'm feeling really sad or sick, I like to reread a gentle or funny book to help me cope. I'm glad I chose AUNT DIMITY'S DEATH. As Lori learns how Aunt Dimity managed to go on with her life after a devastating blow, I started to feel a little better. By the time I was finished, I no longer felt like greying out in my bed. I drove to the sale. It was hard whenever I spotted a book I knew Mom would have wanted, but I had a nice time. This is a dear book if your life is going well, but I recommend it as a comfort if you've lost someone whom you loved.

What a fun, wonderful book! Althought this was Atherton's first book in the Dimity series I suggest reading Aunt Dimity and the Duke first. The characters are warm and inviting and while this isn't the kind of book that surprises you at the end it is a wonderful trip to getting there.If you read this one you'll want to read them all.