Aunt Dimity and the next of kin

The premise of the Aunt Dimity series sounds a bit twee even for confirmed cozy lovers: wealthy American Lori Shepherd, living in the Midlands region of England, communicates with Aunt Dimity, a deceased family friend, through a mysterious journal. For readers willing to play Atherton's game, however, the series can be thoroughly entertaining. To know Lori, who manages to be incredibly altruistic yet not particularly angelic, is to love her. Reading about her life in her snug cottage with her five-year-old twin sons and kind husband is as comforting as a cup of hot cocoa, with the denizens of her tiny English village serving as the marshmallows on top. This time Lori, volunteering at the hospital, befriends a certain Miss Beacham and is greatly saddened when she dies. Then Lori receives a letter from the deceased asking her to solve a mystery: Where is Miss Beacham's estranged brother? Fans of complex plots and taut suspense won't find succor here, but lovers of simpler pleasures will purr quietly. --Jenny McLarin Copyright 2005 Booklist

In Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin, the 10th entry in her warm British cozy series featuring U.S. ex-pat Lori Shepard and her ghostly aunt (after 2004's Aunt Dimity: Snowbound), Lori's fondness for Elizabeth Beacham, a retired legal secretary whom she meets while volunteering at Oxford's renowned Radcliffe Infirmary, leads the amateur sleuth on a quest, after her new friend's sudden death, to find the woman's lost brother. From the maze of Oxford streets to Miss Beacham's elegant flat, where the reader can almost smell the aroma of her special raisin bread (recipe included), Atherton creates a world in which we would all like to live. Agents, Meg Ruley and Annalise Robey at the Jane Rotrosen Agency. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

The premise of the Aunt Dimity series sounds a bit twee even for confirmed cozy lovers: wealthy American Lori Shepherd, living in the Midlands region of England, communicates with "Aunt Dimity," a deceased family friend, through a mysterious journal. For readers willing to play Atherton's game, however, the series can be thoroughly entertaining. To know Lori, who manages to be incredibly altruistic yet not particularly angelic, is to love her. Reading about her life in her snug cottage with her five-year-old twin sons and kind husband is as comforting as a cup of hot cocoa, with the denizens of her tiny English village serving as the marshmallows on top. This time Lori, volunteering at the hospital, befriends a certain Miss Beacham and is greatly saddened when she dies. Then Lori receives a letter from the deceased asking her to solve a mystery: Where is Miss Beacham's estranged brother? Fans of complex plots and taut suspense won't find succor here, but lovers of simpler pleasures will purr quietly. ((Reviewed January 1 & 15, 2005)) Copyright 2005 Booklist Reviews.

In Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin, the 10th entry in her warm British cozy series featuring U.S. ex-pat Lori Shepard and her ghostly aunt (after 2004's Aunt Dimity: Snowbound), Lori's fondness for Elizabeth Beacham, a retired legal secretary whom she meets while volunteering at Oxford's renowned Radcliffe Infirmary, leads the amateur sleuth on a quest, after her new friend's sudden death, to find the woman's lost brother. From the maze of Oxford streets to Miss Beacham's elegant flat, where the reader can almost smell the aroma of her special raisin bread (recipe included), Atherton creates a world in which we would all like to live. Agents, Meg Ruley and Annalise Robey at the Jane Rotrosen Agency. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

In Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin, the 10th entry in her warm British cozy series featuring U.S. ex-pat Lori Shepard and her ghostly aunt (after 2004's Aunt Dimity: Snowbound), Lori's fondness for Elizabeth Beacham, a retired legal secretary whom she meets while volunteering at Oxford's renowned Radcliffe Infirmary, leads the amateur sleuth on a quest, after her new friend's sudden death, to find the woman's lost brother. From the maze of Oxford streets to Miss Beacham's elegant flat, where the reader can almost smell the aroma of her special raisin bread (recipe included), Atherton creates a world in which we would all like to live. Agents, Meg Ruley and Annalise Robey at the Jane Rotrosen Agency. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.