Aunt Dimity and the Summer King

February 23, 2015
In Atherton’s disappointing 20th paranormal cozy featuring amateur sleuth Lori Shepherd (after 2014’s Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well), the ghostly Aunt Dimity, who left her cottage and fortune to Lori when she died, helps Lori figure out why two empty cottages aren’t attracting new owners in the Cotswolds village of Finch. Lori also wants to learn more about the mysterious Arthur Hargreaves, an eccentric genius known to his family as the Summer King, and why her fellow villagers dislike him so vehemently. Unfortunately, Aunt Dimity’s barely useful counsel can’t make up for the slow pacing or the plethora of people totally besotted with Bess, Lori and husband Bill’s baby—and the excuses offered for Lori’s ignorance of facts known to the other villagers just don’t hold water. The denouement is far-fetched, and the charm and wit of earlier books in the series are sadly missing in this one. Agent: Annelise Robey, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

February 15, 2015
Once again, something strange is going on in a lovely Cotswold village.The birth of her daughter, Bess, has kept Lori Shepherd away from the Finch gossip mill lately. As she gets back into the swing of village life, she's disturbed by the fact that several of the lovely cottages remain unsold and decides to find out why. Lori has the added strain of a visit by her husband's unpleasant aunts, who are expected for the wedding of her father-in-law, William Willis Sr., to the delightful watercolorist Amelia Thistle. One thing that brightens her day is a chance meeting with William's neighbor Arthur Hargreaves, who fixes her broken pram. She finds him charming and wonders why she'd never heard of him, no less met him. When she mentions him in the village, however, she's astounded to hear about a long-running feud started in the time of Arthur's great-great grandfather Quentin. After a few hours spent in the aunts' company, Lori's glad to escape to Hillfont Abbey, where once again she's charmed by Arthur and his bright, appealing grandchildren. Seeking advice from her otherworldly muse, Aunt Dimity, Lori talks to the villagers about the real estate agent who's listed the cottages. What she discovers is some shocking news about her newfound friend that leaves her with some important decisions to make. As usual, not much happens to Lori (Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well, 2014, etc.), but the slight story is gracefully told.

April 15, 2015
Atherton's twentieth adventure starring amateur sleuth Lori Shepherd and her ghostly advisor, Aunt Dimity, probes the history of Lori's beloved Finch village. Four months after daughter Bess' birth, Lori ventures out on long walks with the baby and finds herself stranded after her pram breaks. A kind genius repairs it, telling her he is called the Summer King by his large, quirky family. His real name, Arthur Hargreaves, inspires extreme reactions in the Finch villagers. The wealthy recluse is unknown to any of them personally, but they believe he is part of a long-standing feud with a neighboring town, begun by one of his ancestors and extending into the present, with Finch in severe economic decline. Asking questions of her friends and the inimitable Aunt Dimity, whom she speaks to through a kind of automatic writing, Lori learns that there may be reasons why local cottages are not selling, and it may be part of a bigger scheme associated with Hargreaves. No murder to solve here, but an interesting puzzle and plenty of fun characters. Fans of Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove series would make an ideal audience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)