Mystery Trio

Mysteries galore on the to be read shelf--three so far this week.

Death of a Valentine by M. C. Beaton.  I am a fan of the Agatha Raisin series and thought it was time to try one in the Hamish Macbeth series.  Death of a Valentine came home with me from the library.  I thoroughly enjoyed these characters and the setting and am looking forward to reading more in this series.
Rating:  3.5/5 (Mystery Scale)





The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley.  This was the March selection for On the Porch Swing (Yahoo Group).  Took me a while to warm up to Flavia de Luce; but once she drew me into her 11-year-old mind, I was enchanted.  Flavia sums it up:  "I was me.  I was Flavia.  And I loved myself, even if no one else did." 

Another favorite character was Gladys:
Until I rescued her from rusty oblivion, my trusty old three-speed BSA Keep Fit had languished for years in a toolshed among broken flowerpots and wooden wheelbarrows.  Like so many other things at Buckshaw, she had once belonged to Harriet, who had named her l'Hirondelle:  "the swallow."  I had rechristened her Gladys.

And a real mind picture painted about the local bus arriving at a stop:
There was a rumble in the distance as the Cottesmore bus approached, waddling along the lane between the hedgerows like a chicken walking a tightrope.  It stopped in front of the bench, wheezing heavily as it subsided from the effort of its hard life among the hills.  The door swung open with an iron groan.
Rating:  4/5 (Mystery Scale)

Aunt Dimity Down Under by Nancy Atherton.  The Aunt Dimity series is the one mystery series I have followed since the first book, Aunt Dimity's Death.  Aunt Dimity Down Under is far and away the best in the series so far.  Thankfully, in the more recent books in the series Lori Shepherd has stopped mooning over every good looking man she encounters as she solves mysteries in the small English village of Finch.  Aunt Dimity Down Under is far and away the best in the series so far, taking Lori to New Zealand to fulfill a request from the eccentric, elderly Pym sisters.
Rating:  4.5/5 (Mystery Scale)