Aunt Dimity and the Village Witch

February 20, 2012
At the start of Atherton’s absorbing 17th mystery featuring paranormal detective Lori Shepherd (after 2011’s Aunt Dimity and the Family Tree), Amelia Thistle, believed to be “a mild-mannered, middle-aged widow of independent means,” moves into a cottage in the Cotswolds village of Finch. Amelia is in fact “England’s greatest botanical artist,” Mae Bowen, as Lori soon learns from an art appraiser neighbor who recognizes the woman. Mae, who’s desperately trying to escape her cult following, turns to Lori for help in concealing her true identity—and in redeeming the reputation of an accused witch known as Mistress Meg, who lived in Finch in the 17th century. Lori’s ghostly Aunt Dimity provides support through words that magically appear in a copperplate book. Despite the lack of a murder, cozy fans will enjoy following the far from obvious clues in the effort to exonerate Mistress Meg. 4-city author tour. Agent: Annelise Robey, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

March 15, 2012
The entire population of an English village comes together to protect the privacy of the newest resident. Ex-pat American Lori Shepherd, her attorney husband and their two horse-crazy sons live on the outskirts of the Cotswold village of Finch. Lori is just one of the many residents casually hanging about to see the arrival of newcomer Amelia Thistle. Two of Lori's artistic friends soon identify Amelia as Mae Bowen, a famous artist who formerly lived in a gated house to escape her rabid fans. Lori breaks village tradition by paying an uninvited visit to Amelia, who's still grieving the loss of her husband and brother. Amelia has come to Finch determined to recover the rest of a missing manuscript her great-grandfather had discovered in which Gamaliel Gowland, the 17th-century rector of Finch's church, describes Margaret Redfearn, presumed to have been a witch. Once Amelia reveals her identity to several people, Lori, the current rector and his wife, and Lori's father-in-law, who's smitten by Amelia, join in the hunt. Not only do they have to decipher the cryptic clues they find in each newly discovered page, but they must also protect Amelia from the fans who have tracked her down. Even Aunt Dimity, a spirit who communicates with Lori by writing in a special book, gets into the act with her usual sage advice. Although there's little mystery in the traditional sense, the hunt for historical artifacts adds spice to one of the most charming adventures of Lori and Aunt Dimity (Aunt Dimity and the Family Tree, 2011, etc.).

COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 1, 2012
Absolutely all the residents of Finch, a remote Cotswold village, are in place on a rainy October morning to get their first glimpse of Amelia Thistle, the new owner of Pussywillow Cottage. Ensconced in a window seat in the local tearoom is Lori Shepherd, an American who settled in Finch after inheriting a cottage from her mother's dear friend, Aunt Dimity. After two local art specialists bolt from the tearoom upon seeing Thistle, Lori learns that the cottage's new owner is, in fact, renowned artist Mae Bowen, who has a fanatical group of followers from whom she is seeking anonymity. Thistle/Bowen is also seeking information on a seventeenth-century witch to fulfill a mission of her recently deceased brother. Differing from others in the Aunt Dimity series, there is no murder here, but there is a crime. Lori marshals the village, from the vicar to her own sons, to solve the crime, using the otherworldly Aunt Dimity to fill in gaps in their knowledge of Finch. Fans of the series will enjoy seeing Lori's twin boys growing up and the increased involvement of her father-in-law in the life of the village.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)