If, like me, you're an Anglophile as well as a paranomal mystery aficionado, you will love this book. If you're neither of those, you will love this book. Nancy Atherton writes intelligently, honestly, and funnily ( yeah, yeah, I know humourously is the right word !). Her writing style is true and this 18th book in her Aunt Dimity series doesn't fail in any way. Her characters are human, her plots are delicious,and her sense of humour (note the British spelling !) is right on target. She never reaches for credibility on any level. Honestly, this is just the best series!
Aunt Dimity is the one who comes to Lori from the "other side" via writing. Reginald, Lori's stuffed bunny has gifts of his own and even if you don't have a big G (for gullible) on your forehead, Aunt Dimity is just too wonderful to dismiss just because she's dead.
Lori Shepherd, the fearless, impulsive and oh-so-human sleuth, is an American who lives with her family in the Cotswolds in the charming and gentle town of Finch. Lori has a case of the February blues and snow has canceled school. She is in the house with rambunctious twin 8-year-old boys (wouldn't you know her husband is in Majorca on business?) when her young, energetic neighbor, Bree Prym, shows up at her house, asking for refuge for a week—or more!
Bree is an adventurous kind of girl and the boys love her. Her new spiky, bright red hairdo and announces her personality in no uncertain terms. She's compassionate but brassy and sassy, my kind of woman. Bree has a scheme to visit a nearby museum, Skeaping Mano, well-known for its awful displays of skeletons and shrunken heads. The boys, Will and Rob, will love it. (Lori is relieved to find that this ghastly museum also houses a fine collection of porcelain, silver, jade and woodcuts.)
Lori is upstairs in the museum soaking up art when she sees a young girl, maybe 9 years old, looking at a silver sleigh-shaped salt cellar. The daughter of the cleaning woman, Daisyl is frightfully thin and very different, but delightful. She and Lori have a most mysterious conversation about a Russian prince who is being kept against his will.
The next day, while volunteering at a thrift shop, Lori finds the girl's parka, and in the pocket is the silver sleigh. Lori wants to find Daisy so that she won't be accused of theft. Oddly enough the museum's curator won't acknowledge the theft, and Daisy and her mother have left abruptly, leaving no forwarding address.
Lori and Bree have to dive right into the middle of this mystery and well, you'll just have to read the book to see what happens. I can assure you that you'll meet interesting people at each step.Their flaws and gifts are funny, if maddening at times, and Atherton's insights into the human character are true. The wise Aunt Dimity supports and guides Lori into acceptance of the quirky.
This is more than a good read. It's super, and there's a lot to learn about life, too.
—Dian Esterly
—FTC Disclosure: This book was provided by the publisher.
Elspeth Grey a recently divorced, "Queen of Deserts" romance writer, has moved to a small town to rebuild her life. Her ex got the city home and she got the cabin in All Hallows, a sleepy New England town. The local bookstore is hosting a reading for Elspeth’s latest book. It is a dark and stormy nigh,t and when the lights go out no one is surprised when they come back on to reveal a murder. It is not just any murder, but the murder if Jasper Ware, Elspeth's nemesis.
Making Crime Pay is a workshop for aspiring mystery writers offered by the Halle Cultural Arts Center in Apex on Saturday, April 20. Widely published authors Marcia Talley and Kate Charles will offer "Making Crime Pay," a workshop for aspiring mystery writers. 
In addition to hearing her entertaining talks, Kensington Publishers sent red velvet cupcakes as a special treat.
Darcy Merriweather is the witchy sleuth in this new witchcraft mystery. She's a newcomer to the town of—where else?—Salem, Massachusetts. Any wannabe witches will delight in this book that has all the 'm' ingredients for a good mystery, i.e. Magic, Murder, Mystery, Moonlight, Midnight, and Motives galore. There's magic everywhere in the Enchanted Village with unique shops like Lotions and Potions, Bewitching Boutique, the Black Thorn, The Trimmed Wick, and As You Wish. 
This is the first in a new paranormal series (Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade) and the sleuth/ firefighter is a woman whose cry could be, "I am woman; hear me roar." At least that's what came to mind when the beginning explained how Stella Griffin roared into the small town of Sweet Pepper, Tennessee on her Harley motorcycle. 
Now this book is good. The setting is northern Wales—in a haunted castle ! WOO-HOO and WOO-WOO ! It's creepy book filled with evil that M.J. Holliday has to battle. She has an unusual ability, of course. She can talk to the dead. She and her cohorts have a ghost-hunting cable TV show about ghouls. She and her friends just may be in over their heads at Kidwella Castle which is haunted by the Grim Widow who allegedly drowns unsuspecting guests in the moat. 
Here's another magical bakery mystery with new witch, Katie Lightfoot. She's just discovered her witchiness and is experimenting with her abilities in the magical kingdom. She is living the good life in Savannah as part-owner of an enchanted bakery with her aunt Lucy and uncle Ben. She loves everything about her new life of freedom and the coven (operating as a book club as far as the general public is concerned) of which she's a part. She and Declan, a handsome fireman who is in love with her, are on a breakfast picnic in the park when she discovers a dead man. YIKES! 
Who wouldn't want to know about the people in a small town on the North Carolina coast called Duck? It's a charming town, as it turns out, with the usual variety of citizens in any town or community plus some quirky characters that make the story more interesting. The characters are mostly likable, if quirky. Dae O'Donnell, first mayor of this newly-incorporated town is a woman who has visions and a gift for finding lost things or people. She runs a store named Missing Pieces because she truly cares about the things in it—many are antiques. Her gift for finding lost things leads her to murder in this paranormal mystery. The plot is convincingly convoluted and fun, as well as mysterious, since her gift changes during the course of trying to find the murderer. 
This March, as part of Women's History Month, the celebration of heroines who have changed history, we're also celebrating Women's Mystery Month, paying homage to the women writers who are as tough as their detectives.
Open Road Integrated Media has a great video mash-up of interviews featuring several bestselling women authors, including Laura Lippman, Anne Perry, Jane Langton, Susan Dunlap, and Susan Isaacs, who speak about breaking into the male-dominated and previously considered "unladylike" mystery and crime genres.
