Melanie (MELNELYNN) reviewed on 3/16/2009 + 669 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

This cozy series is one of my absolute favorites. It's everything I love in a cozy: a quaint English village with interesting residents, lots of tea, and a spunky protaganist with a lot of heart. I always wait with anticipation for the newest installment.

American Lori Shepherd, her American husband Bill, and their five year old twin sons are continuing to enjoy their lives in their beautiful English village of Finch. The twins are thriving at school (although Lori is experiencing major separation anxiety), but one day, their teacher informs Lori and Bill that the boys have been telling their classmates that they saw a vampire while riding their horses at Anscombe Manor, the estate owned by Lori and Bill's good friends, Emma and Derek Harris.

Lori enlists the help of their other good friend, Kit Smith, whose family once owned the Manor, and who is employed there as stablemaster and riding instructor. Together, with supernatural help from Aunt Dimity, they set out to discover the identity of this vampire. But, much to their surprise, Lori and her friends discover a lot more than that. Indeed, they discover fascinating family secrets, betrayals, and great love stories that occurred forty years ago. The story is well-written, clever, and the multiple mysteries will keep you guessing right up until the end. As is always the case with this series, the ending is completely satisfying and dare I say, warm and fuzzy.

I love this series because it brings back characters/townspeople who have become like old friends, yet the author keeps it interesting by revealing previously unknown things about them. In this installment, it's Kit Smith about whom we learn more. Also, we get introduced to new, intriguing residents and I hope the author brings them back in the future. Lastly, as fans of this series have come to expect, there is a delicious pastry recipe in the back of the book.

I highly recommend the book to all Aunt Dimity fans. (For what it's worth, I liked it better than the previous one, Aunt Dimity Goes West). For those who aren't familiar with the series, I think you'll enjoy it as a "stand-alone", but you might get more out of it if you read the previous books in order. I say that only because the author, as I mentioned, reveals more truths about the main characters, and the emotional impact will be greater if you're already familiar with them.

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