Aunt Dimity's Christmas (1999)

My blog post about this book is at this link. ( )

This series of mysteries is focussed on American Lori Shepherd, and the ghost of "Aunt" Dimity Westwood, her late mother's English best friend. Lori never met Dimity in life, but she can communicate with her spirit though a mysterious blue journal. The series also includes apparently sentient stuffed animals and a great deal of paranormal activity. The series is extremely sweet, with the good characters being exemplars of generosity and kindness.

I am one of the people who finds the main character Lori's roving eye rather annoying. She is married to Mister Perfect as it is, and she keeps running into and almost falling for another fabulously attractive man every book for the last few books! This is a less than charming plotline that isn't improved by being overused. It struck me in this book that one of the reasons that it is so jarring is that so much of the series is a tribute to people who are faithful to their One True Love, even after death. There are exceptions, but Dimity never married after her fiance's death, Lori's mother never married after being widowed. Aunt Dimity asserts someone's integrity by stating: "he remained faithful to his first love until his own tragic death ... ." It seems particularly shoddy then that Lori can't stay focussed on her own happy marriage.

When a homeless man collapses in her driveway, Lori seeks the assistance of Father Julian, a Catholic priest who ministers to the homeless, to learn his identity. ( )

Lori is deaming of the perect Christmas when a stranger collapses in her front yard. Things turn worse when she needs to find out who he is and why he chose her house. ( )