Hamilton Crane

Not bad! I love the original Miss Seeton stories, by Heron Carvic. I tried reading some of the others, but they never came up to the quality of the originals, and after a while I just quit. At least they moved away from the homophobic author - but Hamilton Crane seemed to be intent on including every single character who had ever been in a Miss Seeton story into each new one, which made it hard to also include a new plot and adventure. There was a long pause in the Miss Seeton books, then show more they got reissued in ebook form; I got the Heron Carvic ones through Netgalley, read and enjoyed them, and deliberately ignored the rest of the series. But this one is actually new; same author (I think - might be someone else using the same name, which is clearly a pseudonym anyway), but written this year, after the pause. So I tried it - and it works. There are still a _lot_ of callbacks to familiar characters, situations, and patterns (village competition, and gossip, in particular - plus a somewhat random reference to one character being homosexual), but it's not jammed full of every single character, like the last ones I read. The story is a little sketchy - Delphick is mostly sidetracked, dealing with mounds of paper. Assorted random things get linked together, with Miss Seeton's sketches doing some (but not all) of the linking (as usual). There's a big punchup near the end - and for once Miss Seeton is not directly involved (which is mentioned, with wonder, by some of those who are). And the story actually ends a little early - there's still at least one sketch unseen by the police, with the answer to at least one question in it. Not a major question, or at least not one Delphick is supposed to answer (or even learn the answer to), but still. Cute, fluffy, not up to Heron Carvic but definitely worth reading. I may even go back and read some of the Miss Seetons I've skipped. show less

A little background: I read the first three volumes in Heron Carvic’s satiric Miss Seeton series. I loved the series at first, but, by the third book, the eponymous heroine, a 40-something spinster named Emily D. Seeton, had gone from being simply a bit naïve to positively doltish. I never did finish the fourth book. Carvic completed five Miss Seeton books, and then the series was taken up by two other authors, none of which I’ve read.

But when NetGalley gave me the chance to revisit show more the series many books later with Miss Seeton Quilts the Village — the first Miss Seeton book in 20 years — I decided to give it another go. And am I’m glad I did! (The last dozen were written under the pseudonym Hamilton Crane, as is this newest book, albeit written by someone one.)

We have the old Miss Seeton back: Perhaps not as up-to-date on modern ways, but nobody’s fool. While she still distrusts her artistic second sight, she’s civic-minded enough to go along with Detective Chief Superintendent Delphick, who is back again with his trusty Sergeant Bob Ranger. So are the Kentish village of Plummgen’s regulars, many of whom are slyly sent up as the sniping, envious gossips that they are. How wonderful! I hope that this new book is swiftly followed by many more!

In this book, Miss Seeton, as a retired art teacher, is pressed into helping with a proposed village historical quilt. Somehow that task becomes embroiled with a dictator in exile, a traitor who commits suicide, and a priceless Tudor painting; she gets ensnared in farcical situations through absolutely no fault of her own, but the result is quite funny. As I mentioned, I’ve skipped two or three dozen books, and I enjoyed it just fine.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalleyand Farrago in exchange for an honest review. show less

YUCK. What a compendium of stereotypes and cliches - offensive ones, at that. I disliked her Miss Seeton mysteries, but hoped she was better on her own - note to self, never pick up anything by her again. The book begins with several chapters of establishing that there's not a decent character in the village - following the "literary tradition" that an English village is full of sexual perversion, madness, and feuding. All the men are obsessed with sex and beer; all the women are obsessed show more with men, gossip, and feuding. Those who escape that set of stereotypes are a) mad or b) clueless. And no one as innocent and therefore fun as Miss Seeton. Oh, incest causes mental retardation and madness, and a homosexual speaks in falsetto, wears fancy clothes, and minces when he walks. I repeat, YUCK. I was seriously considering dropping the book, and I don't do that - what I start, I finish. It did improve, slightly, when the cops showed up - there was less of the backbiting and some faint indications of decency, between Trewley and Stone. But the elaborate plots they set up to explain this and that suspect's involvement...sheesh. Then the answer came by inspiration (there were some clues, but nothing that really indicated the logic path Trewley took, to me). And then...Stone's choice was bad enough, but Trewley supporting her? Aww, poor baby, he couldn't father a child and therefore his reputation must be protected... honestly, Mason has Trewley think several times about how warped procreation or the lack of it could make a person (which I guess was a hint) - but reading her stuff, I wonder if she's talking about herself. She's certainly obsessed with sex. Boring, not particularly well written (too predictable, except where stuff happens via author fiat), and utterly full of offensive and mostly sexual stereotypes. She's on my Do Not Read list. show less

Sarah J. Mason, writing as Hamilton Crane, has truly revitalized the Miss Seeton series that was first penned by the late Heron Carvic. Watch the Wall, Miss Seeton, the fourth one under the Crane byline, proves just as fun, quirky and mischievous as the previous ones I’ve read, Miss Seeton Quilts the Village and Miss Seeton Flies High.

Miss Emily D. Seeton, a retired art teacher and spinster, becomes embroiled in looking into two cases, with the novel set in 1975: one of the murder of a show more nosy poacher on behalf of Scotland Yard and another of some metal-pinching gang on behalf of Ashford C.I.D. Are the two investigations related?

The kind, humble Miss Seeton, who always looks for the best in others, more than holds her own in this novel, the 25th since the series first began in 1968. And the old girl triumphs, while not looking her age (probably due to her firm commitment to the advice of Yoga and Younger Every Day). Today’s readers will love Miss Seeton, and they’ll appreciate Crane’s poking gentle fun of 1970s fashion and mores, written in the same spirit as those novels of 50 years ago. I cannot wait to be reunited with Miss Seeton again!

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Farrago in exchange for an honest review. show less