Miss Seeton Quilts the Village

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 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 show more 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

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 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, show more 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

Miss Seeton is back in her first new adventure in 20 years! Yay!! She is still armed with her sketch pad, pencils and trusty umbrella.....and her uncanny ability to uncover secrets that even Scotland Yard can't ferret out!

This time Miss Seeton agrees to help create a quilt to honor the wedding of a local couple. As usual her handiwork reveals some underlying secrets in the village including espionage. A hidden historical mural discovered under old plaster in the newlyweds home also added some interesting bits to the plot. All in all, an enjoyable addition to the Miss Seeton series (now at 22 books!). She was her usual clueless self and the village characters were all their usual gossipy selves.....made me smile the entire time I was show more reading!

I'm a sucker for the sweet-old-lady-as-detective or period mysteries....so I love Miss Seeton. The humor is always witty and dry....the umbrella is always put to good use....and Miss Seeton never quite realizes that she knows things that are important.

Readers who are new to Miss Seeton can jump in at this newest book and be fine. It isn't necessary to have read any of the prior novels. There is enough explanation of the characters to understand the basics and enjoy the plot of this newest book. For those who have read some, or all, of the other Miss Seeton books, I think the humor and characters carry over well to this new story, despite 20 years passing since the last book.

The series was started in 1968 by Heron Carvic. The series was continued by Hampton Charles and Hamilton Crane. Hamilton Crane is a pseudonym used by author Sarah J. Mason. show less

amateur-sleuth, british-detective, situational-humor, verbal-humor

What fun! An unusual Scotland Yard detective, a village full of wildly imaginative housewives, an untimely death, a village needlework competition, spies, fools, Nazi saboteurs, a weird painting, and the indomitable Miss Seeton add up to a hilarious cozy mystery! The characters certainly are, and the plot is ingenious. Don't miss this light hearted romp with some very unusual goings on!

Miss Seeton Quilts The Village
By
Hamilton Crane

What it's all about...

Miss Seeton...a retired teacher/artist has this amazing ability to draw pictures that help the police solve crimes. She is an unmarried "older" lady who resides in the quaint village of Plummergen. This 23rd book in this series...I think...involves murder, Nazis, stolen coins and foreigners...foreigners who drive on the wrong side of the road. The actual star of the book for me is the town of Plummergen. But Plummergen is enhanced by its many quirky inhabitants. Quirky sisters and a cat and store owners and in general tons of people who just love to talk! Many of them talk about Miss Seeton and are always curious about what she does! It's awesome!

Why I wanted to read show more it...

The cover of this book just caught my eye. It's summary described it as a cozy mystery and Miss Seeton and her drawings and the events surrounding her drawings were fascinating.

What made me truly enjoy this book...

Again...I loved the quirky characters, the humor and the settings. I already bought the first three books in this series. I needed more Miss Seeton and Plummergen!

Why you should read it, too...

Readers who love cozy English mysteries will love this book. Although I have not read any other books in this series...this was fine as a stand alone. This series has had 2 or 3 authors over the years. I am excited to start at the beginning of this series and I will most likely read them all. There is humor in these books, too, as well as these quirky EnglIsh characters. show less

See my review of the series, including those that I have read here @ Melisende's Library

full review can be found here:

https://nordie.wordpress.com/2017/10/05/book-review-miss-seeton-quilts-the-villa....