The Tale of Hill Top Farm

Beatrix Potter is the heroine of this mystery, but not in the way that is popular lately: famous historical or fictional person is secretly a great detective. No, in this gentle mystery, Albert mixes fact with fiction and in telling of Miss Potter's first visit to Hill Top Farm as owner. There is no gruesome murder, no horrid secrets, no fearsome villain. Instead, there are a few missing items in the village of Near Sawrey that bring a ripple of disturbance to their (mostly) peaceful village. Miss Potter is not the detective, she doesn't seek out to find the missing items, nor does she use any deductive skills to solve the mysteries. She is merely the central point around which the story moves.

The thing that turns this from just the show more average village story, sprinkled with domestic mystery, to a delightful and charming story is the animals. Miss Potter brings here hedgehog, two bunnies and mouse with her. Also, the village has quite a cast of cats and dogs. What's even better-they talk! Not to humans, of course, but to each other. There conversations are recorded in italics, so the reader knows immediately which species is communicating. Albert uses it to make several amusing scenes where the animals are trying to tell the humans something, only to be told to stop meowing, or that there's no more fish, or that if they stop that noise they'll have to go outside. How shocked the village residents would be to discover that their pets made great detectives!

Another feature that makes this book so interesting is Miss Potter herself. Albert gives the reader glimpses of Miss Potters biography that made me sincerely want to read more. Luckily, Albert included a biographical not at the end, following Potter's life up to the point when the Hill Top Farm visit took place. I was interested enough, though, to want to know of Miss Potter, of what happens next, of when she does finally move in to Hill Top Farm. I was inspired to re-read Miss Potter's tales, as well, from the many mentions made of them.

I've used the word already, but "gentle" seems the best way to describe The Tale of Hill Top Farm. Pastoral, perhaps would also give the right impression; it is an escape from telephones and traffic and tv (and murder mysteries) to a slower time, when the loss of the Parish Register is a dreadful thing. Animal lovers will enjoy this book, though it might not be quite as satisfying to mystery lovers. Personally, I'm looking forward to the next of "The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter". show less

This book is in many ways different from what one would expect. The author normally writes murder mysteries; this is NOT. In fact the few "mysteries" scattered in it are pretty domestic. This is good, because to turn Beatrix Potter into a sleuthing adventurer would be rampant fiction, and this book instead feels like a pretty good reflection of what her life and actions could have really been. The author even consulted with a Beatrix Potter biographer to confirm that her approach was valid.
At least as much space is devoted to the villagers as to Potter herself. And a sizeable amount is also devoted to the animals who, get this, TALK to each other. (Another thing that makes this book different.) But it works. I mean, in a novel about show more Beatrix Potter, it's pretty fitting that her animals should have mild adventures too, right?
This book picks up right as Beatrix Potter has bought Hill Top Farm. Lovely setting.
I will definitely be reading more in the series. show less

Binge reading the many series on my shelves is my goal for the year, and I've started with the Cottage Tales. This first book tells how Beatrix Potter came to Hill Top Farm. I love that a mystery has been woven into the story and that the animals play such a great role.

Potter's voice rings true. She's always been of interest to me and these books feel like they round out her life and personality. I wish the series was longer. It is, by far, my favorite cozy series.

I want to comment on a point that several reviewers seem to have found troubling. They don't mind animals that talk to each other, but have difficulty when they show up wearing clothes. That I don't get. This is a series about Beatrix Potter...whose animals not only talked to show more each other, but wore clothes. Or did I imagine Peters blue coat with brass buttons and Miss Tiggy Winkle's apron? show less

This book was highly recommended to me as a charming, "cosy" mystery. The time and the characters were portrayed in a charming way, if your taste runs to that style of writing. I was warned that the animals participated in the story, and I had no problem with that as long as they just commented on the action, but when the rats suddenly appeared fully clothed and the cat started to wield a pen and write I lost patience with it.

This is a hybrid genre, always difficult. It's a blend of Rita Mae Brown and Beatrix Potter herself. Rita Mae Brown's animals talk, but not to people. They behave like animals. The device is that the reader can hear the animals talk, but the human characters can't. She maintains this consistently. Albert's animals talk like Rita Mae Brown's, but then they also sometimes wear clothes, read books, etc. like animals in a fantasy, or a book by Beatrix Potter. This dimension (the clothes) pops in and out of the books on an occasional basis. I can see why some find that unsettling. On the other hand, I am shamelessly addicted to the English-themed cozy. My favorite part of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is the bit of tea with Tumnus. So show more I will put up with the kitties and badgers. show less

I have a particular fondness for Stephanie Baron's series starring Jane Austen as sleuth, so I decided to investigate this series, starring Beatrix Potter. It took me a bit to get into it, and I had to accept talking animals. But since it's a book starring Beatrix Potter, and the animals did not actually talk to her, I was ok with it. I liked it as a cozy portrait of Lakes District village life. It was deftly written and the mysteries did not stretch my credulity too far. Very pleasant.

huh, I had no idea that I'd read this before. It's a great audio book. I really liked it, and have added a star. I mean, it's also the right kind of listening for 2020 isolation for me, so your mileage may vary.

Opening Sentence:
'...It was a splendid morning in October when Miss Abigail Tolliver departed this world - one of those brilliant breezy days that sets the heart singing and stirs the blue English lakes and the blue English sky into a grand and glorious celebration of clouds and colour...'

And it is the quiet passing of said Miss Tolliver that sets the humans and animals of Near Sawrey all a twitter. Did she die of natural causes - or was poison involved? Did her death have anything to do with her much disliked nephew, a mysterious young woman, the lost parish register, a missing painting or stolen school roof money?

it is into this busy time that Beatrix Potter, the children's writer, moves Near Sawrey prior to taking up residence in her show more new home - Hill Top Farm. And like the animals in her books, the animals of Near Sawrey can all talk, only the humans can't hear what they have to say.

This is a wonderful little story, a lovely cozy read, with talking animals as a bonus. The author has done a great job in blending historical fact about Beatrix Potter's life with complete make-believe.

As the story progresses the point of view switches between those of the various animals to those of humans - each group having totally different ideas about what they have seen at the same events. The mystery is low key and the solution is fitting and satisfying. show less