Witch Miss Seeton

The first two books in this series (Picture Miss Seeton and Miss Seeton Draws the Line) made my Best Reads lists of 2019 and 2020. They are the perfect blend of a traditional British mystery and laugh-out-loud humor. Having read a series of lackluster stories, I felt in great need of a pick-me-up, so I reached for the third, Witch Miss Seeton, in which the elderly lady with the lethal umbrella matches wits with scammers and a satanic cult.

Compared to the first two, what a disappointment!

First off, I think there was a bit too much going on. Either focus on the scammers bilking the rich out of thousands of pounds or focus on the witches. There was food for two really good mysteries here instead of creating an overstuffed, subpar one.

The show more second thing that had me all a kerfluffle was that the opening part of the book dwelled on the two vicious gossips of Plummergen whom everyone calls the Nuts. These two women willfully go out to destroy people's lives and reputations, and they both have it in for Miss Seeton. To begin the story with an overload of their bile and vitriol was too much. There was only one result that could've leavened my mood, and that didn't happen.

The third thing that left a sour taste in my mouth was the fact that there was very little real humor and not enough Miss Seeton. Now that I'm done crying in my beer, I'll say that not every book in a long-running series can be a masterpiece-- and I have twenty-one more Miss Seeton mysteries to look forward to. show less

In the third volume in Heron Carvic’s satiric Miss Seeton series, the eponymous heroine, a 40-something spinster, gets pressed into the police’s service yet again — this time in investigating a fishy-sounding New Age church and a rival devil-worshiping cult/witches’ coven.

While Emily D. Seeton always emerges as a bit naïve, in Witch Miss Seeton (also released as Miss Seeton, Bewitched), she appears positively dim-witted. A bit of innocence in fine, but only a dolt would be as clueless as she’s portrayed here. While I don’t regret reading this third novel in the series — and I especially appreciated getting to know Detective Constable Foxon of the Ashford C.I.D. better and seeing the venomous gossips Erica Nutting and show more Norah Blaine get their comeuppance — I hope that Carvic returns to form in the sequel, Miss Seeton Sings, especially as, unlike Witch Miss Seeton, Miss Seeton Sings is not available under Kindle Unlimited. show less

Miss Seeton is a fun character and the situations that she gets into may seem a bit strange, but never turn your back on the Battlin' Brolly unless you are on the side of good because Miss Seeton always get the bad guys even if that wasn't her intention. In the third installment, Miss Seeton prevents a bogus "religion" from fleecing residents in her adopted village.

Miss Seeton helps out trying to identify a religion (cult) as a con. She is her usual helpful self, substitute teaching art for the village school, going to the Nuscience meetings to sketch the leaders, and spending time in another church and its graveyard in order to identify some Satanists. All in a day’s work for Miss Seeton and her brolly.

Written as a humorous parody of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, she also reminds me of Dorothy Gilman’s Miss Pollifax.

This is a fun series for relaxing. Heron Carvic who created Miss Seeton died in 1980 and his character was then written by Charles Hampton and then Hamilton Crane.

While I enjoyed Miss Seeton as a character, finding her well rounded and believable, I found the story over all rather disjointed and at times confusing. The book jumps from scene to scene at times with no segue and with so many characters and so little physical description for each character it was hard to keep them all separate.

My 2 year old son would like to add that he thinks the book must be a great story because it has a great horned owl as part of the cover art. My son is nuts about owls.

I rather like this one. Miss Seeton with schoolchildren is ripe with possibilities...and as usual, she (literally) falls into the answer to the cops' questions. But there are a lot of unpleasant characters involved here - on balance, not bad, but not my favorite. Pleased they're being re-released.

Review of the series can be found here @ Melisende's Library