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A copycat crime on Groundhog Day brings out Professor Peter Shandy's inner sleuth in this Edgar Award finalist from the international bestselling author. The rural town of Balaclava greets Groundhog Day as an excuse for one last cold-weather fling. The students and faculty of the local agricultural college drink cocoa, throw snowballs, and when the temperature allows, ice skate. But Oozak's Pond is not quite frozen this year, and as the celebrations reach their peak, the students see someone show more bobbing through the ice. Long past help, the drowning victim is badly decomposed and dressed in an old-fashioned frock coat with a heavy rock in each pocket. First on the scene is Peter Shandy, horticulturalist and-when the college requires it-detective. But solving this nineteenth-century murder mystery will take more than Shandy's knack for growing rutabagas. Relying on his wife's expertise in local history, the professor dives headfirst into a gilded-age whodunit that cloaks secrets potent enough to kill. show lessTags
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I gave the late Charlotte MacLeod a chance to redeem herself after the slipshod ending of Something The Cat Dragged In and the utter silliness of The Curse of the Giant Hogweed. Thankfully, this sixth entry in the Peter Shandy mysteries returns to a better plotted mystery than the last two books, and the book maintains the cerebral humor that endears MacLeodâs books to her readers.
Professor Shandy is called on to investigate the drowning death that emulates that of Augustus Caesar Buggins, killed in 1904; both were murdered and sunk into Oozakâs Pond with pockets weighted with rocks. Unfortunately, no one can identify the newest drowning victim â except to note the astounding Buggins family resemblance. Two more murders follow show more immediately thereafter, but Shandy, with the help of his wife and âdemon reporterâ Cronkite Swope, manage to solve the crime. A fun read and a return to former glory. show less
Professor Shandy is called on to investigate the drowning death that emulates that of Augustus Caesar Buggins, killed in 1904; both were murdered and sunk into Oozakâs Pond with pockets weighted with rocks. Unfortunately, no one can identify the newest drowning victim â except to note the astounding Buggins family resemblance. Two more murders follow show more immediately thereafter, but Shandy, with the help of his wife and âdemon reporterâ Cronkite Swope, manage to solve the crime. A fun read and a return to former glory. show less
During the annual Groundhog Day celebrations at Baaclava Agricultural College a body is discovered floating in the pond. Wierdly, it echoes the dress and murder method from a century-old poem Professor Shandy is assigned by the college head to discover the facts behind the strange body and while he is at it also stop a lawsuit against the college alledging that Oozaks Pond does not belong to the college at all.
re-read 4/11/2024
re-read 4/11/2024
More hi-jinks at the agricultural college. This time, as the title says, a corpse in the pond. I could not get involved in this story. I read the first four chapters, then the last one and found I wasn't any more interested than I was in the beginning. I think this author isn't for me, but others seem to enjoy her writing a lot.
Start with some ghastly poetry written by a long-dead Buggins, mix the poem with the modern Groundhog Day festival at Balaclava Agricultural College, and Peter Shandy has another mystery to solve. Sadly, it won't be solved before a couple of other murders take place. Relationships, family and otherwise, are at the heart of this mystery.
Expect the usual witty banter and attempts to throw dust in Peter and the readers' eyes.
For fellow Shandy fans who want facts about the characters or just can't recall where they come from:
ch.6: Sieglinde Svenson was Helen Marsh's bridesmaid when she married Peter. Sieglinde also served a smorgasbord with seven different kinds of herring after the ceremony.
ch.8 Chief Ottermole is a Doctor Who show more fan.
Balaclava Buggins used to go on and on about his plans for an agricultural college in his journals. He kept a diary since he was able to buy his first quire of paper and his mother stitched them into a book for him. Helen considers that book the most precious thing in the Buggins Collection.
The land on which Balaclava founded his college was his only bequest from his father.
ch.13. Grace Porble's brother, Trowbridge the geologist, and his family live in Tacoma, Washington.
Grace's mother keeled over with a stroke when Grace was four.
The college comptroller then was a Mr. Horrigan. He and his wife lived where the Jackmans live now. Mrs. Horrigan smelled the hot fat of the doughnuts Grace's mother was frying and kept the house from catching fire.
Grace boarded with her cousins Trev and Beatrice, whom she called uncle and aunt, until her father remarried. Judith, her stepmother, was more like a governess. Grace's older cousin, Persephone, baby-sat her.
ch16: Persephone's older twin brothers were so bad that her mother sang "God Bless America" when she hung the flag with the gold star on it in the window after one of them was killed in WWII.
Persephone can't see the color red.
Arabella Goulson's Aunt Luanna had the same vision problem.
ch. 19: Peter's father used sit in the rocking chair on their front porch and read Collier's Weekly.
For those who enjoy collecting author errors: The partial Buggins family tree in this book seems to contradict what we learned in the third book. Helen Shandy, listed as the author of the family tree, has Belial Buggins as the son of Abelard Buggins, with Corydon and Ichabod as his older brothers.
In Wrack and Rune Helen told Peter that Belial was the brother of Bedivere, the Buggins who donated the Buggins Collection to the college library. Hilda Horsefall said that Belial and Bedivere were the sons of Balaclava's brother, Bartleby. Bartleby is not listed in the family tree, so he was probably Balaclava's younger brother. Presumably, Bedivere Buggins was really his son. Perhaps Helen found documents that proved that Belial was actually Abelard's son, not Bartleby's. Perhaps Belial had liked to be thought of as the son of a more prosperous Buggins. Who knows?
While the problem of Corydon and Augustus' respective dates of death in the family tree are explained away in Vane Pursuit, the problem of Belial's parentage isn't.
Mark Hess is the artist for the cover with the brown boots and black pants sticking out of a partially iced-over pond with buildings (including a church), a parking lot, a sleigh drawn by golden brown horses instead of Balaclava Black horses, and onlookers.
If you love screwball mysteries, read the whole series. show less
Expect the usual witty banter and attempts to throw dust in Peter and the readers' eyes.
For fellow Shandy fans who want facts about the characters or just can't recall where they come from:
ch.6: Sieglinde Svenson was Helen Marsh's bridesmaid when she married Peter. Sieglinde also served a smorgasbord with seven different kinds of herring after the ceremony.
ch.8 Chief Ottermole is a Doctor Who show more fan.
Balaclava Buggins used to go on and on about his plans for an agricultural college in his journals. He kept a diary since he was able to buy his first quire of paper and his mother stitched them into a book for him. Helen considers that book the most precious thing in the Buggins Collection.
The land on which Balaclava founded his college was his only bequest from his father.
ch.13. Grace Porble's brother, Trowbridge the geologist, and his family live in Tacoma, Washington.
Grace's mother keeled over with a stroke when Grace was four.
The college comptroller then was a Mr. Horrigan. He and his wife lived where the Jackmans live now. Mrs. Horrigan smelled the hot fat of the doughnuts Grace's mother was frying and kept the house from catching fire.
Grace boarded with her cousins Trev and Beatrice, whom she called uncle and aunt, until her father remarried. Judith, her stepmother, was more like a governess. Grace's older cousin, Persephone, baby-sat her.
ch16: Persephone's older twin brothers were so bad that her mother sang "God Bless America" when she hung the flag with the gold star on it in the window after one of them was killed in WWII.
Persephone can't see the color red.
Arabella Goulson's Aunt Luanna had the same vision problem.
ch. 19: Peter's father used sit in the rocking chair on their front porch and read Collier's Weekly.
For those who enjoy collecting author errors: The partial Buggins family tree in this book seems to contradict what we learned in the third book. Helen Shandy, listed as the author of the family tree, has Belial Buggins as the son of Abelard Buggins, with Corydon and Ichabod as his older brothers.
In Wrack and Rune Helen told Peter that Belial was the brother of Bedivere, the Buggins who donated the Buggins Collection to the college library. Hilda Horsefall said that Belial and Bedivere were the sons of Balaclava's brother, Bartleby. Bartleby is not listed in the family tree, so he was probably Balaclava's younger brother. Presumably, Bedivere Buggins was really his son. Perhaps Helen found documents that proved that Belial was actually Abelard's son, not Bartleby's. Perhaps Belial had liked to be thought of as the son of a more prosperous Buggins. Who knows?
While the problem of Corydon and Augustus' respective dates of death in the family tree are explained away in Vane Pursuit, the problem of Belial's parentage isn't.
Mark Hess is the artist for the cover with the brown boots and black pants sticking out of a partially iced-over pond with buildings (including a church), a parking lot, a sleigh drawn by golden brown horses instead of Balaclava Black horses, and onlookers.
If you love screwball mysteries, read the whole series. show less
Balaclava College series, humerous but not much mystery
School Library Journal Review: YA Young adult readers with a lively sense of humor and an appreciation for the fine old family names such as Fortitude Lumpkin will find the latest Peter Shandy mystery to their liking. Balaclava Agriculture College has two problems: the unfortunate discovery of three victims of very foul play and (more importantly) a lawsuit by the greedy heirs of college founder Balaclava Buggins to reclaim part of the college, namely Oozak's Pond. With his usual aplomb and the help of the college community and various bizarre local folk, Professor Shandy solves both problems to the vast enjoyment of readers. Rosemary Smith, Albright Middle School, Houston
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60+ Works 12,167 Members
Charlotte MacLeod was born in Bath, New Brunswick, Canada on November 12, 1922. She immigrated to the United States in 1923 and became a naturalized citizen in 1951. She attended the School of Practical Art, now the Art Institute of Boston. She was a staff artist and copywriter at Stop and Shop supermarkets from 1945 to 1952. She also worked at show more N.H. Miller & Co. advertising firm from 1952 to 1982 starting as a copy chief and ending up as a Vice President. She wrote two series under her own name, a Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn Mystery series and the Peter Shandy Mystery series. She also wrote two series under the pseudonym Alisa Craig, the Madoc and Janet Rhys Mystery series and the Grub-and-Stakers series. She also wrote Had She But Known: A Biography of Mary Roberts Rinehart and a dozen juvenile books. She won five American Mystery awards and a Nero Wolfe award. She edited the anthologies Mistletoe Mysteries and Christmas Stalkings. She is the co-founder and past president of the American Crime Writers League. She died on January 14, 2005 at the age of 82. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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DuMont's Kriminal-Bibliothek (1046)
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- Canonical title
- The Corpse in Oozak's Pond
- Original title
- The Corpse in Oozak´s Pond
- Original publication date
- 1987
- People/Characters
- Peter Shandy (agronomy professor, Balaclava College); Helen Marsh Shandy (special asst. librarian for the Buggins Collection); Thorkjeld Svenson (President, Balaclava College); John Enderble (prpfessor emeritus, teaches local fauna class); Sieglinde Svenson (Thorkjeld's Valkyrie-like wife); Fred Ottermole (Frederick, Balaclava Junction police chief) (show all 71); Cronkite Swope ('Balaclava County Weekly Fane and Pennon' reporter); Dr. Melchett (local doctor, physician-on-call to the college); Mary Enderble (John's wife); Odin (the greatest of the huge & famed Balaclava Black horses); Thor (a Balaclava Black); Hoenir (a Balaclava Black); Heimdallr (a Balaclava Black); Iduna Bjorklund Stott (Cookery Dept. member, Prof. Stott's wife); Mrs. Blanche Mouzouka (head, college Cookery Dept.); Roger Jackman (Shandy's other next-door neighbor); Sheila Jackman (his wife); Wendy Jackman (their little daughter); Dickie Jackman (their little son); JoJo Jackman (one of the Jackmans' two older sons); Edna Mae Bugleford Ottermole (Fred's wife, mother of his 4 sons); Mrs. Betsy Lomax (Prof. Shandy's widowed housekeeper); Persephone Buggins Mink ('Sephy', Purvis' wife, Trevelyan's daughter); all 4 of the Ottermole sons; Balaclava Beauregard (the college's official groundhog); Daniel Augustus Stott (animal husbandry dept. chairman, pig expert); Balaclava Buggins (founder, Balaclava Agricultural College, Abelard's brother); Corydon Buggins (Abelard's son, Ichabod's brother, wrote truly bad verse); Belial Buggins (poet & moonshiner, previously stated to be the brother of Bedivere & son of Balaclava's brother Bartleby, now claimed as son of Balaclava's brother Abelard); Ichabod Buggins (son of Abelard, younger than Corydon, elder than Belial); Trevelyan Buggins (Ichabod's grandson, father of three); Beatrice Sill Buggins (Trevelyan's wife, mother of his children); Bracebridge Buggins (Trevelyan's firstborn son); Bainbridge Buggins (Bracebridge's twin, middle child); Grace Buggins Porble (Dr. Porble's wife, Balaclava's g-g granddaughter); Dr. Philip Porble (Head librarian, Balaclava College); Boatwright Buggins (Elwell's son, Grace's older brother); Trowbridge Buggins (Elwell's 2nd son, Grace's older brother); Miss Minerva Mink (Mr. & Mrs. Trevelyan Buggins' caretaker, Purvis' aunt); Dr. Fotheringay (Mr. & Mrs. Trevelyan Buggins' doctor); Harry Goulson (Balaclava Junction undertaker); Arabella Goulson (writers 'Junction Jottings' for local paper, Mrs. Harry); Lizanne Porble (Grace & Phil's daughter, dates Harry Goulson, Jr.); Rosalinda Mink (Purvis Mink's mother); Algernon (Minerva's cousin who gambled away the old home); Amelia (Minerva's aunt, ended up in the poorhouse); Pam Waggoner (associate prof., teaches native arts); Shirley Wrenne (associate prof., teaches native crafts); Jane Austen (the Shandys' cat, Edmund's 4th cousin 6 times removed); Captain Amos Flackley (current Flackley the Farrier); Yvette Flackley (teaches sewing & upholstery, wife of Amos); Flo (staying at Mike Woozle's, Mr. & Mrs. Trevelyan's neighbor); Oscar Plantagenet (owns the Petrolatorium Mike Woozle tried to rob); Chief Olson (Lumpkin Corners police chief); Miss Flackley (Amos & Yvette's daughter, student); Zack Woozle (helps Captain Flackley out, has a nice wife); Arbolene Woozle (Corydon Buggins wrote poetry to her back in the day); Edmund (Mrs. Lomax's cat); Budge Dorkin (Balaclava Junction police officer); Bertha Swope (Cronkite Swope's mother); Mike & Zack Woozles' grandmother; Marietta Woozle (Pied Pica Press proofreader and Mrs. Zack); Charlie Ross (owns Charlie Ross's Garage); Frank Lomax (Balaclava Junction police, Clarence Lomax's son); Jim Feldster (prof., teaches Dairy Management); Hesperus Hudson (barfly, Marietta Woozle's uncle); Silvester Lomax (co-chief of the college security guards, Clarence's bro.); Mrs. Blore (runs the College Arms boarding house, Betsy Lomax's 3rd cousin); Jack Pointer (turkey farm owner or senior employee); Mirelle Feldster (Jim's shrewish wife); Balaclava Betsy (a black mare Balaclava Buggins bought)
- Important places
- Balaclava Agricultural College, Massachusetts, USA (fictional); Balaclava Junction, Massachusetts, USA (fictional); Seven Forks, Massachusetts, USA (fictional); Oozak's Pond/Skunk Works Reservoir, Balaclava Agricultural College, Massachusetts, USA (fictional)
- Dedication
- For Jean and Lou Steinberg
- First words
- Oh, fell the deed and foul the play
When he whose eye so fond
Had erst beheld the gladsome day
Turned up in Oozak's Pond... - Quotations
- Svenson was standing up in the sled, leaning forward like Ben Hur on the last lap. His gray knitted cap was gone with the wind, his gray-black hair in tumultuous disarray. He was slapping his reins, urging the Blacks to break... (show all)neck speed, and the howls that emerged from his cavernous sounded all too dreadfully like Shandy! Shandy! Shandy!
Cronk's got his typewriter in bed with him, too, and he keeps getting the bedclothes caught in the roller. He typed half his lead article on a pillowcase Mrs. Swope's cousin Lucy embroidered for their twenty-fifth anniversar... (show all)y. His mother came in and saw what he was doing and they had a big fight. Cronk wanted to get the story over to the paper, and Mrs. Swope wanted to get the pillowcase soaking before the ink got too set and wouldn't come off. She wishes to heck he'd get married and move out. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"It's right there in the archives, dear: 'Tho' waterlogged in death, may he Enjoy a dry Eternity While still she dwells with mem'ry fond Upon the corpse in Oozak's Pond.'"
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