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A professor ponders the possibility of an ancient Viking curse, while investigating a death by quicklime. When 105-year-old Hilda Horsefall tells young reporter Cronkite Swope of a stone carved with Norse runes that once sat in the nearby woods, the writer starts salivating at the thought of breaking the news that Vikings once marauded through their sleepy Massachusetts countryside. But, while he's jotting down notes, a scream rings out, and Cronkite finds an even bigger story. A farmhand show more has been burned to death by quicklime, and Cronkite gets an exclusive scoop. In this neck of New England, strange deaths are invariably referred to Prof. Peter Shandy, the only local with the know-how to connect fearsome quicklime to the Vikings of old. But, as he digs into the ancient mystery, the professor finds the forgotten Norse gods aren't above demanding a modern sacrifice. show lessTags
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I simply can’t get enough of the late Charlotte MacLeod’s Peter Shandy series! In the third installment, Peter Shandy, professor of agrology at Balaclava Agricultural College in Massachusetts, investigates the improbable death of Spurge Lumpkin, the dimwitted farmhand for 105-year-old Hilda Horsefall and her 82-year-old nephew. Soon he’s looking into a string of accidents at the Horsefall farm that locals attribute to a curse from a newly found rune stone and Shandy attributes to a conspiracy of malevolence and greed.
All of the names in this cozy mystery are just as fanciful as Lumpkin’s and the Horsefalls’, lots of the situations and events are simply over the top, and western Massachusetts seems more overrun with show more Scandinavians than North Dakota or Minnesota. But readers won’t care because MacLeod’s novel contains a tight plot and such delightful dialogue, slyly humorous turns of phrase, and winsome characters. I never guessed who the perpetrator was. I can’t wait to launch into No. 4, Something The Cat Dragged In. show less
All of the names in this cozy mystery are just as fanciful as Lumpkin’s and the Horsefalls’, lots of the situations and events are simply over the top, and western Massachusetts seems more overrun with show more Scandinavians than North Dakota or Minnesota. But readers won’t care because MacLeod’s novel contains a tight plot and such delightful dialogue, slyly humorous turns of phrase, and winsome characters. I never guessed who the perpetrator was. I can’t wait to launch into No. 4, Something The Cat Dragged In. show less
This third outing in the Peter Shandy mysteries is loads of fun. Miss Hilda Horsefall, over a century old, is a rip snorter of a hot-to-trot, vinegar-tongued spinster aunt and proud of it. The book opens with her giving an earful to the young reporter trying to interview her and swiftly moves into a really nasty murder (not of Miss Hilda, thank goodness). The Horsefalls have held their farm for 243 years. Someone's been playing a series of increasingly uglier tricks on them. Is it the shady developer who wants their land? How about the pushy real-estate lady who's determined to secure the farm for the developer? The Horsefalls' hired hand has a despicable cousin whom the Horsefalls publicly humiliated. Is the cousin out for revenge? show more While all this is going on there are the hordes of obnoxious rubberneckers wanting to see the old rune stone rediscovered on the Horsefall Farm. Less-than-fatal attacks befall others who come there. Some claim they're the result of the curse mentioned on the rune stone. Shandy suspects a living human hand is responsible. He's on the case again, ably assisted by his librarian wife, other members of the supporting cast, and the good residents of Lumpkin Corners. Fellow cat lovers get to welcome the newest addition to the Shandy household: Jane Austen. I believe she was the unnamed kitten of neighbor Enderbles' cat, Imogene, in REST YOU MERRY. Considering what Shandy wanted to name her, it's a good thing she turned out to be female.
NOTES: In chapter 5 of Rest You Merry it was stated that the Buggins Collection had been donated to the college by a distant connection of the founder, Balaclava, and it was donated in the 1920s. In chapter 17 of this book we learn that the doner was Bedivere Buggins. According to chapter 21, far from being a distant connection, Bedivere was the son of Balaclava's brother, Bartleby. Bedivere's brother was Belial, poet and moonshiner.
In According to chapter 20, the Svensons' parents are still alive, as are aunts and uncles. They also have brothers, sisters, nephews, neices, cousins to the fourth degree, and nine adorable grandchildren.
We learn the name of Balaclava's Football team in chapter 10. (Don't let yourself miss the description of President Svenson in chapter 10 or that of Sieglinde in chapter 20.) In chapter 21 Thorkjeld says he's been sleeping with Sieglinde for 34 years. She adds that it was in lawful wedlock. When she met Helen in chapter 11 of Rest You Merry , Sieglinde said she'd never in 27 years found him dull. Hmmmmmm.
Chapter 17 is where Helen tells the story of the stunning Finnish boy she once knew. It's also where we learn that she has brothers.)
For younger readers: all of the Swope brothers were named for news anchors. Chet Huntley and David Brinkley of the Huntley-Brinkley Report were on a rival network.
Also, while it's easy to plug an unattributed quotation into a search engine, Hilda Horsefalls' retort to her nephew about 'them scoffers and jeerers that got et by the bears' is tougher. I think she's referring to the shocking incident involving the prophet Elisha and some bratty kids. That's in the second book of Kings, chapter 2, verses 23-25, as I found by plugging in 'Elisha and bears'. I love the internet! This so much easier than flipping through my Bible or searching quotation books!!
If you like humorous mysteries, do give this series a try.
Bob Korn is the artist for the cover with the brooding viking resting on a big rock with a skull carved on it. show less
NOTES: In chapter 5 of Rest You Merry it was stated that the Buggins Collection had been donated to the college by a distant connection of the founder, Balaclava, and it was donated in the 1920s. In chapter 17 of this book we learn that the doner was Bedivere Buggins. According to chapter 21, far from being a distant connection, Bedivere was the son of Balaclava's brother, Bartleby. Bedivere's brother was Belial, poet and moonshiner.
In According to chapter 20, the Svensons' parents are still alive, as are aunts and uncles. They also have brothers, sisters, nephews, neices, cousins to the fourth degree, and nine adorable grandchildren.
We learn the name of Balaclava's Football team in chapter 10. (Don't let yourself miss the description of President Svenson in chapter 10 or that of Sieglinde in chapter 20.) In chapter 21 Thorkjeld says he's been sleeping with Sieglinde for 34 years. She adds that it was in lawful wedlock. When she met Helen in chapter 11 of Rest You Merry , Sieglinde said she'd never in 27 years found him dull. Hmmmmmm.
Chapter 17 is where Helen tells the story of the stunning Finnish boy she once knew. It's also where we learn that she has brothers.)
For younger readers: all of the Swope brothers were named for news anchors. Chet Huntley and David Brinkley of the Huntley-Brinkley Report were on a rival network.
Also, while it's easy to plug an unattributed quotation into a search engine, Hilda Horsefalls' retort to her nephew about 'them scoffers and jeerers that got et by the bears' is tougher. I think she's referring to the shocking incident involving the prophet Elisha and some bratty kids. That's in the second book of Kings, chapter 2, verses 23-25, as I found by plugging in 'Elisha and bears'. I love the internet! This so much easier than flipping through my Bible or searching quotation books!!
If you like humorous mysteries, do give this series a try.
Bob Korn is the artist for the cover with the brooding viking resting on a big rock with a skull carved on it. show less
Substance: The mystery is fairly done, but the whole situation is wacky. Totally loved it, but it was almost over the top.
Style: More like Wodehose than Christie.
Style: More like Wodehose than Christie.
I think perhaps this one is my favorite in the Peter Shandy series. I love the Viking runes and the wedding and the president. Good fun.
A Balaclava County mystery. A purported Viking runestone turns up at an old farmhouse at the same time as the only farmhand dies in a gruesome accident.
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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 (1019)
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Wrack and Rune
- Original title
- Wrack and Rune
- Original publication date
- 1981
- People/Characters
- Peter Shandy (agronomy professor, Balaclava College); Helen Marsh Shandy (special asst. librarian, Buggins Collection); Sven Svenson (Thorkjeld's great-uncle from Stockholm); Cronkite Swope ('Balaclava County Weekly Fane & Pennon' reporter); Miss Hilda Horsefall (almost 105-year-old resident of Lumpkin Corners); Henny Horsefall (Hengist, Miss Hilda's nephew) (show all 47); Timothy Ames (professor, Soil Management Dept., Shandy's best friend); Nute Lumpkin (Canute Lumpkin, owns Nute's Nook antique shop); Thorkjeld Svenson (President, Balaclava College); Sieglinde Svenson (Thorkjeld's Valkyrie-like wife); Spurge Lumpkin (the Horsefalls' handyman, Nute's first cousin); Fergy (runs Fergy's Bargain Barn); Royall Ames (biologst, teaches at Balaclava College, Timothy Ames' son); Laura Jilles Ames (biologst, teaches at Balaclava College, Royall's wife); Dr. Fensterwald (Lumpkin Corners general practitioner); Lumpkin Corners police chief Olson (name given in book 4, ch.19); Loretta Fescue (real estate businesswoman, widow, mother); Gunder Gaffson (head of Gaffson Development Corporation); Eddie Horsefall (Henny's great-nephew); Ralph Horsefall (Henny's great-nephew); Jolene Horsefall (Eddie's wife, Mrs. Lomax's sister's husband's cousin); Marie Horsefall (Ralph's wife, Bertha Swope's cousin); Young Eddie Horsefall (Eddie and Jolene's eldest); Ralph Horsefall, Jr.; Jane Austen (the Shandys' kitten, wheedled from the Enderbles); Grace Porble (Chairman, Garden Club Horticultural Committee, Mrs. Phil); Dr. Philip Porble (Head librarian, Balaclava College); Mrs. Betsy Lomax (Prof. Shandy's widowed housekeeper); Charlie Swope (father of Huntley, Brinkley, & Cronkite); Bertha Swope (Charlie's wife, mother of his sons); Bashan of Balaclava (the college's prize bull); Jessica Tate (Balaclava College student); Hilly Horsefall (Ralph & Marie's daughter); Adelbert [Horsefall?] (Hilda Horsefall's cousin's grandson); Millicent Peavy (visiting Fergy); younger archaeologist; elder archaeologist; Jeff Lewis (Lumpkin Corners resident, Balaclava College student); Bill Swope (Cronkite's relative); Fesky Fescue (Lorena's son, not like his 2 sisters, Gaffson's employee); Bedivere Buggins (donated the Buggins Collection to the college library); Belial Buggins (Bedivere's brother, poet & moonshiner); Odin (a huge horse, one of the college's famed Balaclava Blacks); Freya (a Balaclava Black, Odin's consort); Bartleby Buggins (Balaclava Buggins' brother, Bedivere & Belial's father); Effie F. Lomax (Belial's housekeeper); Mirelle Feldster (Prof. Jim's shrewish wife)
- Important places
- Balaclava Agricultural College, Massachusetts, USA (fictional); Lumpkin Corners, Massachusetts, USA (fictional)
- Dedication
- For Nancy and Charles Copeland
- First words
- Cronkite Swope, demon reporter of the Balaclava County Weekly Fane and Pennon, made some more scribbles on his wad of yellow copy paper, then fixed his eyes on his interviewee with that combination of compassionate interest a... (show all)nd no-holds-barred determination expected of a rising young journalist.
- Quotations
- The clunker once driven by Jemima Ames and later, briefly, by the infamous Lorene McSpree, had flunked its last sticker test and been reduced to a foot or two of squashed recyclement. Now President Svenson had undisputed poss... (show all)ession of the crummiest car in Balaclava County.
When a Yankee says, I want to know, he is not asking for information. He means, I am expressing a suitable degree of amazement at the news you have already imparted.
[Note for non-U.S. readers: Within the USA's Old South,... (show all) anyone from north of the Mason-Dixon line is a Yankee and the term is insulting. North of the Mason-Dixon line, only people from the New England states are Yankees. Ms. MacLeod was using 'Yankee' in the "New Englander' sense.]
What could Porble have done with that mob? Bop them over the head with Webster's Unabridged? Drive them off with hard words? Fine them a nickle a tresspass? (Peter Shandy)
He could have glared. He glares beautifully. Any ... (show all)man who can reduce a library full of students to absolute silence with one haughty glance is not to be taken lightly. (Helen Shandy)
He shouldn't be risking his own life, if it came to that, now that he had a wife and a cat to care for. But how was a person supposed to protect himself against someone who attacked with such crazy weapons in such unpredicta... (show all)ble ways? - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"To wed is good, but to live happily ever after you must always keep in the house plenty of herring."
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