Aunt Dimity Beats the Devil

I admit, it was the 'Devil' in the title that got me reading this one! This is one of a long series of 'cozy' supernatural mystery novels. Unlike some I've read in this genre, the supernatural plot elements are 'real.' 'Aunt Dimity' is a ghost who communicates with the rather ordinary Lori Shepherd through messages in an old diary, giving her warnings when needed - and helping her solve mysteries, of course. In this episode, Lori reluctantly leaves her toddlers alone with their father and takes an assignment to evaluate a rare-book collection, located in a Gothic mansion in a remote corner of England. But what seems like a straightforward job becomes more complex when first, Lori needs to be rescued by a temptingly handsome stranger, show more the couple who are the new owners of the rare books library are hardly acting like newlyweds... and warnings are coming from Dimity to 'Leave, Now.'
Entertaining light reading. show less

A wonderful little cozy, easy read, and although I'm not a believer in the paranormal, these books are so well written, I allow myself to suspend my disbelief and simply enjoy. I'll not spoil the story, but the setting in Cornwall, and the delightful characters, all make for read that says 'bring me the next one in the series.'

The Aunt Dimity mysteries and Lori Shepherd are a refreshing twist on cosy mysteries.

Lori Shepherd gets a request from her old boss to evaluate a book collection of an old friend in Northumberland near the Scottish border. On a terrible foggy drive there Lori has an near fatal accident that brings her in contact with a military history writer and the local military. Both consider the accident suspicious. The castle replica which houses the library Lori has come to evaluate has a resident ghost and lots of legends. As Lori works in the library and gets to know the couple who own the house she becomes intrigued by the story of the girl who lived there three generations before. Of course, Aunt Dimity, lends a guiding hand. Another good mystery in this series.

This was my first Aunt Dimity book, though not the first one in the series
by a long shot. It's always a bit disconcerting to enter a series somewhere
in the middle -- rather like arriving late at the movies and trying to catch
up. So I missed out on the introduction of Aunt Dimity, and will have to
try to lay hands on that book somewhere. I'm sure several of you (maybe ALL
of you -- I'm always a bit late to get on the bandwagon!) have already read
books in this series, but it's all new to me. Aunt Dimity is the ghost of
Lori Shepherd's mother's best friend, and she is connected to a blue journal
that she uses to communicate with Lori with writing that just appears and
then fades away (kind of like something out of Harry Potter). She show more helps
Lori solve mysteries.

In this book, Lori (who works for rare book dealers) has gone to evaluate
the library at Wyrdhurst Hall, in the remote and misty corner of
Northumberland. . Wyrdhurst, of course, is said to be haunted, and the
current resident is being terrorized by the ghost of her great uncle who
built the house. On the way to the gothic castle, Lori gets off on the
wrong road in a terrible storm and ends up having a bad accident when she
bails out of her car only moments before it plunges off the side of a
mountain. She is rescued by Adam Chase, a handsome stranger, and finds
herself strangely attracted to him, even though she is very much in love
with her own husband back home. It is completely unlike her, almost as if
she has fallen under a spell or enchantment. She arrives at Wyrdhurst Hall
and realizes that she knows this house intimately (though she has never been
there before in her life). The lady of the house is very young and naive
and totally controlled by her much older, very cold husband, and she is
absolutely terrified at the strange sounds and appearances that only seem to
happen when her husband is away on business. Lori discovers some mysterious
letters hidden away in the huge library, along with a secret passageway and
staircase that lead to a locked room in a turret that no one knows about.
And, of course, it takes Aunt Dimity to gently prod Lori along the trail of
clues to find the answer to a mystery that is generations old and lay the
ghosts of Wyrdhurst Hall to rest at last.

This might be an interesting series, and I'll read some other installments
if I happen to run across them. It was a generally unremarkable story, though, and could have used
a bit more input from Aunt Dimity to keep it interesting, I thought. I'll
give it a 3+ and hope for better things in the next one I pick up. show less

A rather delightful "cozy" featuring the ghost of Aunt Dimity, that makes her voice heard in form of automatic writing in a blue Journal.

Wyrdhurst Hall is haunted, the locals are disgruntled, the owners of the manor are rather unhappily married, the husband goes off days at a time leaving his wife alone with the hauntings, and Lori is brought in to evaluate the Library's collection.

Little does Lori know that she will be the one to unravel the mystery of the ghostly heriss, lost love, & her untimely death by partial possession.....

I easily read this in one day and I'll most likely read others in the series.

Whhhhhyyyyyy do I read these. Ugh. I am so done.

Lori is supposedly soooooo in love with her husband yet she fantasizes about every relatively attractive and eligible man she meets. Crawls into bed with him...really? Why did I read this.

Adam seems to accept weird things too readily. Other characters were flat. I can't stand Lori. I don't even like me right now. Stay away from these books!!! Learn from me!!!!