home > mystery novel reviews > aunt dimity snowbound

Aunt Dimity Snowbound

by Nancy Atherton

Decided it was about time to investigate this Aunt Dimity series. Surprise, surprise! Found out that Aunt Dimity isn't a person at all – that is she was, but isn't now – that is - oh well, you'll just have to read it for yourself and see what I mean. Aunt Dimity Snowbound is what many prefer to call a 'cozy' mystery, and this one has no murders, but definitely belongs in the mystery category. Not having read any of Nancy Atherton's previous books, I have no idea if this is typical of her work or not. If you're a puzzle fan, however, or enjoy pitting your detection skills against an author, this isn't for you. It's an uncomplicated plot, an easy read and a pleasant one.

Lori Shepherd is feeling the post-holiday letdown, and her friend Emma suggests she take a hike – literally. Lori's husband Bill tells her to take along Reginald and Aunt Dimity in her backpack – which of course will also have food and maps for the nine-mile trek through the English countryside. Reginald is a pink stuffed rabbit, and Aunt Dimity is a journal with blank pages – pages which fill up with writing whenever you open it. Aunt Dimity speaks to you through her writing, and if you can swallow that one, you're well on the way to relishing the rest of the novel.

Lori misses a turn on her hiking path and gets lost – just as an unexpected blizzard begins. She finds herself at the entrance to Ladythorne Abbey. Thinking to find shelter from the storm in what she figures is a ruin, Lori wades through the snow to see a huge house with a bell tower at one end, obviously in good repair – plus another hiker. The other hiker turns out to be a female with the name of Wendy Walker, who uses a pry bar from her backpack to gain entrance to the rear of the uninhabited mansion. The two of them first find themselves in a huge kitchen with a smaller kitchen attached. Lori uses her cell phone to contact her husband and tell him where she is, discovering that he can't come and rescue her because the unexpected heavy snowfall has even stopped the plows from working.

As Lori and Wendy are foraging for food and making do with tea, they're interrupted by an old man with a shotgun herding another backpacker before him – this one a male. The old man is Catchpole, the caretaker, and the younger guy is Jamie MacCrae. It develops that Catchpole thinks they are all a gang of Yankee thieves, until Jamie manages to relieve Catchpole of the shotgun and he realizes they're all only hikers trying to take refuge from the blizzard.

Through her cell phone, Lori discovers that her lawyer husband knows the present owner of Ladythorne, a famous movie star named Tessa Gibbs. The former owner was the last of her line, Lucasta DeClerke. Catchpole was caretaker during Miss DeClerke's residence, and the story is that she lost both her husband-to-be and her father to the Second World War. She opened Ladythorne to the armed forces as a recovery station, but during that time a diamond parure was stolen by two American soldiers, and her love for soldiers, especially Americans, turned to hatred. Lucasta finally died as a recluse, living in a single room at the Abbey.

The mystery first seems to be what has become of the diamonds. The parure included a tiara, a necklace, bracelets and earrings. At first Lori believes that Lucasta may have made up the story about them being stolen, then later realizes the necessity of finding where she may have hidden the parure in the first place.

The diamonds come to light, and the hiding place, empty now, is finally found. The fabulous parure eventually is back where it belongs, and the three hikers are rescued from their snowbound state. In spite of being on 'the other side' Aunt Dimity is no help to Lori in unraveling the secret, although Lori continues with occasional referral to the journal throughout. Neither Wendy nor Jamie
turn out to be what Lori thought they were, but both are inextricably linked with the missing diamonds.

Nancy Atherton writes well, although I suspect that any reader interested in such a series would profit by reading the first book, Aunt Dimity's Death. Coming as I did so unexpectedly on a journal with blank pages having beautiful handwriting suddenly appear in answer to questions or just making conversation is rather startling, to say the least! But all those who like a mystery without the gruesome details of a murder – or anyone who loves reading about huge, magnificent English manor houses will certainly thrive on this story. Aunt Dimity Snowbound is certainly for you.

Alan Paul Curtis

back