From Publishers Weekly
If you're looking for arch, cancel the trip to Chartres. Here's the third in a pointedly cute series featuring the ghost of "Aunt" Dimity, the dead friend of heroine Lori Shepherd's mother. Lori plans a second honeymoon for herself and her overworked husband, lawyer Bill Willis, in the idyllic English cottage Lori inherited from Dimity (Aunt Dimity's Death, 1992). When a case keeps Bill in Boston, Lori heads overseas with her father-in-law, William Willis Sr. He suddenly disappears, taking Lori's pink flannel bunny, Reginald, and leaving an enigmatic note about family business. Further clues come from Dimity's ghost via her leather-bound journal, in which Lori observes Dimity's handwriting materialize on the page. Lori tracks Willis Sr., accompanied by her friend Emma's precocious 12-year-old stepdaughter, Nell, and Nell's teddy bear, Bertie, through the picturesque countryside to London. There she finds the British Willises?including sexy Gerald, efficient Lucy and bumbling Arthur?who are at odds, their family law firm in disarray. The plot hangs on an 18th-century feud that divided the family, resulting in murder and theft, and leading to present-day blackmail; the villain is easily identified. At the end of this amusing but silly tale, Bill and pregnant Lori move to England, delighting Aunt Dimity's ghost. Author tour. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Atherton's third serial title once again mixes mystery with a bit of gothic romance. Because her husband has a last-minute conflict, pretty Lori ends up at Aunt Dimity's English country cottage with her father-in-law instead. When he disappears, Lori searches?and finds an old family secret. For fans.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Mix snippets of fairy tale, ghost story, romance, British cozy, and history lesson. Stitch in the eccentric Willis family, a transatlantic feud, and three stuffed animals, and you have the latest in Atherton's popular Aunt Dimity series. Anglophile Lori Willis watches her lawyer-husband Bill change from starry-eyed newlywed to bona fide workaholic. Lori decides a second honeymoon at her English Cotswold cottage--a legacy from Aunt Dimity--will restore the glow to her marriage. Unfortunately, busy Bill can't get away, so his father, whom Lori adores, volunteers to accompany her. But once they arrive in England, the elder Willis mysteriously disappears. Fearing the worst, Lori sets out to find him with the help of a friend's precocious 12-year-old daughter. Aided by cryptic clues provided by Aunt Dimity from the Great Beyond, Lori discovers not only a long-standing family feud but also the way to restore romance to her marriage. Heartwarming and charming, Atherton's latest bit of eccentric whimsy is sure to delight. Emily Melton


From Kirkus Reviews
Another foray into fantasyland with rare-book expert Lori Shepherd (Aunt Dimity and the Duke, 1994, etc.), the heiress to a charming English cottage and a considerable sum of money who has been married for two years to Bill Willis, a Boston lawyer of aristocratic lineage. All of this has come to Lori through the ghostly good offices of Aunt Dimity, long in her grave but always on hand when needed. Lori and Bill live in the ancestral mansion of Bill's father/law partner William. When Bill's workload keeps him from a planned trip to England with Lori, Willis Sr. takes his place, but he vanishes soon after the pair's arrival at Lori's cottage in Finch, having excused himself in the middle of a chess game with Nell, the precocious daughter of Lori's neighbors Emma and Derek Harris. Willis, Lori suspects, has seized on the trip as a chance to make peace with the English branch of the family, long estranged over some ancient feud. Lori, accompanied by Nell and guided by Aunt Dimity, keeps missing Willis as she follows in his wake, but along the way she meets the younger generation of Willis cousins--Gerald, Arthur, and Lucy--partners in a London law firm recently decimated by the departure of its senior members. Now Gerald has also left, in a cloud of rumors about an ugly, aging mistress and other matters. It's at Gerald's shabby cottage that Lori at last catches up with her father-in-law--and all puzzles, past and present, are resolved. Giddily opaque plotting, a clutch of overmannered characters, and a general aura of sticky sweetness: Fans could adore it; others might like to see the author's graceful writing skills brought a bit more down to earth. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
Nancy Atherton's growing number of fans will certainly be delighted by Aunt Dimity's latest appearance in the honey-colored English cottage she bequeathed to her "niece," Lori Shepherd. Thanks to Aunt Dimity, Lori's life has taken on fairy-tale proportions: she's financially set for life and happily married--or so she thinks. When Lori's plans for a second honeymoon to England with her workaholic husband fall through, she begrudgingly takes along her father-in-law--who promptly disappears, leaving behind a mysterious note. Inspired and guided by the ghost of Aunt Dimity and her inimitable blue journal, Lori's search for the elderly gentleman turns into a harrowing mission to uncover a centuries-old family secret--complicated by mistaken identities, falsified deeds, family feuds, and Lori's unseemly attraction to her husband's beguiling English cousin. In a delightful chase that takes her all over the English countryside, Lori discovers the true meaning of marital bliss, and Nancy Atherton's fans, new and old, will savor a masterpiece of old-fashioned fun.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Thanks to Aunt Dimity, Lori Shepherd was lucky enough to have had a fairy-tale courtship complete with a Handsome Prince and a cozy, honey-colored castle in which he popped the question. It all happened so quickly, so effortlessly, that Lori fell in love with her blue-blooded prince before she really knew who he was. And maybe that's where she made her first mistake. Now married for two years to said prince - Bill Willis, a workaholic lawyer who is, she admits, "honest and scrupulously considerate about his socks" - Lori finds herself inconsolably depressed. She loves Bill dearly but all he does is work, work, work - even their honeymoon was interrupted by a flurry of faxes. And to make her feel even worse, her busybody aunts-in-law keep badgering her about when they will have a new little Willis! But how will that ever happen if she never even sees her husband? Seeking to recapture the romance in her young marriage, Lori plans a second honeymoon at Aunt Dimity's English cottage. But at the last minute, Bill, true to form, can't make it, so Lori's reliable as-the-sunrise father-in-law stands in (how romantic!) - only to disappear minutes after their arrival, with Lori's pink flannel bunny, Reginald, in tow. Inspired by Aunt Dimity and accompanied by her very precocious twelve-year-old friend Nell, Lori packs the car and sets off on a backroads search for Willis, Sr. Nell proves herself a helpful guide (keeping Lori on the right side of the road!) as well as a mistress of disguise, while Lori finds herself aghast at her own unseemly attraction to Bill's dashing English cousin, Gerald. Soon Lori, Nell, and the ghostly Aunt Dimity find themselves at the center of a centuries-old Willis family scandal that, if revealed, could mean the end of life as they know it, for Willises on both sides of the Atlantic.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

If you're looking for arch, cancel the trip to Chartres. Here's the third in a pointedly cute series featuring the ghost of "Aunt" Dimity, the dead friend of heroine Lori Shepherd's mother. Lori plans a second honeymoon for herself and her overworked husband, lawyer Bill Willis, in the idyllic English cottage Lori inherited from Dimity (Aunt Dimity's Death, 1992). When a case keeps Bill in Boston, Lori heads overseas with her father-in-law, William Willis Sr. He suddenly disappears, taking Lori's pink flannel bunny, Reginald, and leaving an enigmatic note about family business. Further clues come from Dimity's ghost via her leather-bound journal, in which Lori observes Dimity's handwriting materialize on the page. Lori tracks Willis Sr., accompanied by her friend Emma's precocious 12-year-old stepdaughter, Nell, and Nell's teddy bear, Bertie, through the picturesque countryside to London. There she finds the British Willisesincluding sexy Gerald, efficient Lucy and bumbling Arthurwho are at odds, their family law firm in disarray. The plot hangs on an 18th-century feud that divided the family, resulting in murder and theft, and leading to present-day blackmail; the villain is easily identified. At the end of this amusing but silly tale, Bill and pregnant Lori move to England, delighting Aunt Dimity's ghost. Author tour. (Oct.)

Library Journal

Atherton's third serial title once again mixes mystery with a bit of gothic romance. Because her husband has a last-minute conflict, pretty Lori ends up at Aunt Dimity's English country cottage with her father-in-law instead. When he disappears, Lori searchesand finds an old family secret. For fans.

Kirkus Reviews

Another foray into fantasyland with rare-book expert Lori Shepherd (Aunt Dimity and the Duke, 1994, etc.), the heiress to a charming English cottage and a considerable sum of money who has been married for two years to Bill Willis, a Boston lawyer of aristocratic lineage. All of this has come to Lori through the ghostly good offices of Aunt Dimity, long in her grave but always on hand when needed. Lori and Bill live in the ancestral mansion of Bill's father/law partner William. When Bill's workload keeps him from a planned trip to England with Lori, Willis Sr. takes his place, but he vanishes soon after the pair's arrival at Lori's cottage in Finch, having excused himself in the middle of a chess game with Nell, the precocious daughter of Lori's neighbors Emma and Derek Harris. Willis, Lori suspects, has seized on the trip as a chance to make peace with the English branch of the family, long estranged over some ancient feud. Lori, accompanied by Nell and guided by Aunt Dimity, keeps missing Willis as she follows in his wake, but along the way she meets the younger generation of Willis cousins—Gerald, Arthur, and Lucy—partners in a London law firm recently decimated by the departure of its senior members. Now Gerald has also left, in a cloud of rumors about an ugly, aging mistress and other matters. It's at Gerald's shabby cottage that Lori at last catches up with her father-in-law—and all puzzles, past and present, are resolved.

Giddily opaque plotting, a clutch of overmannered characters, and a general aura of sticky sweetness: Fans could adore it; others might like to see the author's graceful writing skills brought a bit more down to earth.