From Publishers Weekly
Aunt Dimity, the ghost with the flowing handwriting, returns for a fourth outing with her living partner, Lori Shepherd, in this fluffy village cozy. Now living in England, Lori and her lawyer husband, Bill Willis, have welcomed twin boys, swelling the mostly retired population of Finch. Living in the cottage left to Lori by her mother's close friend, Dimity Westwood, Lori is thankful for the arrival of the local and unmarried Francesca Sciaparelli to aid with the double joys of motherhood. In this corpseless tale, the mystery concerns a document stolen from the vicarage. Finch has become divided over the apparent Roman treasure trove discovered by archeologist Adrian Culver in a village field. An obscure 19th-century document, proving the find is a hoax, is the stolen item. Asked to resolve the dilemma, Lori, a rare book expert, is aided by Aunt Dimity who communicates with her ghostly handwriting in a special blue journal. Atherton produces a diverse cast of villagers, especially the formidable Peggy Kitchen, a veritable locomotive who is determined to chuck Culver and his archeological miscellany out of the schoolhouse before her well-planned Harvest Festival. Featuring Lori's cherubic twins, a number of stuffed animals and the triumph of true love, Atherton delivers pure cozy entertainment. Mystery Guild selection; author tour. (Mar.) FYI: Viking will simultaneously publish Aunt Dimity's Good Deed in paper.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Atherton's Aunt Dimity series is cozy as a warm fire and soothing as a hot cup of tea. Aunt Dimity has been dead for years, of course, but her spirit lives on in the rose-covered cottage and the blue notebooks she's bequeathed to her niece Lori. Whenever Lori's baffled, she opens the magic notebooks, and Aunt Dimity's handwriting appears, offering pithy advice. Lately, Lori has her hands full with her four-month-old twin sons. Fortunately, a nanny appears on her doorstep just when Lori's amateur sleuthing skills are in demand: the vicar discovers a valuable document missing from his study, townsfolk report witches in the meadow, a visiting archaeologist digs up some malicious gossip, and an all-out war among the Harvest Festival planners seems imminent. Fortunately, Lori's gift for unraveling even the most challenging mystery pays off, leaving villagers at peace and the new nanny happily in love. Sweet, heartwarming fare for all British cozy fans. Emily Melton


From Kirkus Reviews
Dimity Westwood is as dead as ever, but she's still on hand- -a reassuring presence whose words appear magically in a blue notebook--to offer counsel and consolation to her legatee Lori Shepherd when fighting breaks out between Dr. Adrian Culver, the Oxford archeologist who's commandeered St. George's schoolhouse for his digging detritus, and village empress Peggy Kitchen, who'd been promised the schoolhouse for the Harvest Festival to put Finch back in touch with its ancient customs. St. George's vicar, Rev. Theodore Bunting, could have Adrian packing in a minute if he could only show him Disappointments in Devling, the pamphlet in which Bunting's Victorian predecessor, Rev. Cornelius Gladwell, confessed to having salted Scrag End field with archaeological artifacts in protest of an earlier dig. But someone has pinched the vicar's copy from his study, so he asks Lori if she can round up another of the only nine copies in existence before the conflict escalates into something worse. No fear. Though Lori, newly delivered of twins, will confront witches and long-buried romances, rumors of ghosts and aliens, nothing will go wrong among the dramatis personae--all of them as carefully matched as the pieces of a good tea service--that can't be mended by Dimity's advice, a little tactful conversation, and some of Sally Pyne's lemonbars. Atherton's placid fourth (Aunt Dimity's Good Deed, 1996, etc.) confirms her status as the coziest cozy of them all. (Mystery Guild selection; author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
The latest in this enchanting and fast-selling series, featuring the beloved ghost Aunt Dimity, opens in a picturesque English cottage where the lovable Lori Shepherd is up to her elbows in pureed carrots and formula bottles, striving to be the perfect mother to twins! Luckily, a beautiful Italian nanny arrives just in time--so Lori can help settle the local civil war stirred up by a visiting archaeologist's excavation. With Reginald, the stuffed pink rabbit and Edmond Terrance, the stuffed tiger in tow, Lori hunts down a missing document, and the archaeologist digs up a lot more than artifacts. It is Aunt Dimity's magic blue notebook that provides the key to buried secrets and domestic malice, and shows all the residents of Finch that even the darkest acts can be overcome by forgiveness.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

At home in the ghostly Aunt Dimity's idyllic English cottage, Lori Shepherd is up to her elbows in pureed avocados and formula bottles as she strives to be the perfect mother to her three-month-old twins! Aunt Dimity restores order - and Lori's sanity - by sending the beautiful and mysterious Francesca Sciaparelli to lend a hand with the boys. The nanny is a treasure, but Lori's newfound freedom proves to be a mixed blessing. No sooner does she step outside the cottage for a breath of diaper-free air than she finds herself smack in the middle of a civil war brewing in the nearby village of Finch. Finch has been torn asunder by the pressing question: Who shall occupy the church schoolhouse? Peggy Kitchen - unofficial empress of Finch - desperately needs the schoolhouse for her long-awaited Harvest Festival. When she learns that the precious building has been given over to visiting archaeologist Adrian Culver for his dig's picks, spades, and shovels, she embarks on a campaign to oust Adrian and his khaki-clad cohorts. Peggy's campaign is passionately countered by those Finch residents who are convinced that Adrian's dig will finally put Finch on the map. The two sides are about to come to blows when Lori learns of the existence of a missing Victorian pamphlet that could prove the archaeological site is a fake - and would surely cause an abrupt end to the entire project, and the local civil war. As Lori hunts for the missing pamphlet, and the thief, she unearths secrets long buried in Finch's past - secrets that divide the village and threaten to destroy the delicate romance now blossoming between her nanny extraordinaire and Adrian Culver.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Aunt Dimity, the ghost with the flowing handwriting, returns for a fourth outing with her living partner, Lori Shepherd, in this fluffy village cozy. Now living in England, Lori and her lawyer husband, Bill Willis, have welcomed twin boys, swelling the mostly retired population of Finch. Living in the cottage left to Lori by her mother's close friend, Dimity Westwood, Lori is thankful for the arrival of the local and unmarried Francesca Sciaparelli to aid with the double joys of motherhood. In this corpseless tale, the mystery concerns a document stolen from the vicarage. Finch has become divided over the apparent Roman treasure trove discovered by archeologist Adrian Culver in a village field. An obscure 19th-century document, proving the find is a hoax, is the stolen item. Asked to resolve the dilemma, Lori, a rare book expert, is aided by Aunt Dimity who communicates with her ghostly handwriting in a special blue journal. Atherton produces a diverse cast of villagers, especially the formidable Peggy Kitchen, a veritable locomotive who is determined to chuck Culver and his archeological miscellany out of the schoolhouse before her well-planned Harvest Festival. Featuring Lori's cherubic twins, a number of stuffed animals and the triumph of true love, Atherton delivers pure cozy entertainment.

Kirkus Reviews

Dimity Westwood is as dead as ever, but she's still on hand—a reassuring presence whose words appear magically in a blue notebook—to offer counsel and consolation to her legatee Lori Shepherd when fighting breaks out between Dr. Adrian Culver, the Oxford archeologist who's commandeered St. George's schoolhouse for his digging detritus, and village empress Peggy Kitchen, who'd been promised the schoolhouse for the Harvest Festival to put Finch back in touch with its ancient customs. St. George's vicar, Rev. Theodore Bunting, could have Adrian packing in a minute if he could only show him Disappointments in Devling, the pamphlet in which Bunting's Victorian predecessor, Rev. Cornelius Gladwell, confessed to having salted Scrag End field with archaeological artifacts in protest of an earlier dig. But someone has pinched the vicar's copy from his study, so he asks Lori if she can round up another of the only nine copies in existence before the conflict escalates into something worse. No fear. Though Lori, newly delivered of twins, will confront witches and long-buried romances, rumors of ghosts and aliens, nothing will go wrong among the dramatis personae—all of them as carefully matched as the pieces of a good tea service—that can't be mended by Dimity's advice, a little tactful conversation, and some of Sally Pyne's lemonbars. Atherton's placid fourth (Aunt Dimity's Good Deed, 1996, etc.) confirms her status as the coziest cozy of them all.