From Library Journal
The creator of the Mrs. Pollifax mysteries introduces a new protagonist?a struggling young novelist whose father asks him to investigate the family property left when Aunt Harriet died. There he finds a bunch of squatters and gets drawn into a mystery.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
One of the author's determinedly charming stories, apart from her Mrs. Pollifax series (Incident at Badamya, etc.). Andrew Thale, son of stuffy corporate V.P. Horace, has been asked by his father to look over the property in Massachusetts that Horace had inherited, in the absence of a will, from his reclusive Aunt Harriet Thale five years before. Horace has been paying taxes on the empty house and its 25 acres ever since and is now thinking of selling or developing the property. Andrew, author of two well-received novels, is in a creative limbo and has, in desperation, been writing the newsletter for Meredith Machines, the family business. He dutifully departs in a company car for the remote, potholed road that leads to the Thale farmhouse, which lacks heat, electricity and phone but is far from empty. Living there in contented penury are the strays Harriet Thale collected before her demise: elegant Miss L`Hommedieu, housekeeper-cook Gussie; passionate Marxist Leo, and beautiful young Tarragon. Andrew gets yet another surprise when he discovers his mother, who'd left Horace seven years ago, living happily in a cottage on the property. There are more odd twists in store for Andrewthe arrival of his father, the discovery of a hidden mill, but most important, the rediscovery of his creative self. A sweetly entertaining fairy tale sure to delight the author's many fans. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"Delightful . . . A suspenseful romp . . . Highly recommended."
--Booklist

"CHARMING . . . SWEETLY ENTERTAINING."
--Kirkus Reviews

"THALE'S FOLLY IS A DELIGHTFUL READING EXPERIENCE."
--HARRIET KLAUSNER
   Painted Rock Reviews


Review
"Delightful . . . A suspenseful romp . . . Highly recommended."
--Booklist

"CHARMING . . . SWEETLY ENTERTAINING."
--Kirkus Reviews

"THALE'S FOLLY IS A DELIGHTFUL READING EXPERIENCE."
--HARRIET KLAUSNER
   Painted Rock Reviews

FROM THE PUBLISHER

At the request of his father, New York City novelist Andrew Thale tackles an odd assignment - to check out an old family property in western Massachusetts, neglected since Aunt Harriet Thale's death years ago. Much odder still is what he finds. Far from being deserted, Thale's Folly is fully inhabited - by a quartet of charming squatters, former "guests" of kindhearted Aunt Harriet. There is elegant Miss L'Hommedieu, Gussie the witch, Leo the bibliophile, and beautiful nineteen year-old Tarragon, who is unlike any girl Andrew has ever met in Manhattan. Andrew is entranced by these unworldly creatures and their simple life. Yet all is not well in Thale's Folly. A thief breaks into the farmhouse, and an old friend of the "family" disappears. While the peace that appears to have been Aunt Harriet's only legacy to her companions is destroyed, Andrew and Tarragon are drawn into mysteries they cannot fathom. But, for the first time, Andrew begins to understand that love and loyalty are life's greatest treasures.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

The creator of the Mrs. Pollifax mysteries introduces a new protagonist--a struggling young novelist whose father asks him to investigate the family property left when Aunt Harriet died. There he finds a bunch of squatters and gets drawn into a mystery.

Kirkus Reviews

One of the author's determinedly charming stories, apart from her Mrs. Pollifax series (Incident at Badamya, etc.). Andrew Thale, son of stuffy corporate V.P. Horace, has been asked by his father to look over the property in Massachusetts that Horace had inherited, in the absence of a will, from his reclusive Aunt Harriet Thale five years before. Horace has been paying taxes on the empty house and its 25 acres ever since and is now thinking of selling or developing the property. Andrew, author of two well-received novels, is in a creative limbo and has, in desperation, been writing the newsletter for Meredith Machines, the family business. He dutifully departs in a company car for the remote, potholed road that leads to the Thale farmhouse, which lacks heat, electricity and phone but is far from empty. Living there in contented penury are the strays Harriet Thale collected before her demise: elegant Miss L`Hommedieu, housekeeper-cook Gussie; passionate Marxist Leo, and beautiful young Tarragon. Andrew gets yet another surprise when he discovers his mother, who'd left Horace seven years ago, living happily in a cottage on the property. There are more odd twists in store for Andrew-the arrival of his father, the discovery of a hidden mill, but most important, the rediscovery of his creative self. A sweetly entertaining fairy tale sure to delight the author's many fans. .