Aunt Dimity's Christmas Book

All of the Dimity stories involve digging up past secrets - usually involving WWII - and learning how to let love and kindness rule. This story is no different.

What is different unfortunately is that I felt rather beaten about the head with Christmas spirit. Yes, it's a Christmas book, so of course I expected Peace and Goodwill to claim the spotlight. But I didn't anticipate the overwhelming insistence of it. It's as if every other page contained a reminder to tend to the less fortunate. A worthy command, no doubt, but the sentiment quickly felt forced.

I also didn't anticipate Lori going gaga over every man sporting kind eyes or a bit of muscle. It's her Gerald fascination all over again (times two), despite Lori's insistence that she's quite happy in her marriage. I'm all for people engaging in light, harmless flirting - it boosts the confidence and reinvigorates the soul - but Lori's fascination with these men crosses some indescribable line for me. One of her new friends claims it's merely loneliness in Bill's absence. Ahem. Her husband is barely gone two weeks!! I hardly think that's long enough to justify her panting over a new man, longing for him to call, and telling him she can't trust herself in his presence. For fuck's sake...

AND she keeps all the vital clues to herself, relegating Dimity to the infrequently-consulted sidelines.

Sigh. Infuriating.

The one good thing to come out of this is the widening cast of characters. Let's hope they play more prominent roles in the rest of the series because Lori very desperately needs someone to rein her in.