AUNT DIMITY GOES WEST
by Nancy Atherton
The 12th adventure for ghost detective Aunt Dimity takes her to Colorado, where she again assists the living.
Lori Sheppard (Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea, Feb. 2006, etc.) is recovering from a gunshot wound acquired while protecting her children from a madman. The wound is healing, but her psyche is not. So her husband arranges a trip to Colorado for Lori, the twins and their nanny, and a friend offers the use of the Aerie, a magnificent house outside the old mining town of Bluebird. They’re met at the airport by Toby Cooper, a last-minute replacement for vanished caretaker James Blackwell. At first, things go well. The boys love hiking, fishing and riding at a nearby ranch, and Lori loves the quaint old town, even though everyone she meets is a double for her friends back home in England. But she’s disturbed when Amanda Barrow, proprietor of the Mystic Crystals, recounts the curse of the old Lord Stuart mine, parts of which are under the Aerie. Despite the otherworldly assurances of Aunt Dimity and the spirit of a teacher killed in the cave-in that closed the Lord Stuart, Lori is still uneasy. With help from Toby and tips from Aunt Dimity, she digs around until the truth is revealed.
An anemic mystery whose high spots are the beauties of the Rockies and a single cookie recipe.