Nancy Atherton's twenty-second cozy mystery in the beloved, nationally bestselling Aunt Dimity series. It's early April in the small English village of Finch. Lori Shepherd's husband and sons are spending Easter break camping, and Lori is perfectly happy to be left at home with Bess, spared a week of roughing it with a curious toddler. The two attend a village events committee meeting and Lori is astonished when the elderly, soft-spoken widow Mrs. Annabelle Craven stands to make an announcement: she's decided to hold a quilting bee in the old schoolhouse. At the quilting bee, Lori ends up seated beside Mrs. Craven, delighted at the opportunity to learn more about her neighbor's life in the village of Old Cowerton. But dear, sweet Mrs. Craven's stories reveal a startling secret about her first husband's death. With Aunt Dimity's advice, Lori sets out to learn the truth about what the residents of Old Cowerton refer to as the "widow's curse"--and the deeper she digs, the more horrifying the tale becomes, until she discovers the most astounding revelation of all. Watch out for Atherton's latest, Aunt Dimity and the King's Ransom, coming out in July 2018!

The beloved Aunt Dimity returns in this delightful follow-up to the book that launched the Aunt Dimity series. Watch out for Nancy Atherton's latest, Aunt Dimity and the King's Ransom, coming in July 2018 from Viking! Emma Porter is forty, fat, frumpy, and a passionate amateur gardener. When her longtime lover dumps her for a younger woman, Emma escapes the cloying sympathy of family and friends by setting out on a summer-long driving tour of England's glorious gardens. A Dimity-contrived coincidence brings her to Penford Hall, a sprawling Gothic mansion in Cornwall, where she finds a duke in search of a missing lantern with extraordinary powers. Suspecting there's more than one mystery to be solved at Penford Hall, Emma accepts the duke's invitation to stay on and restore the once glorious chapel garden to its former beauty. The dark rumors surrounding a rock star and the near-death of the duke's beautiful cousin confirm Emma's suspicions, and set her--with Aunt Dimity's ghostly guidance--on the path to Penford Hall's secrets and the pleasure of unexpected love.

Hired to uncover the provenance of a mysterious medallion with a tie to the Georgia Appalachians where he lives and to his own secret family history, folklorist Fever Devilin is stunned when the owner of the medallion turns up dead in Fever's house.

The nineteenth in the New York Times–bestselling series, featuring the original paranormal detective. Watch out for Nancy Atherton's latest, Aunt Dimity and the King's Ransom, coming in July 2018 from Viking! In this New York Times bestseller, dashing Australian Jack McBride arrives in the village of Finch to wrap up his reclusive late uncle’s affairs. While helping Jack clear out his uncle’s overgrown garden, Lori finds a long-forgotten wishing well. As a joke, she makes a wish—and it comes true! Word spreads, and soon the entire village besieges the well with wishes of their own. As more and more wishes come true, chaos ensues, and Lori—with Aunt Dimity’s otherworldly help—races to prove there’s something other than magic at work before her beloved village implodes.

From a world of daisies as big as moons and of mountainous green hillocks Michael Fane came by some unrealized method of transport to the thin red house, that as yet for his mind could not claim an individual existence amid the uniformity of a long line of fellows. His arrival coincided with a confusion of furniture, with the tramp of men backwards and forwards from a cavernous vehicle very dry and dusty. He found himself continually being lifted out of the way of washstands and skeleton chests of drawers. He was invited to sit down and keep quiet, and almost in the same breath to walk about and avoid hindrance. Finally, Nurse led him up many resonant stairs to the night-nursery which at present consisted of two square cots that with japanned iron bars stood gauntly in a wilderness of oilcloth surrounded by four walls patterned with a prolific vegetation. Michael was dumped down upon a grey pillow and invited to see how well his sister Stella was behaving. Nurse’s observation was true enough: Stella was rosily asleep in an undulation of blankets, and Michael, threatened by many whispers and bony finger-shakes, was not at all inclined to wake her up. Nurse retired in an aura of importance, and Michael set out to establish an intimacy with the various iron bars of his cage. For a grown-up person these would certainly have seemed much more alike than even the houses of Carlington Road, West Kensington: for Michael each bar possessed a personality. Minute scratches unnoticed by the heedless adult world lent variety of expression: slight irregularities infused certain groups with an air of deliberate consultation. From the four corners royal bars, crowned with brass, dominated their subjects. Passions, intrigues, rumours, ambitions, revenges were perceived by Michael to be seething below the rigid exterior of these iron bars: even military operations were sometimes discernible. This cot was guarded by a romantic population, with one or two of whose units Michael could willingly have dispensed: one bar in particular, set very much askew, seemed sly and malignant. Michael disliked being looked at by anybody or anything, and this bar had a persistent inquisitiveness which already worried him. ‘Why does he look at me?’ Michael would presently ask, and ‘Nobody wants to look at such an ugly little boy,’ Nurse would presently reply. So one more intolerable question would overshadow his peace of mind. Meanwhile, far below, the tramp of men continued, until suddenly an immense roar filled the room. Some of the bars shivered and clinked, and Michael’s heart nearly stopped. The roar died away only to be succeeded by another roar from the opposite direction. Stella woke up crying. Michael was too deeply frightened so to soothe himself, as he sat clutching the pointed ears of the grey pillow. Stella, feeling that the fretful tears of a sudden awakening were insufficient, set up a bellow of dismay. Michael was motionless, only aware of a gigantic heart that shook him horribly. At last the footsteps of Nurse could be heard, and over them, the quick ‘tut-tut-tuts’ that voiced her irritation.

A new local hero seems too good to be true... The village of Finch is in trouble in Aunt Dimity and the Summer King, the twentieth instalment in Nancy Atherton's much-loved cosy mystery series. Perfect for fans of M. C. Beaton and Midsomer Murders. 'Aunt Dimity and the Summer King illuminates the layered writing room of Nancy Atherton's mind the best of Nancy Atherton on full display' - Electric Review There's trouble brewing in the Cotswold village of Finch. Four recently sold cottages are now standing empty, and locals fear they will be turned into overpriced weekend homes. For once Lori Shepherd can't help. The recent birth of her daughter and the preparations for her father-in-law's upcoming wedding have left her overwhelmed. Until, that is, she has a chance encounter with the 'Summer King' - eccentric inventor Arthur Hargreaves. In his presence Lori forgets her troubles. But when Lori discovers detailed maps of Finch in the Summer King's library, she suspects he may be hiding darker motives. Is Arthur secretly plotting Finch's demise? With her Aunt Dimity's otherworldly help, Lori must find out once and for all... What readers are saying about Aunt Dimity and the Summer King: '[This book] has twists and turns that breathes excitement and curiosity with every page' 'Charming, humorous, and entertaining' 'Five stars'