Picture Miss Seeton (1968)

The re-release of this 50 year old series was a delight. The reader is immediately thrown into the arms of Miss Seeton, a retired art teacher who has inherited a cottage in a rural area who in celebration goes to the opera before leaving for her new home. Little does she know that on leaving she will involve herself in a dangerous situation that will follow her to her new home.

Miss Seeton is a mix of Jane Marple and Emily Pollifax wielding her umbrella as well as D'Artagnan his sword. The inhabitants of Plummergen village kept this reader laughing throughout. I look forward to her next adventure. ( )

This was a fun, quirky mystery set in charming English village. Charming, in this case, in a gossip-filled way which quickly blows things out of proportion.

Miss Seeton is the only witness to a murder the night before she moves into a picturesque cottage left to her by a family member. Miss Seeton quickly becomes the talk of the town when the villagers learn that she was somehow involved in the murder and their reactions and subsequent events become comical.

If you enjoy cozy mysteries with offbeat characters, this would be a good choice for you!

Thank you, Netgalley, for providing me a copy of this book for my honest review. ( )

This book was originally Published in 1968 and has just been reissued. If you want a light, cozy mystery with a touch of parody, you should enjoy this book. The story takes place in a small village that is relatively self-sufficient, but only has about 500 inhabitants. The villagers are enjoyable for the most part but very different. You have the vicar who has lost his belief but is too lazy to change careers, and his sister, Sir George, his wife and son Nigel as well as many others. They are all busy bodies and when the find out that Miss Seeton took on a murderer with her umbrella, they all want to know what happened. Every incident that she is involved in becomes fraught with rumor and inuendo in the village. Miss Seeton is a retired art teacher who has inherited a house from her aged cousin/godmother. After leaving a performance of Carmen in London, she stumbles onto a murder that draws her into a mystery involving drugs, murder, greed and embezzlement. She seems to bumble her way into situations and uses her trusted brolly to save the day. When questioned by the police, she draws her way out by providing Scotland yard with artist's impressions of suspects and situations that just happen to hold the keys to more than one case. Her pictures show her impressions of the subject, not just a picture of the faces. The various police officers also add some comic relief to the stories. There are five books in this series and so far they have reissued 3 of them. I am going to try another one in the series and see if I enjoy it a little more.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Funny and fun! Nice escape! A delightful before bed read. Just enough suspense, just enough mystery, just enough laughs. The world falls away as you disappear into Miss Seeton's village. Lots of fun! I'm really looking forward to the next one! Thank you for re-releasing these wonderful books. I am grateful to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Soon-to-be-retired art teacher, Miss Emily Seeton, inherits a cottage from her elderly godmother in the village of Plummergen, Kent (pop. 501). On the night before she travels down to Plummergen, Miss Seeton attends a performance of the opera Carmen in Covent Garden. As she walks through an alley on her way to the bus to take her home, she witnesses a man stab a young woman to death. Later at the police station, she is able to draw a sketch that enables the police to identify the killer.

The killer and an assortment of his criminal associates follow Miss Seeton to Plummergen to get rid of this troublesome witness. Miss Seeton is an innocent who tries to always believe the best of people. She foils every attempt on her life, usually with nothing more than her trusty umbrella. Most of the time, she's not even aware she's in real danger.

Heron Carvic wrote five Miss Seeton books before he died. Two other authors carried on this long series. I prefer the original five Carvic books myself. This is a good one. ( )