Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well (Aunt Dimity Mystery)

The books in this series are truly "cozy" reading.
As in the others, this book is mostly about the village of Finch and the individual characters who live there.
This book is meant for a quick and pleasant "escape" read.

If you love cozy mysteries, you will love the Aunt Demity series by Nancy Atherton. I think I have read them all. I even purchased this one from the store before it was printed.

I do recommend them, especially is you need a little R & R.

Welcome to Finch. A small Cotswold Village in England. Lori Shepherd moved from the U.S. when she inherited a sizable estate-after she discovered the secret hidden in a treasure trove of letters in Dimity's English country cottage. She now lives there with her husband Bill and their two sons. She now communicates with her "Aunt Dimity" in a very special way.

In this 19th installment Australian Jack MacBride comes to Finch to settle his uncle's estate. When he arrives he find his uncle's property in need of attention. Lori volunteers to help him. While clearing the garden they find a hidden well. Lori laughingly tosses a coin into the garden's old well and makes a wish, she is baffled to find that the wish seems to have come true. Word travels fast in this little town and soon Jack has several visitors wanting to make wishes of their own. More and more wishes start to come true and with Aunt Dimity's help Lori tries to find out what is really going on. What she discovers is that the truth is even more marvelous than a magical wishing well.

Dollycas's Thoughts

What a breathe of fresh air!! This book is the perfect Springtime read. It is a true English mystery without any dead bodies or murderers running about. Just a mystery of a wishing well and a stranger in town. This author's work has been called "adult fairy tales" and that describes them perfectly.

Who wouldn't love a wishing well that actually granted wishes? The problem is one person's wish can really mess up another person's wish or their life. Some of the wishes of the residents of Finch are really causing trouble. Thankfully Lori is on the case. She needs to solve the mystery before there is an actual murder in this quaint little village.

I haven't read an Aunt Dimity story in years and when I was asked to review this one I jumped right back in and was so happy I said "YES!". This story reads well as a stand alone too. I wasn't lost at all. Aunt Dimity was a friend of Lori's mother and her ghost lives on in her home and has an interesting way to communicate with Lori. That's all you need to know to enjoy these wonderful stories.

Whether this is your first Aunt Dimity story or you have read them all or like me you fall somewhere in between, you will love this story. This series is a cozy lover's favorite for a very good reason. I think we all wish we had an Aunt Dimity.

I sometimes wonder if someone else is now writing Aunt Dimity books, because they just don't have the spark of the originals. This one was, sadly, just plain DULL. A mysterious Australian stranger arrives in town just as someone we've never met is being buried. We're told that no one ever really "knew" this person, that he kept to himself, and so he is (perhaps) a sort of mystery. The stranger is his nephew and is in town to clean up his affairs. A "wishing well" is found in the dead villager's garden - and suddenly, everyone seems to be having their wishes granted, but... sometimes those wishes aren't turning out so well! Is someone deliberately trying to work harm on the villagers? Lori to the rescue... Aunt Dimity herself serves as little more than a sort of Greek chorus to comment on Lori's efforts - she doesn't offer any advice, and one wonders why she is even "there" anymore. For those who loved Dimity and Reginald (the rabbit), the series has definitely been on a downward slide. This to me is something of the tipping point - I really doubt I want to pay "full price" for the next new Dimity.

Nancy Atherton writes an entire series of Aunt Dimity books. Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well is like the old Nancy Drew books. This book is charming, mysterious, and innocent.

As a writer, I can appreciate it’s beginning:

“It was a fine day for a funeral. Rain plummeted from a leaden sky and a blustery wind blew the chill of mortality through the mourners clustered in St. George’s churchyard.” (Chapter One).

The chill of mortality! I had to share this beginning with my writers group. Right away you are intrigued by the book. The chapter goes on to describe the characters of the town in interesting detail. Considering that gossip is a sin all Christians struggle with, you lap it up like fresh milk. Lori Shepherd is the voice in the first-person narrative. If you weren’t won over by her character, a first time reader of the series like me would be immediately intrigued by the journal named Aunt Dimity. She talks back in looping, blue writing to Lori’s confidences every time Lori opens the book. The mystery in this series is a mysterious stranger who shows up late to the funeral of a man who kept to himself.

The village of Finch loves this new fresh bowl of milk to explore. Jack is the nephew who takes over his Uncle’s estate and gets it ready for sale. To make him more interesting, Lori and her friends with Jack uncover a wishing well on the property. When you have a journal that talks back to you, it’s not out of bounds to believe this wishing well could be real. Lori’s wish for dryer weather comes true which starts the dominoes effect of odd occurrence’s in Finch. And things get worse for the residences of Finch even as a new romance buds between Jack and a resident of Finch. So is the wishing well real?

You’ll have to buy Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well to find out. It’s clean and a simple read. The book is good enough for teens or tweens and entertaining enough for adults. The old Nancy Drew books had that mystery solving simplicity that entertained many generations. Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well share that in common with Nancy Drew, but with a great message at the end we should all learn. I’m intrigued enough to read more in this series.

*book given by publisher

Remember when you were little and your parents told you that if you wish upon a star, your wish will come true no matter how small or how big the wish is, it will come true? We were little, we believed them.

Then we grew up. We know for certain that wishes don't come true if you simply just ask. We realized that if you want something out of life you have to work hard for it. No more dreaming....no more wishing.

What if we were wrong?

In the quaint little English town called Finch, where neighbors help their neighbors and where Gossip passes the time of day. Nothing too spectacular happens to this quaint little village until Hector Huggins passed away. Want to know what a hermit is? His picture is in the dictionary next to the word. Nothing too spectacular about the man, he just enjoyed fishing and lived quietly to himself.

Until his nephew came to settle his Uncle's affairs. That's when this quaint little town came alive once again. As Jack MacBride is fixing up his Uncles estate to sell there is something hidden that no one knew existed.

A well.

Not just any kind of well....this is a wishing well. And not your average kiddie wishing well, for this well grants wishes. Really...everybody's wish has come true! It's a miracle.

Or is it?

With everyone's wishes coming true, what about the ones that aren't? Or those wishes that seem to be backfiring on them. What will happen to this quaint little town when wishes are the only things they are living for?

Aunt Dimity and her niece Lori Shepherd must get to the bottom of this before their beloved town goes to war with each other.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I have read all of the Aunt Dimity series and it really is one of the best series I have ever read. I am an AVID reader and enjoy reading book series. What I enjoy the most about this series are the characters and how Nancy Atherton evolves them. The characters never get boring. I appreciate that not every book involves the main character finding and solving a murder. This series has clever characters with enticing plots and witty writing. I would very much recommend this book and the entire series. Grab a cup of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate and get ready to fall in love with the village of Finch.

These little books have a little bit of mystery and a lot of human nature. Through them, we can imagine life in a small English village and meet the people who make the village real. Ms. Atherton has a gift for building characters that are as endearing as they are perplexing. So this is another great beach read or a means to escape for a short time

These are my favorite books, I love the pink bunny, the blue notebook, and the plucky heroine. Having said that, these are "mysteries" but they are not "murder" mysteries. If you have not read the Aunt Dimity books before, please begin with book number one, otherwise you might find yourself lost.

I started listening to the audiobook, the story seemed interesting. Coming from Australia I am afraid I could not listen to the Australian accent..I just wish they had checked with a native speaker to verify the accent. To me it was like fingernails down a blackboard. The New Zealand accent was wrong as well. And I am afraid to say it sounded foolish and embarrassing. Unfortunately I had to throw the CD's away unless I read the book I will never know what happened.

The reader of this audio version might have been more carefully chosen. This reader is unable to do an even passable English, Australian, or New Zealand accent--all of which are required. The accents are distracting, and quite frankly embarrassing to listen to. Not only that, but her characters all speak in a choppy, halting, hesitant way--the way a child reads a book when they're first learning to read. I do not recommend the audio version, read the book instead.

This was another very nice fun mystery from Nancy. There is a funeral and many new people are introduced to Finch. Bree has some people in her own age group come to town. There is a wishing well and wishes are granted. Not always with the happiest of results.

A really fun read.

Horrid and juvenile accents, whiny and self righteous main character, but worst is the fact that no one sees a problem with secretly taping and photographing an entire village. Yes it's fiction but really? Not one character objects?,

I loved it, like the others. You meet someone new with each book. This was a little different because you learn to look at wishes and life differently. They are always pleasant books to read, this one really has made me think.

A handsome Aussie arrives in the village that knows no secrets....or at least thinks so. Lori Shepard and the cast of town characters have wishes come true. The story is full of fun and gossip, a bit different than some of the other mystery stories Atherton has given her readers. Enjoyable as always, a cozy read.