Cecilia Peartree

This is my sixth outing to Pitkirtly. I hope it won't be too long before I go again!

The Queen of Scots Mystery

Amazon.com

My review -

Imagine being deprived of the thing you enjoy most. At the beginning of this book, Amaryllis is deprived of her freedom, so Christopher is deprived of her company. A body has been found in the cellars of the Queen of Scots, necessitating the pub’s closure as a crime scene. This loses everyone something they love. And Charlie, the policeman, looks like losing his job. The place is going to hell in a handcart! The body is that of Liam Johnstone, a man who, it seems, few have cause to love. Amaryllis gets herself into the usual scrapes and discovers all was not well in the Queen.

Reading these stories is like spending time with old friends. In spite of the body count, they aren’t gory or violent but neither are they bland. There’s a lot of enjoyable humour and wry observation here. I wasn’t let down by my sixth outing to Pitkirtly. I must try not to be a stranger and read number seven a bit sooner! Very good indeed.

Cecilia Peartree

This is the fifth in the series and I'm enjoying them more each time. Coming back to Pitkirtly is like visiting old friends.

Frozen in Crime

Amazon.com

My review -

This is the fifth in the Pitkirtly Mysteries series and is a rather claustrophobic adventure in which Pitkirtly is cut off by snow for the Christmas and New Year period. There is a robbery at the jeweller's and the local police force is seriously hampered by the weather. All my favourite characters were there and the remarkable Amaryllis Peebles, donning her pink PI bulletproof vest, decides to take on the jewel robbery, when it's discovered that the most expensive item on the list turns out to be a fake.

This is another great little story in which, although there are murders and bodies, the reader is never subjected to gratuitous violence. This series is full of quirky characters and is delightfully written. I’m pleased to see that I have several more to read. A bit of a mystery wrapped in a wonderful gentle wit is just what I enjoy.

Cecilia Peartree

This is the fourth in the series. They get better when you know the characters and their foibles. Excellent stuff.

Death at the Happiness Club

Amazon.com Death at the Happiness Club

My review - 

Every now and again an author creates a character capable of carrying a whole series. Amaryllis Peebles is such a character, but that’s not to say that the rest of the cast are two-dimensional. Amaryllis, recently retired from her high-powered job in national security - basically, she was a spy – finds so much going on in little Pitkirtly that she’s never bored. She is the woman many of us would like to be. She’s intelligent, resourceful, unconventional, and she doesn’t give a toss if her hair’s sticking up!

In this episode, three secretive siblings start up an unusual dating agency, and, this being Pirkirtly, even those happily paired up go along to see what’s happening. This story continues in the same vein as earlier ones – there's a body but it's not gorily displayed, and a good deal of wit and charm in the writing. These books are very enjoyable – I shall continue with them.

Cecilia Peartree

As you can see, I'm on a bit of a roll with these books but I have a couple of other books to read now before I can get back to them. I will be back!

A Reformed Character

Amazon . com A Reformed Character

My review - 

There are several people who could be fingered as the reformed character of the title. Christopher, in a new job, becomes dynamic. Darren, the not-quite-naughty boy, has an alibi though initially things look rather dark for him, Jock discovers an affinity with cats and even Amaryllis, ex-spy and hard woman, takes up knitting. This story has its twists and turns and surprised me on a few occasions.

This is another delightfully dotty and pleasurable read with characters I feel closer to in each book. It’s a cosy mystery in the sense that we don’t see too much of the blood and guts but there’s a definite sense of body-count here – it’s a nice story but it’s by no means bland. I really enjoy this style of humour and suspense. Altogether a great read.

Cecilia Peartree

This is the second in the series. I'm trying to read them in order!

Reunited in Death - Pitkirtly 2

Amazon.com Reunited in Death - Pitkirtly 2

My review -

Who'd have thought researching your family history could be dangerous? Jemima Stevenson, a nice little old lady, organises a Homecoming Day in Pitkirtly and the bodies start piling up. Amaryllis is looking after three young Tibetans and everyone's looking for a mud-coloured man. It could only happen in Pitkirtly.

This second book set in a Scottish village benefits from the fact that the characters are now familiar friends. I love the strong and sassy Amaryllis, the supportive but self-effacing Christopher, the solid, dependable (but maybe a bit dodgy?) Dave and the dotty and surprising Jemima. I also very much enjoyed the humour again. There are some luscious phrases - I particularly enjoyed Amaryllis's 'expiatory attack of niceness'. This is a series that's so easy to sink yourself into. I've started the next!

Cecilia Peartree

This is the first of a series I've been meaning to read for some time. On the strength of this I can see myself working through them!

Crime in the Community

Amazon.com Crime in the Community

My review -

Amaryllis Peebles is, at 40, a retired spy. She comes to live in Pitkirtly and muscles in on PLIF –the Pitkirtly Local Improvement Forum. The members of the committee have treated this as an informal drinking and social group, meeting as they do in a local pub. Amaryllis proposes that they do up the local village hall which is in a state of decrepitude, so that they, and other village groups, have a better meeting place. Naturally, as a new broom, her clean sweeping is resented. Christopher Wilson, chair of the group, seems particularly uncomfortable about actually improving the village.

This story takes a sassy woman with an uncommon range of skills and drops her into a serene (on the surface) little village and the results are fun and frantic. I loved the characters – living in a village community myself I recognised several types! The writing was witty and most enjoyable to read. As this is the first of a series, I can see I have more treats in store!