Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove) | PB MYSTERY ALB | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Miss Beatrix Potter finds the abandoned Baby Flora'and a scarab ring'on her doorstep. An investigation reveals that the ring was pawned and reclaimed by a resident of the vacant and supposedly haunted Hawthorn House. Now Beatrix and her animal friends are left pondering these utterly puzzling happenings.
Author Notes
Susan Wittig Albert was born in Illinois in 1940. In 1985, she changed careers from working as the vice president and an English professor at Texas State University to becoming a full-time writer.
During the mid- to late-1980s, Albert was a ghostwriter for the Nancy Drew mystery series. She wrote the acclaimed "Work of Her Own: How Women Create Success and Fulfillment off the Traditional Career Track" in 1992. Under the pseudonym of Robin Paige, Albert and her husband, Bill Albert, co-authored a twelve-volume mystery series set in late Victorian/Edwardian England.
Albert writes the bestselling China Bayles mystery series, which features as its main character a Texas herbalist who had been a criminal attorney in Houston. Albert also writes the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter historical fantasy series, which is set in England during the early twentieth century.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Albert's charming fourth Beatrix Potter mystery (after 2006's The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood) finds our heroine unexpectedly in possession of a foundling child, Baby Flora. The reader knows the mysteriously twinkly Mrs. Overthewall stole Flora from her teenage mother, Emily, a maid at the gloomy and possibly haunted Hawthorn House, and left her on the Potter doorstep, but Beatrix-not having read the prologue-suspects the child of having gypsy origins. Capt. Miles Woodcock and his sister, Dimity, gladly give Flora a new home, leaving Beatrix to solve the mystery of her old one. Other thoughts of families and youngsters abound: Jemima Puddleduck broods over a nest of long overdue eggs; Reynard the Fox struggles with his unnatural fondness for Jemima; and the village gossips bring all their matchmaking powers to bear on Beatrix and the highly eligible Captain Woodcock. The whimsical blend of romance, mystery and nostalgia will keep cozy fans happily entertained. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Albert takes a break from China Bayles to return to her charming Cottage Tales series featuring Beatrix Potter as a sleuth. Set in the picturesque Lake Country of England, the series features humans, animals, and fairy folk. Arriving from London for the popular Summer Fete in the village of Sawrey, Beatrix, who owns Hill Top Farm, finds a baby, Flora, left on her doorstep with a note, a scarab ring, and a sprig of hawthorn. As she tries to find Flora's parents, she learns that a mysterious gray-haired woman was the last person seen with the baby. Beatrix leaves Flora with Captain Miles Woodcock and his sister, Dimity, while she investigates. The captain thinks that the child belongs to the gypsies camped outside the town, but they deny knowing anything about her. Could the fairy folk be involved? This is a cozy with family appeal. Those who enjoy Beatrix Potter's animal tales will like this story, too, and readers attracted to strong female characters will be drawn to the independent Beatrix and to Dimity, who refuses to let her brother pick her husband.--Bibel, Barbara Copyright 2007 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Sundry fairy folk may be the culprits who left a baby on Beatrix Potter's doorstep in the third of the "Cottage Tales" series. "China Bayles" series author Albert lives in Texas. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.