Friday 15 September 2017

Review | Miss Seeton Quilts the Village by Hamilton Crane

Published by Farrago on September 7, 2017

"When it's Miss Seeton," said young Mrs. Newport, "you never can tell what might happen next!"

Miss Seeton Quilts the Village is the first new addition to the series in over twenty years. It is not a series that I’ve read before, though I have heard quite a bit about it and now have the audiobook of an earlier book in the series ready to listen to. I love cosy crime and cosy mysteries. They are, in my eyes, typically relaxing and refreshingly funny novels set in a village full of secrets, wrong conclusions and plenty of frolics. The same applied to Miss Seeton Quilts the Village, as it was a book I really enjoyed reading.

It’s a slow start to Miss Seeton Quilts the Village as old names are reintroduced and as a new reader to the series, it was a bit of an effort at first to acquaint myself with the setting and the characters and then tuck into the new instalment. Though it did take quite a few chapters to settle into the new book, once I did it was thoroughly worthwhile as Miss Seeton Quilts the Village is witty, often laugh-out-loud funny and very endearing.

Miss Seeton is a quirky character and nothing if not entertaining. Armed with her sketchbook, she can help the police on cases they can’t get to the bottom of. Her sketches detail people, their actions and their emotions – even the ones which haven’t happened yet. Her attitude is great and following her character is utterly charming. I can see why there are so many books in this series, first written by Heron Carvic and then continued by Sarah J Mason writing as Hamilton Crane, as Miss Seeton is an interesting and engaging character who can be trusted to get to the bottom of any mystery.

There is a fair bit of tension in the village of Plummergen brought about by the creation of a village tapestry. I found the antics and the issues of the villagers to at times be laugh out loud funny. The characters are pretty mad and kept me entertained at all times. It’s exactly what I would come to expect from a close-village setting and yet the humour still got to me and when I could finally keep up with all the characters, I found myself really wrapped up in their lives and the gossip they spread.

As for the plot, it was a bit repetitive at times but still, there’s plenty to get stuck into. From espionage to local history to Nazi secrets and a whole wad of mystery and intrigue, this book is full of content and more than enough secrets and gossip to keep me engrossed. There are oodles of secrets hidden within Plummergen and a heck of a lot of gossip too. With every page turned another secret comes to light and it was frantic yet entertaining keeping up with every last thing happening within the pages of this book. I breezed through this book as I found it all highly enjoyable and couldn’t get enough of the quirkiness and eccentricity of the place, the people and the gossip.

Jam-packed with mystery, secrets and dry humour, Miss Seeton Quilts the Village is a raucous romp of a read that had me smiling throughout.



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