This was a pleasant cozy mystery, second in the Dorothy Martin series. Dorothy is a middle-aged widow transplanted to England where she is trying to fix up a historical cottage house. She volunteers at a bookshop inside the town's cathedral. She loves to wear hats and has a nose for murder. When she and a cleaning woman discover a body inside the abandoned town hall, Dorothy is motivated to solve the crime. With the help of her love interest, Alan Nesbit of the local police, she bumbles along gathering answers to questions related to the case. Dorothy is likeable and the small town setting is enjoyable. This book is a little too cozy for my tastes, but I would read another one in the series.

Quite a few haters out there when it comes to this series. As an anxious, exhausted person who averages a sixty-hour work week and comes home to nights of tossing and turning insomnia, I just love the quiet, small, Anglophilic, and hat-obsessed Dorothy Martin. Particularly fond of her deep and abiding hatred of roundabouts. Probably won't read the entire series all in a row, but as a relaxing before-bed trip across the pond, pretty much count me in.

I love this series. This is actually my second time reading these first ones. Excellent characters and plots! Keeps me guessing.

So many great twists and turns. Little slips of humor, great dialog with the many accents of England. Love the yin and yang between the English and Mrs. Martin, "the American lady". Excellent plots that keep you guessing along with our heroine. She may be older, and a little stiff in the joints, but she is a force to be reckoned with when she in on the scent of a murderer. Very enjoyable read.

Just a nice, cosy mystery. Enjoying these wee books.

This is a cozy series about an expat American in small-town England. She's lonely and meddlesome and actually quite delightful. I will continue to read this series.

Second book in the series of the American living in small town England helping solve the murder of a stranger in the Town Hall.
I like the characters in this book- and hte setting- even though the town is not a real place- it is easily imaginable.

Book #36 read in 2006

I really think these books have too much drudge. It takes a lot to get through the mud in the book. I figured out the whodunit pretty early on, but not the connection. I may read another in this series, but it seems unlikely right now.

I liked the first book in the series, but this one felt pointless and rather stupid. Dorothy is a terrible sleuth, but she gets answers handed to her constantly for no reason I can discern.

And if you know who did it, leave a message for the police even if you can't reach the person you most want to talk to. This isn't rocket surgery.