Aunt Dimity Digs In

With Reginald, the stuffed pink rabbit and Edmond Terrance, the stuffed tiger in tow, Lori hunts down a missing document, and the archaeologist digs up a lot more than artifacts. It is Aunt Dimity's magic blue notebook that provides the key to buried secrets and domestic malice, and shows all the residents of Finch that even the darkest acts can be overcome by forgiveness.

If you read this one first the earlier books will loose a little something but please do read them all!


A Great Book   September 6, 2000
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I thought that this was a fabulous book. I really enjoyed the way the author wove the story, I think she did a great job. This was the first book I read in the series, and I plan to read all of the other books that she has written about Dimity.


Actual human/3D characters grow on you, and in themselves   March 26, 1999
A. Marina Fournier (Campbell, CA United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

So call me cryptic. I think the feeling that remained with me after I finished this book last week was that Atherton's Dimity series shows us human nature--not pasteboard icons, for the most part--and honest characters. She does *not* rely on stereotypes, unless she's pitting them against each other to see what will happen.

In most of her books in this series, I see actual character development and growth--characters learning from their mistakes and human failings. In many of the books, you see people who've been hurt in some way: some of them get stuck in a victim role, and wallow in their hate/fear, and others triumph over their pain, and choose to love and to live. Without being preachy, she quietly demonstrates that you don't have to wallow, but that you can choose to leave the past pain behind and make a new path. When you are caught in the grips of a major depression, it's a beacon, a demonstration that it can be done when the time is right.

Enough of that. This was a ripping good read. I don't know where Ms. Atherton did her research on the plight of the Modern Mother in Western Civilization, but she sure has the isolation in a crowd aspect down right. I adored learning more about the village in this book; I can't speak for the archaeology, but the witch felt right (speaking from experience), and the idea that this was a traditional village of ... incomers hoping to find a home of their own, well, that was really sweet and unexpected.

I had a lot of fun watching events play out, plots get more complicated and then resolved, and you really ought to stop reading this and order it.

I continue to enjoy the way Aunt Dimity manages to communicate, and while I don't think I ever had a similar relationship with any of *my* stuffed animals (what few I had--I was an odd child), I see that relationship in my son and his toys/substitute siblings (his brother is a T. Rex, you know (and glad I am not to have carried THAT to term!)). I also enjoy the culinary overtones in the book.

I look forward to the next one; and to being able to share impressions with other F2F friends who've read it.


Excellent   April 30, 1999
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I just found these books and I really enjoyed them. I do think that Aunt Dimity and the Duke should be first in the series, because I was looking for Lori Shepherd when I got to the 2nd in the series, but then she and Bill were back in 3 and 4 and all was right with the world. So I recommend reading them 2, 1, 3 and then 4 and hopefully twenty or thirty more before the series is done.

Most of my friends won't enjoy the supernatural element supplied by Dear Aunt Dimity, Reginald, and all of the wonderful characters, but they don't know what they are missing.

I recommend these for a rainy day curled up on the couch with a cup of tea, an afghan and a cat or two purring away.

Get the whole series and enjoy!


adictive reading   March 5, 2004
Lizzie (Chicago, Il, USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

What a wonderful book! Of course, I liked the entire series ... but I have to say I loved this one the best. A real page - turner, without being horrific. Atherton's charectors are charming and true; you want to spend time with them! Fantasy, mystery, and storytelling are intertwined seemlessly. One of Atherton's finest!