Heron CarvicRezensionen

A delightful adaptation, though I never quite got used to the voices, coming from the later BBC dramatization of the Lord of the Rings and the much more recent film adaptations. It feels much older for sure, but there's a charm to that, too.½

Classic story, decent adaptation. Thumbs up from me.

I loved the first two Miss Seeton mysteries Picture Miss Seeton and Miss Seeton Draws the Line. So much so that I gobbled up the rest of the books by Heron Carvic to squirrel away when I needed to read something guaranteed to make me laugh. Unfortunately, book three (Witch Miss Seeton) is where the series began to unravel. The author began bringing in multiple plot lines, many more characters, and the humor that I loved so much devolved into farce. As you can tell by that last sentence, I don't really care for farce, humor being so subjective.

In Miss Seeton Sings, not only are there multiple plot lines and many more characters, Miss Seeton and her lethal umbrella aren't even in her English village anymore-- and her execrable French only had the power to make me smile a time or two. No, Miss Seeton does her best work in her village.

Although it was amusing to see how she and her umbrella escaped death time and again, I began getting angry with Scotland Yard and the other police agencies who just turned her loose and left her completely in the dark. I know there's some humor in there somewhere that completely escaped me, but I'm not going to worry about it.

I will say that, if you are a lover of farce, this is the book for you. If you're not, you might want to leave it alone.½

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Once I got in the rhythm of the writing style of these books, I really enjoyed them. Miss Seeton (Miss Ess!) was a delight and I loved reading about all her adventures and interactions with the other characters. The author really painted the picture quite nicely.

This is a fun book, but it is more of a light-hearted crime novel than a mystery; the bad guys are clearly identified from the beginning, and the only question is when and how they will receive their comeuppance—at the hands of Miss Seeton, of course.

In this installment of the series, Miss Seeton finds herself fighting against the machinations of an organized gambling syndicate. Oblivious to what is going on around her, Miss Seeton uses her uncanny intuition and reflexes to save the day and rescue the Kenharding family from an unscrupulous crime boss. While in clueless pursuit of the bad guys, she makes a small killing at the roulette wheel and at the horse races. Along the way, she manages to inadvertently kill a few people, too.

Miss Seeton is an entertaining character and her exploits make for enjoyable reading.

Unfortunately, the book does suffer from a few glaring flaws.

There are way too many policemen; the reader almost needs a complicated chart just to keep track of who’s who in law enforcement.

And the two low-brow journalists who are constantly forcing themselves on the scene are an endless source of unnecessary aggravation. Personally, any housekeeper who gave open access of my home to these two trashy gossip columnists would be fired so quickly her head would spin!

There is also a completely gratuitous chapter in which the two village busybodies visit the local gentry to complain about Miss Seeton. That entire scenario was nothing more than a boring time-waster designed to pad the page-length of the book. That’s a good way to establish resentment in the mind of your reader.

Overall, though, this is a good title to have on hand when you need an agreeable way to kill some time.

This is my second attempt at reading one of the Miss Seeton books, this time I did get as far as 72% before I had to give up. I just don't like the writing style.

The first two books in this series (Picture Miss Seeton and Miss Seeton Draws the Line) made my Best Reads lists of 2019 and 2020. They are the perfect blend of a traditional British mystery and laugh-out-loud humor. Having read a series of lackluster stories, I felt in great need of a pick-me-up, so I reached for the third, Witch Miss Seeton, in which the elderly lady with the lethal umbrella matches wits with scammers and a satanic cult.

Compared to the first two, what a disappointment!

First off, I think there was a bit too much going on. Either focus on the scammers bilking the rich out of thousands of pounds or focus on the witches. There was food for two really good mysteries here instead of creating an overstuffed, subpar one.

The second thing that had me all a kerfluffle was that the opening part of the book dwelled on the two vicious gossips of Plummergen whom everyone calls the Nuts. These two women willfully go out to destroy people's lives and reputations, and they both have it in for Miss Seeton. To begin the story with an overload of their bile and vitriol was too much. There was only one result that could've leavened my mood, and that didn't happen.

The third thing that left a sour taste in my mouth was the fact that there was very little real humor and not enough Miss Seeton. Now that I'm done crying in my beer, I'll say that not every book in a long-running series can be a masterpiece-- and I have twenty-one more Miss Seeton mysteries to look forward to.½

Well done! This version (The Hobbit - Dramatised - by the BBC) is like listening to a movie or play, not really reading from a book. The only problem I have is the conversation sometimes were hard to hear because the music was just as loud.

Miss Emily Seeton is a retired art teacher who seems to magically thwart criminals and evil-doers armed only with a trusty umbrella, grace under pressure, and her drawing talents. She is naive yet incredibly observant and astute. Miss Seeton definitely reminds me of Miss Marple, with innocent, unintentional humorous antics added. I absolutely adore her!

Picture Miss Seeton is the first in the 22-book series. The book was originally published in 1968 by Heron Carvic, who wrote the first 5 Miss Seeton books. The remaining books were authored by Hampton Charles (pen name used by Roy Peter Martin) and Hamilton Crane (pen name of Sarah J. Mason). I had never heard of the Miss Seeton books before the re-release of the series by Farrago. The first 3 books are available separately, or can be purchased together as an ebook set.

In this introduction to the series, Miss Seeton attends the opera. After the performance while still lamenting over Carmen's tragic end, she comes across a young man being rough with a woman. Rapping him with her umbrella, she intends to tell him off about his behavior -- young men just shouldn't accost women in the street, after all! But, as he knocks her to the ground, Miss Seeton discovers he did more than just smack the girl around a bit. As police officers and others gather to help her up, they find that the girl is dead. She's been stabbed to death. The perpetrator runs away into the night. The police are concerned about Miss Seeton's safety as the crook made off with her purse containing her address and keys, until they learn she is moving from London to a nearby village the very next day. As will happen in villages, word gets around about the heroic actions (or possibly her villainous intentions and nefarious criminal past, depending on which person is telling the story) of Miss Seeton. It might all have ended there if the village vicar didn't get tongue tied and blurt out Miss Seeton's location to the media. The criminal element follows Miss Seeton to her new home, and more run ins with evil creeps follow. She is spied upon, nearly shot, kidnapped, gassed, and almost drowned before it's all over! The police can't help but laugh as Miss Seeton miraculously uses her umbrella, laundry soap and her unfailing luck and wits to escape all attempts to do her in.


This book is just a delightfully fun story! At 224 pages, it's a relatively quick read. I love Miss Seeton as a sweetly clueless amateur sleuth, who just seems to come upon the facts without even realizing it. The supporting characters, especially the police, are left following behind, often laughing, at the miraculous ways Miss Seeton dispatches justice.

From murdering teenagers to shady lawyers, Miss Seeton rises to the occasion and triumphs in often hilarious ways. Thanks to Farrago, I have the next two books waiting on my Kindle. I can't wait to see what Miss Seeton gets herself involved in next!

Off to start reading book 2, Miss Seeton Draws The Line. :)

**I voluntarily read an advance readers copy of this book from Farrago via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

This is number one in the 22-book series. How did I not know until now about this quirky, umbrella-wielding spinster art teacher and the escapades she gets herself into (and out of)? This is a British cozy where the naive Miss Seeton inadvertently misunderstands motives, is overly concerned with good manners, and uses her always handy umbrella to get herself out of all manner of predicaments. The writing style is entertaining with an easy-to-follow plot, the characters are comically predictable, and Miss Seeton somehow always manages to land on her feet. This lighthearted mystery takes place in a small British village in the mid-1960's, but Miss Seeton is timeless! If you're looking for a delightful, charming read with clever plot twists, let me introduce you to Miss Seeton.

Thanks to publisher Farrago Books and NetGalley for a digital reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

This second book in the Miss Seeton series is every bit as delightful as the first, Picture Miss Seeton. Heron Carvic wrote an essay in 1977 in which he recalled how, after having first used her in a short story, 'Miss Seeton upped and demanded a book' -- and that if 'she wanted to satirize detective novels in general and elderly lady detectives in particular,' he would let her have her head. I'm so glad he did. These books are the perfect light (and absolutely hilarious) reads when readers want to forget about what ails them and their world.

Miss Seeton may be satirizing detective novels and elderly female sleuths, but at least she has Inspector Delphick ("the Oracle") who sees her worth and pays attention to her. With her unfailing good manners and distracted air-- and how on earth could I forget her umbrella? -- she unwittingly solves all the crimes in Plummergen, not that her fellow villagers appreciate it. In fact, one of the best scenes in Miss Seeton Draws the Line is one in which a group convenes to discuss village business and winds up conducting a vicious gossip session, all described by Carvic as a medieval joust. Splendid! The scene reminded me of two things: (1) why I moved from the village where I grew up, and (2) the writing of T. H. White in The Once and Future King. Since I love White's novel, this is definitely meant as a compliment.

If you need (several) good laughs, if you need to be charmed, if you need a read that draws you inexorably to the next book in the series, by all means start reading the Miss Seeton mysteries. They are wonderful! (Although I am wondering if Miss Seeton ever discovers where all the strange pillows and cushions in her cottage came from...)

Having been recommended by someone whose opinion I trust, I was in the mood for something light and decided to try the first book in the Miss Seeton cozy series. I had no idea what I was getting myself into!

Delightful, charming, and hilarious are words that I seldom use, let alone throw around with abandon as I am doing now, but... I can't believe how much I enjoyed this book! If I didn't have any self-control, I'd be reading all the books in this series one right after the other like potato chips or cookies.

Miss Seeton is Miss Marple on laughing gas. She's a spryer Miss Marple, too, and you'll never believe the adventures she and her umbrella get into. To Scotland Yard's credit, Detective Chief Superintendent Delphick (known as The Oracle) knows that Miss Seeton's ability to identify the killer means her life could be in danger-- especially since they know who they're looking for: "...he had a nasty feeling that when she'd stuck her brolly into César Lebel, she'd stuck it into a hornet's nest." Fortunately for Miss Seeton, Delphick sees her for the astute person she is. Unfortunately, Detective Sergeant Ranger has the typical youth's opinion that she's merely a dotty old woman carrying a lethal umbrella-- but that opinion may change as the two police officers try their best to keep her alive.

Miss Seeton is about to retire, and she's inherited a nice little cottage down in a village in Kent. Wanting to try country life on for size, she moves in for a few weeks-- and she takes Delphick's murder investigation with her, little knowing how much difficulty the villagers are going to add. The people of Plummergen are a riot, even "the Nuts," Miss Nuttel and Mrs. Blaine, horrible gossips who are "the parish substitute for a Hollywood scandal sheet." As broad as the comedy may be, I'm from a small village and I recognized many of Plummergen's characters. (My village had its own version of the Nuts, among others.)

The killer tries time and again to do away with Miss Seeton. If you have a hard time understanding how murder attempts on a poor little old lady could be hilarious, all you have to do is read Picture Miss Seeton. I spent most of this book either smiling or laughing out loud. This book is light and fun and addictive. It's just what I needed, and I've decided: I. Need. More.

First in a series

From the book jacket: Miss Emily Seeton had seen Carmen and it had made enough of an impression so that when she came across a stabbing in real life it didn’t upset her too much. Not that anything upset Miss Seeton too much. As long as she had a firm hold on her umbrella (and she always did), she could face just about anything.

My reactions:
What a fun romp of a cozy mystery! Miss Seeton is a retired art teacher who has just inherited a cottage in the village of Plummergen, Kent. Fearing that her encounter with the murderer may put her at risk she leaves her London flat and vows to spend the summer in Plummergen. The villagers aren’t sure what to make of her, and they have heard rumors of her run-ins with the law. Is she involved in drugs? Is she a spy? She and her umbrella are certainly at the center of all the strange happenings in and about the village.

It took me a little while to get involved in the story, but once I did, I was completely hooked. I just loved Miss Seeton and her bumbling way of getting involved. There were a satisfying number of suspects and a fair number of twists and turn in the plot that kept me on my toes. And while I identified the main culprit long before Miss Seeton or the police, it was still fun watching them put the pieces together.

I had to get this through inter-library loan, and I hope I can continue with the series. Miss Seeton is a hoot.

This book was originally Published in 1968 and has just been reissued. If you want a light, cozy mystery with a touch of parody, you should enjoy this book. The story takes place in a small village that is relatively self-sufficient, but only has about 500 inhabitants. The villagers are enjoyable for the most part but very different. You have the vicar who has lost his belief but is too lazy to change careers, and his sister, Sir George, his wife and son Nigel as well as many others. They are all busy bodies and when the find out that Miss Seeton took on a murderer with her umbrella, they all want to know what happened. Every incident that she is involved in becomes fraught with rumor and inuendo in the village. Miss Seeton is a retired art teacher who has inherited a house from her aged cousin/godmother. After leaving a performance of Carmen in London, she stumbles onto a murder that draws her into a mystery involving drugs, murder, greed and embezzlement. She seems to bumble her way into situations and uses her trusted brolly to save the day. When questioned by the police, she draws her way out by providing Scotland yard with artist's impressions of suspects and situations that just happen to hold the keys to more than one case. Her pictures show her impressions of the subject, not just a picture of the faces. The various police officers also add some comic relief to the stories. There are five books in this series and so far they have reissued 3 of them. I am going to try another one in the series and see if I enjoy it a little more.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've read The Hobbit but when I saw that it was available as an audiobook with a full cast from the BBC I couldn't resist it. I'm pretty sure that parts were left out but the essence of the story remains. Lots of fun to listen to this short version.

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit living in Bag End and enjoying his quiet life. Then a band of dwarves and Gandalf the sorcerer descends on him and they recruit him to go with them to the Lonely Mountain, the ancestral home of the dwarves, which is being held by a dragon named Smaug. There is a huge treasure trove in the mountain and Bilbo is promised a one-fourteenth share of it. Off they go into the wilderness. Many adventures ensue the most famous of which is Bilbo's encounter with Gollum, a goblin who promises to show Bilbo out of the underground labyrinth if Bilbo can answer all his riddles. Bilbo does so but when Gollum reneges he puts on the mysterious ring he found which confers invisibility. Bilbo helps the dwarves many times on their journey to the Lonely Mountain and he negotiates a settlement between the Lake People and the dwarves when the Lake People come to claim some of the treasure for killing Smaug. Eventually the adventure concludes and Bilbo reaches his comfortable home again.

It's a great work to either read or listen; especially with a child along for the ride.

Abridged 1968 BBC dramatisation of The Hobbit.

The BBC abridged dramatisation unfortunately doesn't deliver, as it doesn't get the tone or the voices right.

I didn't realize this was an abridged version when I borrowed it from the library but it was really enjoyable. I felt like I was listening to the movie.
The audio though was all over the place. I can forgive the original but I feel like the new release could have edited the sounds better.

My original Picture Miss Seeton audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Picture Miss Seeton: A Miss Seeton Mystery, Book 1 is a light cozy mystery that is fun and entertaining. Miss Seeton finds herself involved in a murder and lots of trouble! As a retired art teacher, Miss Seeton has no trouble finding trouble – it finds her! Miss Seeton witnesses a stabbing, gets involved with Juvenile Delinquents and more. At least she has her trusty umbrella and is most helpful to Scotland Yard!

If you enjoy British humor, this is perfect for you. Miss Seeton is eccentric, English and carries a deadly umbrella! As she tries to solve the crime, through her sketches one must wonder if the murderer will get her first!

This was an enjoyable mystery. The narrator, Phyllida Nash, provided a wonderful performance. Her voice was soothing yet sounded just like one would expect an English Spinster to sound like. Well-developed the story flowed smoothly and Nash kept it going with her natural performance.

If you enjoy cozy mysteries, this is a fun one.

Audiobook was provided for review by the publisher.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

Scotland Yard has disguised Miss Seeton as a high roller to get a police sketch of a mysterious crime boss.
Miss Seeton goes to the casino to sketch the manager as the Yard hasn’t been able to get his photo and they think is a crime boss. As she leaves the casino she is accosted but her brolly comes to her aid and Superintendent Delphick is there keeping an eye on her and takes her home. Then Miss Seeton goes to the horse races. She bets on a horse, her brolly gets loose, and she is attacked by thugs. Attacked without her brolly well her next best weapon is her purse.

This series makes me smile.

Miss Seeton goes to Switzerland because an important banker had heard of “The Battling Brolly” and wanted to have Scotland Yards best detective on the case of the forged currency. But Miss Seeton doesn’t stop there she is off to Spain, Italy and France.

As I keep saying this series makes me smile but if you look and listen carefully there are issues discussed that are talked about in politics today.

Miss Seeton helps out trying to identify a religion (cult) as a con. She is her usual helpful self, substitute teaching art for the village school, going to the Nuscience meetings to sketch the leaders, and spending time in another church and its graveyard in order to identify some Satanists. All in a day’s work for Miss Seeton and her brolly.

Written as a humorous parody of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, she also reminds me of Dorothy Gilman’s Miss Pollifax.

This is a fun series for relaxing. Heron Carvic who created Miss Seeton died in 1980 and his character was then written by Charles Hampton and then Hamilton Crane.

Miss Seeton returns and brings Inspector Delphick and Bob Ranger back to Plummergen. This time the police are looking for a serial killer who is killing children. And, of course, since Miss Seeton is involved the village is once again acting on the Nuts rumor-mill, the police are wiping their brows, and she is just going about her days without realizing the mayhem around her.

Great series from the 1970s that makes me smile.

Picture Miss Seton
By
Heron Carvic

What it's all about...

So...this is the very first Miss Seeton book written by the original author. I just finished the last Miss Seeton book but now that I have read the first one...the town, the characters and all of the circumstances are so much more clear. Miss Seeton is an art teacher who seems to get herself in and out of precarious situations armed with only her brolly/umbrella. In this first book she is coming out of the theatre and walks by a man fighting with a woman. The result of this has Miss Seeton at the police station using her talents to draw what happened for the investigators. Miss Seeton believes she is done with all of this "stuff" but her involvement in this is really just beginning.

Why I wanted to read it...

The characters, the writing, the situations are so appealing. The characters are both low key and over the top. Miss Seeton has inherited a cottage in the town of Plummergen. Plummergen is a town where gossip, rumors and tons of misinformation sort of breed and grow.

What made me truly enjoy this book...

I loved getting to know the characters...they are so quirky and often annoying...but annoying in a good way. This book has almost every crime there is...murder, theft, attempted murder and drugs! And Miss Seeton was accidentally...or not...involved in it all!

Why you should read it, too...

If you love cozy quirky mysteries...this is a series that is very enjoyable. My only concern with this first book is that I did not like the ending...it made what happened confusing for me.

My copy came from NetGalley!

Miss Seeton is a fun character and the situations that she gets into may seem a bit strange, but never turn your back on the Battlin' Brolly unless you are on the side of good because Miss Seeton always get the bad guys even if that wasn't her intention. In the third installment, Miss Seeton prevents a bogus "religion" from fleecing residents in her adopted village.