MISS SEETON UNDERCOVER

This hardover resurrection for Miss Emily Seeton, the retired art teacher whose sketches have made her an unofficial Scotland Yard consultant -- but who's been confined to paperback since her creator Heron Carvic's death some ten years ago -- finds her knee-deep in village intrigue. A television crew headlined by rising director Jeremy Froste has come to Plummergen to gather material for an installment of the cooking program Not All Roast Beef; Froste is determined to track down the elusive apple known as the Plummergen Peculier; a conker match (horse chestnuts are batted instead of cricket balls) against rival village Murreystone seems fated to end in some darkly hinted treachery; and Miss Seeton's herbal contributions to the match have her gossipy neighbors branding her a witch. There's hardly a moment to spare for a gang of art and antiques thieves who are starting to turn to violence.... A deep-dyed village idyll with a tiny, tiny mystery and a characteristic Rube Goldberg climax.