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. (Mystery Guild selection)