‘The third ‘Little Wychwell Mystery’, following ‘Did Anyone Die?’ and ‘A Very Quiet Guest’.
Priscilla becomes the temporary and unwilling landlady of Walls, Barnabus’ playboy friend. Shortly afterwards Antholian (Tony), Boris the Great Dane, Priscilla and Walls all accidentally become involved in an Undercover Operation.
Those who have been wondering about when they will encounter Charles, Priscilla’s elusive husband, and Felicity, Walls’ similarly absent fiancée, in person will be glad to hear that this is the book in which they both finally appear.’
Classics scholar Priscilla has a pleasant couple of weeks proofreading her latest book planned, but all is thrown into disarray when she becomes landlady to Walls, a young academic in hiding from his fiancée. Add another guest in the form of Priscilla’s friend Elodea’s dog Pippy, and an unfortunate misunderstanding over a silver Buddha, and it’s not long before Priscilla and Walls end up involved in Secret Service activities. It looks like Priscilla will have very little time for her work!
“All That Glisters Is Not Silver’ is the third in Stella Stafford’s ‘Little Wychwell Mystery’ series; a series that I’m very fond of. The series centres around two middle-aged women, Priscilla and Elodea, who are the first to admit that they make an unlikely pair! Priscilla teaches Classics at Oxford University, whilst Elodea spends her days fussing over her dog, Pippy, her often absent husband, and her four grown-up children. This duo find themselves drawn into many frankly bizarre, and hilarious situations, often accompanied by Pippy and at least one of Elodea’s children.
I have to admit that I was more than a little disappointed to discover that two of my absolute favourite ‘Little Wychwell’ characters, Elodea and her son Barnabus, are absent for most of the action and actually hardly appear in this story! However, I did enjoy the addition of some new protagonists, and the lovely Walls almost made up for me not getting my required dose of Barnabus.
A keen, if not very talented, Latin scholar myself, I love Priscilla’s quotations, she seems to have one to fit any occasion, and they add a really individual touch to the series. I do feel for poor put-upon Priscilla, who frequently finds herself in situations she’d rather not be in thanks to her association with Elodea, her mad family and their friends.
I suppose it’s not absolutely essential to read the previous two volumes before starting this story, but I would thoroughly recommend doing so – you get so much more from the characters if you’ve followed them from the very beginning, especially since frequent references are made to their previous adventures.
I found Priscilla and Co’s latest escapades absolutely delightful. Perhaps Stafford’s stories aren’t the most polished of books, but they are hugely entertaining and charming, with extremely appealing characters and I will certainly continue reading further volumes by the author.
4 stars
Priscilla becomes the temporary and unwilling landlady of Walls, Barnabus’ playboy friend. Shortly afterwards Antholian (Tony), Boris the Great Dane, Priscilla and Walls all accidentally become involved in an Undercover Operation.
Those who have been wondering about when they will encounter Charles, Priscilla’s elusive husband, and Felicity, Walls’ similarly absent fiancée, in person will be glad to hear that this is the book in which they both finally appear.’
Classics scholar Priscilla has a pleasant couple of weeks proofreading her latest book planned, but all is thrown into disarray when she becomes landlady to Walls, a young academic in hiding from his fiancée. Add another guest in the form of Priscilla’s friend Elodea’s dog Pippy, and an unfortunate misunderstanding over a silver Buddha, and it’s not long before Priscilla and Walls end up involved in Secret Service activities. It looks like Priscilla will have very little time for her work!
“All That Glisters Is Not Silver’ is the third in Stella Stafford’s ‘Little Wychwell Mystery’ series; a series that I’m very fond of. The series centres around two middle-aged women, Priscilla and Elodea, who are the first to admit that they make an unlikely pair! Priscilla teaches Classics at Oxford University, whilst Elodea spends her days fussing over her dog, Pippy, her often absent husband, and her four grown-up children. This duo find themselves drawn into many frankly bizarre, and hilarious situations, often accompanied by Pippy and at least one of Elodea’s children.
I have to admit that I was more than a little disappointed to discover that two of my absolute favourite ‘Little Wychwell’ characters, Elodea and her son Barnabus, are absent for most of the action and actually hardly appear in this story! However, I did enjoy the addition of some new protagonists, and the lovely Walls almost made up for me not getting my required dose of Barnabus.
A keen, if not very talented, Latin scholar myself, I love Priscilla’s quotations, she seems to have one to fit any occasion, and they add a really individual touch to the series. I do feel for poor put-upon Priscilla, who frequently finds herself in situations she’d rather not be in thanks to her association with Elodea, her mad family and their friends.
I suppose it’s not absolutely essential to read the previous two volumes before starting this story, but I would thoroughly recommend doing so – you get so much more from the characters if you’ve followed them from the very beginning, especially since frequent references are made to their previous adventures.
I found Priscilla and Co’s latest escapades absolutely delightful. Perhaps Stafford’s stories aren’t the most polished of books, but they are hugely entertaining and charming, with extremely appealing characters and I will certainly continue reading further volumes by the author.
4 stars
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