Thumbs Up for Three by Kate Atkinson

One Good Turn, Kate Atkinson, 2006, Little Brown and Co., Genre: Fiction. 418 pages. Finished 2/17/13.

When Will There Be Good News?, Kate Atkinson, 2008, Little Brown and Co., Genre: Fiction. 388 pages. Finished 2/24/13.

Started Early, Took My Dog, Kate Atkinson, 2011, Little Brown and Co., Genre: Fiction. 371 pages. Finished 3/4/13.

LesOpinion: Although these three fine novels by Kate Atkinson revolve around mysteries and deploy the same central cast of characters, I did not refer to them as "Mystery" so that you, Gentle Reader, would not think of them as simple genre pieces following a recipe, churned out annually to please a commercial audience. No. These are literate, layered, page-turners. They are brooding and dark and let go with the most fleeting moments of human redemption. I only wish there were more on the shelf.

Eight Featuring Aunt Dimity

Aunt Dimity's Christmas, Nancy Atherton, 1999, Viking, Genre: Cozy. 214 pages (215 with the recipe). Finished 1/26/13.

Aunt Dimity: Detective, Nancy Atherton, 2001, Viking, Genre: Cozy, 229 pages (230 with the recipe). Finished 1/27/13.

Aunt Dimity Takes a Holiday, Nancy Atherton, 2003, Viking, Genre: Cozy. 199 pages (200 with the recipe). Finished 1/28/13.

Aunt Dimity: Snowbound, Nancy Atherton, 2004, Viking, Genre: Cozy, 226 pages (227 with the recipe). Finished 1/30/13.

Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin, Nancy Atherton, 2005, Viking, Genre: Cozy, 227 pages (228 with the recipe). Finished 2/2/13.

Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea, Nancy Atherton, 2006, Viking, Genre: Cozy, 245 pages (246 with the recipe). Finished 2/6/13.

Aunt Dimity Goes West, Nancy Atherton, 2007, Viking, Genre: Cozy, 227 pages (228 with the recipe). Finished 2/8/13.

Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter, Nancy Atherton, 2008, Viking, Genre: Cozy, 231 pages (232 with the recipe). Finished 2/11/13.

LesOpinion: In a strange coincidence, the best review for these books comes from the next book in The Quest, One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson. One of the protagonists in her (literate, suspenseful) novel is the author of a series of "soft-boiled" crime novels, but his books could be the Aunt Dimity novels.

These are "cozy" mysteries, set in a contemporary English village in the Cotswolds. Atkinson's sneering nod toward her anti-hero's genre schlock applies equally to Atherton's: "...depicting a kind of retro-utopian Britain that was rife with aristocrats and gameskeepers.... It was a nonsensical kind of setting where murders were tidy affairs that resulted in inoffensive corpses...the equivalent of a hot bath and a warm mug of cocoa."

In all fairness, sometimes a hot bath and a warm mug of cocoa are just what the doctor ordered.

Circumstances under which I recommend these books: The doctor has ordered a hot bath and a warm mug of cocoa.