Secrets on Saturday

Lois Meade Mystery #6

by Ann Purser

Lois usually steers clear of local gossip, but after tidying up the house that newcomer Reg Abthorpe claims to have inherited, she has more suspicions than she can keep to herself. The home's previous resident was known for his beloved terrier, robust nature, and deficiency of living relatives. So why is Reg presenting himself as the old man's nephew-and where could the sprightly geriatric (and his dog) possibly have gone?

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, British Literature, Cozy

266 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Ann Purser lives in the East Midlands, in a small and attractive village which still has a village shop, a garage, pub and church. Here she finds her inspiration for her novels about country life. She has only to do her daily shopping down the High Street to listen to the real life of the village going on around her.

Before turning to fiction, she had a number of different careers, including journalism – she was for six years a columnist in SHE magazine – and art gallery proprietor. Running her own gallery in a 400-year-old barn behind the house, she gained fascinating insights into the characters and relationships of customers wandering around. She had no compunction about eavesdropping, and sharpened up her writer’s skills in weaving plots around strangers who spent sometimes more than an hour in her gallery.

Working in a village school added more grist to the mill, as does singing in the church choir and membership of the Women’s Guild. She reminds herself humbly that Virginia Woolf was President of her local WI…

Six years hard study won her an Open University degree, and when she faltered and threatened to fall by the wayside, writer husband Philip Purser reminded her that he was paying good money for the course. During this period, she wrote two non-fiction books, one for parents of handicapped children (she has a daughter with cerebral palsy) and the other a lighthearted book for schools, on the explosion of popular entertainment in the first forty years of the twentieth century.

Ten years of running the gallery proved to be enough, and while it was very successful she decided to sell. The business moved down the street to another barn and owner, and Pursers stayed on in their house next to the village school – another rich source of material for the stories. Time to start writing novels.

Round Ringford became Ann’s village in a series of six novels, each with a separate story, but featuring the same cast of characters with a few newcomers each time. The list of books gives details of each story, and each features an issue common to all villages in our rural countryside. “Just like our village!” is a frequent comment from Ann’s readers.

Next: the Lois Meade Mysteries, each title reflecting a day of the week. Ann has always loved detective fiction, and determined to make it her next series. So Murder on Monday was born, followed by Terror on Tuesday, and Weeping on Wednesday. The rest of the week follows!

Mornings are set aside for writing, and the rest of the day Ann spends walking the dog, retrieving bantams’ eggs from around the garden, gossiping and taking part in the life of the village. She is never bored!

Reviews

[Monica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had trouble with this one. Too many animals meet horrible deaths. Still not sure what the point of it all was. Just part of my quirks--murdering humans, ok; animals not so much.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok. I had to google was badger baiting was - it's like dog fighting, but with one of the dogs being a badger. What a depressing subject. Purser has pets die in almost every book in this series. I find that sadder to read about in a mystery than a human victim. Reading about killing pets - it's like reading about killing babies. I don't care for it.

I was thrilled to see that the internet and computers have arrived in the village. Perhaps someone spoke to Purser about it after her ridiculous set up in the previous book with a mail order business. As in snail mail. However, while the characters - a few - have computers, their cell phones seem to have gone missing in this book. The whole big finale of the book would have been made totally irrelevant if the characters had had cell phones.

The mystery itself was eh. I never "got" the motives of the bad guy and a lot of subplots were never explained. In fact, the mystery seemed secondary to the characters lives. There is one more book in the series. Let's see if it redeems the series for me.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book of this series that I have read. While I found the main characters interesting, it took me a while to get into the story. It was hard to figure out exactly what the crime would be, aside from the animal torture tactics, which were difficult to justify. I would like to try other books by the author.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much animal cruelty!

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am hooked on this mystery series by Ann Purser. A friend loaned me "Murder on Monday", and I have been tearing through the series.

The book was an easy read, with interesting characters. The sleuth is Lois Meade who runs a cleaning business in a small village in the English midlands. Her cleaners and clients are quirky souls and are enjoyable to get to know. Life is slow-paced in Long Farnden, but somehow Lois can always find and solve a mystery and have time for a cuppa.

This time the mystery has to do with a missing elderly gentleman and the appearance of dead small animals. What can Lois do to find the old gent and stop whomever is harming the animals. She is worried that her Westie puppy Jeems might be next!

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

6th in the series and a very enjoyable cozy. Lois gets drawn into an intriguing situation and despite her dear husband's warnings, can't help but become involved. Well written characters and plausible situations - with some surprising twists. I like the addition of Jemima 'Jeems' the dog as it gives Lois another 'cover' for her snooping.
A few small things bothered me - the death of Cowgill's wife was kind of glossed over. I kept waiting for it to somehow connect to the story - or did I forget something from the previous book? (it's been awhile)
And early in the book (due to a proofing error?) Blackberry Gardens was referred to as Blackberry Close, Blackbeny Close and Blackbeny Gardens.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story. I couldn’t wait to find out all the secrets like what was in the freezer, what drew the characters together, etc. I had some theories but wanted to see if I was right or not. And there were some questions I didn’t have a clue about the answer. The author held my interest to the last page. And that page left the question of where Derek and Lois are heading unanswered.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the storyline and found it intriguing. The characters were interesting (& like some "old" ladies I know). I can't find fault with this book like some of the other reviews. I'm now on to Sorrow on Sunday.👍🏻

[Madelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lois Meade, cleaner and part-time sleuth is asked to clean the house of Herbert Everitt who has been moved to an old folks' home. Lois does not like the look of Reg Abthorpe, the man who asks her to clean the house. A suspenseful read and keeps one on ones toes.

[Diane · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 Star - I disliked this book. Full of animal cruelty and torture. It is not a cozy mystery at all. I liked nearly all the other books in this series, but this one was dull, distasteful, slow, plodding, and boring.

[Lynette Caulkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my go-to cozy mystery series. There is cruelty to animals by criminals, but not in the permeating way some reviewers make it sound, and Meade doesn't make us watch it actually happening.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting cosy crime love the characters would recommend

[Tracy Quick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book. Looking forward to reading the next one

[Joni Kuzma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll give it 3.5 stars. Kind of an odd story line and, although the characters are colorful, I found this group to be confusing.

[Anna Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read with interesting characters.

[Danni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book

[Dick Harding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this very much. Along with the usual host of characters there is an interesting crew of villains and others involved in an intricate and devious plot in the small village.

[Kate Brazzill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasant enough

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband and I both read this book, 6th in the series, on loan from my mother-in-law. The escape of the elderly gentlemen was funny, perhaps the best part of the story.

I didn't really want to read all about that cruelty to animals.

The Gran seemed more prickly and interfering, not as welcoming as earlier in the series.

I thought Lois' description of her family was sad, "Derek's still struggling to be head of the family, Gran is a tower of strength and a bit of an irritation at the same time, Josie and her bloke are doing as well as can be expected in the shop, and the boys are away and I've no idea what they're up to." Somehow the series had lost its homey feel, and the family characters seem isolated and frustrated with each other.

Also Derek and Lois's marriage, once threatened in an earlier book, but generally portrayed as strong, does not seem to be as solid as it had been, as indicated by the ultimatum Derek gave Lois. It shouldn't have taken Lois so long to respond ...

Still, all in all, the mystery was an interesting one to read, and I like Jeems, although having a Jeems is perhaps a bit cliche.

[Yeva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Secrets on Saturday was a bit different from the other books, in that, the crimes seemed pointless at first. It took a while for me to really care about the identity of the mysterious man, and the reasons for kidnapping the two older gentlemen didn't ring true. I really like Lois's team, but I wish she would leave Derek and be done with it. His constant threats to leave her or for her to make a choice between her family and her police work are just tiresome. Derek is boring. The relationship between Lois and Cowgill is obviously not going anywhere. Another relationship should form for Lois--a strong friendship, a love interest...something.

I like the idea for this series, and I bought three more books by Ms. Purser, but I really hope something more exciting happens in Sorrow on Sunday.

[Grey853 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. It had a lot of going for it, full of all the elements that should've made it a winner. Small English village with a busy body, what could be better? The problem for me was that it had too many point of view shifts. I think at one point or another just about everybody in the village gets in on the action. It's my own bet peeve, shifting points of view. There was so much of it, that it got really confusing.

It's a shame really, because I really think if she hadn't done that, if she'd just stuck with the lead character, it would've been an interesting and much better book. As it is, I doubt I'll read any of the others in the series.

[L · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the reasons I like this series is it is witten by a British author about life in an English village. But sometimes this means I don't know what she's talking about! The book kept mentioning badger baiting, assuming everyone knows what this is. I had to look it up...basically a dog and badger are trapped and fight, like a cock fight in the US.
I found it strange that so many reviews for this book complained about animal cruelty. The scenes were not graphic at all and if you are reading this series there is a person murdered in every book. Odd that some readers don't have a problem reading about humans being killed, but can't stomach reading that an animal was killed.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in the English countryside, this cozy mystery follows Lois Meade who owns the housekeeping service New Brooms. An elderly gentleman is gone from his home and his nephew hires New Brooms for some housekeeping. Little animals start turning up dead and Lois is trying to solve these mysteries. Lois’ questioning style is pretty outgoing after making pleasantries and her relationship with the local police a little peculiar. The cast of elderly characters who live in the village are harboring secrets. The story is cute with a British flair, quirky at times but overall an enjoyable read.

[Gloria Mccracken · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sixth in a nice village cozy mystery series. The protagonist runs a cleaning service, which puts her in a great position to hear all the village gossip. Together with this, she has an insatiable curiosity about things that don't seem to add up. She also takes no guff from anyone, making her a lot of fun to read about. This one has a quite a lot of animal mistreatment as part of the story, so some may find some of the incidents upsetting, as I did.

[Josephine (Jo) · Rating 4 out of 5]

22nd November 2009
This was as always a good mystery but I did not find it an enjoyable read because of the references to animal cruelty. I know that this is a real problem which does need to be addressed, however, in a book of this type that you expect to be light and entertaining I would have preferred not to have it included in the quite such detail.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was disappointing to me. I have read most of Ann Purser's books but this was so slow and plodding. Lois Meade, the main character, seemed to lack any charm. Although always acerbic she was still caring and had charm. In this one she was just so caustic. The story was not very gripping either.
I would likely still read Ann Purser but it will take some time before I will look for one.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read, as are the books in this series. I did not care for the animal cruelty. On to Sorrow on Sunday and then the continuation of the series in numbers-Warning at One; Tragedy at Two etc. The characters are fun and delightful.

[Kathie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better books in this series. Although the cruelty to animals is hard to read about. Only one left in this series and I am kind of sad to see them go but there is another series by Ann Purser I am going to be reading soon.

[Toni berkshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one because I enjoyed that the characters are aging and growing. I liked the whole series and look forward to the final one and how it will all end.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this protagonist--she's a feisty, intelligent woman who owns a cleaning business in an English village. All the characters are engaging and have a lot of depth. Great series.