From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

Rest You Merry (Peter Shandy, #1)

Charlotte MacLeod

Start date: December 1, 2023

Finish date: December 31, 2023

Discussion: Group Challenges

Why we're reading this: Last title in our 2023 challenge, a seasonal favourite!
[close] Last title in our 2023 challenge, a seasonal favourite!

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 166 topics — 7,784 comments total

Group Challenges

* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) by Agatha Christie
By Susan · 14 posts · 16 views

last updated Sep 02, 2025 12:08AM

* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) - SPOILER Thread
By Susan · 4 posts · 12 views

last updated Sep 01, 2025 04:16PM

showing 10 of 14 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Nov 27, 2015 Diane rated it it was amazing

Shelves: _favorites_mystery-suspense, mystery_cozy-and-or-humorous

I love this book! Do yourself a favor: at least read the hilarious first chapter. It can stand alone as a short story, & it's readable for free (completely included in the Kindle sample).

RYM starts out with perhaps the funniest "Bah, humbug!" a likable fellow has ever committed, then proceeds to introduce a colorful cast of characters in a clever little mystery.

I don't always like "quirky" cozy mysteries -- sometimes they seem to be trying so hard to be funny that you can't care about the poorl I love this book! Do yourself a favor: at least read the hilarious first chapter. It can stand alone as a short story, & it's readable for free (completely included in the Kindle sample).

RYM starts out with perhaps the funniest "Bah, humbug!" a likable fellow has ever committed, then proceeds to introduce a colorful cast of characters in a clever little mystery.

I don't always like "quirky" cozy mysteries -- sometimes they seem to be trying so hard to be funny that you can't care about the poorly-developed (and/or TSTL) protagonists, and sometimes the author seems to have written a "light" story because they lack the skills for any more -- but Charlotte MacLeod is a fine and even erudite writer.

There are a few brief [literary] allusions which went over my head, although I appreciated the clever ones I did understand, and even if those ALL go over yours, you'll still find PLENTY to make you chuckle in the rest of the book.

General bibliographic info
i.e., all the late Ms. MacLeod (1922-2005)'s mystery series
============================================
Writing as Charlotte MacLeod, she has :
* the Peter Shandy [& Helen Marsh Shandy, DLS] Balaclava Agricultural College mystery series this book begins, and
* the Max Bittersohn / Sarah Kelling Kelling Bittersohn (No, that's not a typo) Boston uppercrust mysteries.
Under the name Alisa Craig, she has Canadian mysteries starring :
* Madoc Rhys of the RCMP [& Janet (pronounced Jennet) Wadman Rhys], and
* the Lobelia Falls Grub-and-Stakers Gardening & Roving Club mysteries, featuring Dittany Henbit Monk, her Zane-Grey-wannabe husband Osbert, and his larger-than-life romance-author aunt, Arethusa.
That's in order by my overall rough preferences among her series'. Although individual books in each are better or worse, there's not a one I regret having read. (My mother, who also loved Ms. MacLeod, felt the Shandy story "Curse of the Giant Hogweed" was simply too nonsensical/zany for her, but it is a bit different, so I can understand.) ...more

1 like · Like · see review