“When Celia Beem brings her dog for a visit to Cobble Hill Farm, Dr. Harriet Bailey learns that Celia is the new owner of the recently renovated historic Quill and Scroll Inn. Celia confides that opening the inn has been a bigger challenge than expected, as not everyone in town has been welcoming. But Celia is more concerned about the unexplained noises that she hears inside the building. Something strange is going on, and Harriet decides to help her new friend discover what it is.
Meanwhile Harriet receives an unexpected gift from her young neighbor, Randy Danby, of a small porcelain dog. It is a sweet gesture, of course, but Harriet cannot help wondering where he got it—especially when he repeatedly dodges the question. Harriet digs deeper and discovers a story dating back to the 1940s. And as if all that is not enough to keep Harriet on her toes, her fiancé, Will Knight, finds an injured bat in the belfry at church. Now she has a whole nest of potential problems that may come with the invasion of a protected species!”
Series: Book #13 in the “Mysteries of Cobble Hill Farm” series. Click on the numbers to be taken to the prior books’ reviews: Book #1, Book #2, Book #3, Book #4, Book #5, Book #6, Book #7, Book #8, Book #9, Book #10, Book #11, and Book #12!
Spiritual Content- Jeremiah 29:11 at the beginning; A couple Scriptures are mentioned & quoted; A couple Prayers; Church going (though Harriet has difficulty concentrating on the service); Many mentions of church, church going, pastors/ministers, services, sermons, hymns, & Sunday school classes; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of blessings & being Blessed; Mentions of “priest holes” in historical buildings (used during persecution for Roman Catholic priests); A mention of someone being a godsend;
*Note: Harriet’s new client believes she is hearing ghosts at her inn, but Harriet does not believe in ghosts at all and is determined to find out the true cause of the unexplained noises (hearing whispering voices, sudden loud noises, and the fireplace grate jumping; *Spoiler* Harriet finds out the truth and it is real people, not ghosts making these sounds *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of ghosts, unexplained noises, a possibly haunted place, & ghost stories; A few mentions of luck; A mention of animals being sensitive to “ghosts and things like that” (when Harriet dismisses as dogs are sensitive to all kinds of sounds and smells that humans can’t detect); A mention of a man looking at his girlfriend as if she is a “heavenly messenger”; A mention of a dessert tasting “heavenly”.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, A bit of eye rolling; In the historical scenes, Flory’s husband is fighting overseas and there is concern for a possible invasion; Many mentions of World War I and II, Nazis, family members overseas fighting, attack/battles, invasions, bombs and bombings, weapons, & deaths (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of deaths & grief (including from a heart attack and a stroke; also a woman for her father, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of WWII veterans coming back changed and having nightmares (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Mentions of smugglers, intruders, thieves, stealing, stolen items, & arrests; Mentions of crimes & criminals; Mentions of injured animals & Harriet’s veterinary clinic treatments (including vaccinations, a cat that was rescued from a burning trash bin, a dog that was hit by a car and paralyzed, & an owl being hit by a car with a broken wing); Mentions of rumors; A few mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of vampire bats & a woman concerned with it sucking the blood out of people’s necks (which Harriet corrects that they only feed on animals like cattle and goats); A couple mentions of the possibility of a man with dementia injuring himself or wandering off; A couple mentions of the possibility of children being trapped or in danger; A mention of concentration camps (in bonus content at the end); A mention of someone possibly being tortured by the Nazis for information; A mention of jealousy; A mention of alcohol; A mention of smoking;
*Note: A few mentions of car brands; A couple mentions of WWII soldiers going through PTSD and depression after coming home; A couple mentions of Lady Godiva; A mention of a brand name (Cadbury); A mention of book and author (‘A Christmas Carol’ by Dickens); A mention of a singer and song (‘White Cliffs of Dover’ by Vera Lynn).
Sexual Content- Two forehead kisses and two cheek kisses; Some hand holding, flutters, blushes, & winks (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a thirteen-year-old girl having a crush on a cute boy (which Harriet thinks isn’t unusual for her age, but the girl’s mother says the girl has lost her “head over him” and has been making “sheep’s eyes” at the boy); A couple mentions of blushes; Light love, being in love, & the emotions;
*Note: A mention of Harriet struggling to find a wedding dress as some were “too immodest, with long slits up the side of the skirts or too low-cut in the front” which were “hardly the sort of wedding dress that should be worn by a pastor’s wife”.
-Harriet Bailey
P.O.V. of Harriet (and Flory)
Mostly contemporary, but also six scenes from 1941, and one from 1946
247 pages
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Early High School Teens-
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My personal Rating-
Almost each of the mysteries in this series features a unique animal that Harriet has to care for and is somehow connected to the main mystery in the book. I have to say that I rate bats just above lobsters in the totem pole of animals I’m interested in, so I wasn’t very interested in that aspect of the book, but I really like Harriet, so I was going to read this book anyway. ;)
There were some parts that felt like what I call “Googled information”—and by that, I mean that there’s something that is heavily over explained. In this book, it was particularly noticeable when Harriet is explaining about a dog’s skin condition, if a cat can get a sunburn, or the rules of a game that was played in the historical time period. I think some readers would call it “info dumping” as well.
One thing I have noticed about the books in this series that are almost dual-time period with the extra historical scenes is that once that journal/letters are found or discussed in the modern setting, the ending is given way because a character already knows what has happened because the historical events have already happened obviously. This is kind of takes away the mystery of connecting the two time periods and makes the plot a bit lackluster, in all honesty. I’m already not a major fan of dual-time period books, but the spoiler about the details of what connects them together make me even less interested.
All of that said, I did like the ending of this book (even if it felt very obvious to what was happening), but I really liked the event with a side couple in this book! I won’t say more because of spoilers, but it made me giggly and excited to see what happens in the next book.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
