At Balaclava Agricultural College, a kidnapping and pig-napping are followed by murder Newlyweds Peter and Helen Shandy are picking out flatware when a pair of gun-toting hooligans burst into the silversmith’s shop, empty the safe, and leave with Helen as their hostage. Although the police recover Helen quickly, her professor husband is badly shaken by the ordeal. Early the next morning, the … ordeal. Early the next morning, the college’s head of animal husbandry frantically reports another hostage situation in progress. Belinda, the school’s beloved sow, has been kidnapped, and only Peter can bring home the bacon.
There is a possible witness to the pig-napping in Miss Flackley, the farrier, but before she can point Peter towards the vanished porker, she is found dead in the barn’s mash feeder. By the time Peter discovers the link between the two heists, pigs may really fly.
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Peter Shandy is an unlikely hero. He makes me smile with his thought process. The entire cast of characters are delightful.
I just finished reading the entire series for the second time and thoroughly enjoyed it.
This series is one of the best American cozies of all time. I love Charlotte MacLeod.
These are always delightfully campy books, full of crazy characters….a great diversion from real life.
quirky
I love Charlotte Macleod’s books. they are delightful, funny and fun. Her plots work as they should and you have the characters are fun as well. I especially like this one because you learn more about the central characters who are delightful. the plot is well thought out and unpredictable.
I found the story to be predictable and I was amazed at how cavalier the main protagonists were when dealing with the murder of an individual they both knew. Finally just skimmed to the finish.
Charlotte MacLeod is a good writer who writes entertaining tales of mystery and mayhem.
Yeah, I read eyebusters like The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and Middlemarch, but I also like cozies and hard boiled mysteries. I may be a bit unusual in the latter regard, since most people I know prefer one or the other. I admit that the cozies I like are funny, even zany. Charlotte McLeod’s Balaclava College, devoted to the agricultural arts and sciences, is populated by brilliant nutcases, excepting her detective, Professor Peter Shandy, co-inventor of the Balaclava Buster beet, and a college president of alarming strength and short temper.
This time, Shandy must solve the murder of Miss Flackley the farrier (one who tends to horses, including shoeing). In addition, he must also find out who stole Professor Stoat’s prize pig (shades of Wodehouse), nobbled the ceremonial wagon for the annual agricultural competition, and why the college president’s daughter has locked herself up in her room. McCleod keeps things moving and introduces outrageous characters with Dickensian flair. In all, a hoot.
I love Charlotte MacLeod books. Her characters are very quirky. Also, the book was set at a college. Since I work in academia it added an extra fillip for me.
Charlotte MacLeod never disappoints. Her books are funny and also good mysteries.
Excellent author, excellent book series.
Murder, thievery, and general skullduggery are serious events that have been treated with humor and eccentric characters. This is a great series. You need to start with book one and read in order. This is book two. The characters age and grow plus new ones are added and continue to show up in subsequent books in the series.
Read this book years ago. Time for a reread. Have read many books in this series. All were funny and entertaining.
An amusing mystery set in an agricultural college. The detective is a professor; most of the other characters are somehow connected with the college. The characters are mostly comical, and this is definitely a cozy mystery with a fine denouement.
Quirky but captivating
Quirky and funny. I enjoyed it.
Intriguing characters, whimsical dialogue, a fun read. Not great literature, and not that much of a mystery, but a good light read.
I love all of Ms. McLeod’s books!
I love the cast of characters at Balaclava College. Funny and fun read. The mystery is almost a side event to the characters at the College.
a fun read!