Aunt Dimity's Death is one of those "mysteries" posing as a cosy which is really just a pleasant break from heavy reading. It does not qualify under the strict golden-age rubric for a mystery and therefore a "cozy," the genre under which it would be filed if the investigation in the course of the novel involved a serious crime.
Nevertheless, this is highly recommended for those who desire a pleasant read. Our heroine, Lori, is down and out when she receives an urgent summons to a lawyers office where she learns about the death of a person she never knew really existed. Aunt Dimity was the figure of stories her mother used to tell her, not at all a real person. But suddenly here she is real as life and twice as dead and leaving behind a rather eccentric will. It seems Dimity has written a book of all the stories that Lori used to hear as a child and her will requires Lori to go to England and live inthe cottage where all of her papers are stored for a month. The point of the venture is to read through the papers and correspondence and by the end of that month she is to produce an introduction to the book of stories.
This is the set-up for a slight, but amusing, romantic comedy and very slight mystery involving both Lori's mother and Aunt Dimity. Mix in a dash of "romance" in the modern sense (and, come to think of it, in the old high sense as well) and you have a really wonderful summer break or beach book for those so inclined.
Recommended unreservedly (and thanks to Tom who originally recommended it to me).
