This page is for tropes that have appeared in Aunt Dimity.
For the rest:
- Ma'am Shock: Early in Aunt Dimity and the Duke, Emma is addressed as "ma'am" several times by a young man on staff at Bransley Manor, the first stop on her planned garden tour. She's making the trip to Cornwall alone, since her companion of fifteen years has just married a younger woman, leaving her a single and (self-described) frumpy forty-year-old woman.It was the constantly reiterated "ma'am" that did it. He might as well call me "Granny," Emma thought.
- MacGuffins everywhere you look:
- Dismantled MacGuffin: The self-lighting lantern that figures in the Penford family legend is disassembled and hidden in the finial of a birdcage arbour in the garden by Grayson's grandmother for safekeeping. Derek spends a portion of the novel searching for it, thereby stumbling on evidence that Grayson was involved in the career and "death" of rock star Lex Rex. Despite being in pieces, it lights by itself during the climactic storm in Aunt Dimity and the Duke.
- Living MacGuffin:
- Willis Sr. is pursued over various locations (as far as Yorkshire) in Aunt Dimity's Good Deed. His uncharacteristically abrupt departure and cryptically brief note spark concern in Lori's mind.
- Bree Pym is this for Lori and Bill's college chum Cameron; they spend most of the novel Aunt Dimity Down Under pursuing the girl over New Zealand's North and South Islands to deliver the Pym sisters' letter and convince her to meet Ruth and Louise before they die.
- Memento MacGuffin: The Peacock Parure in Aunt Dimity: Snowbound wasn't simply the DeClerke family jewels, it was a reminder of the suitor Lucasta DeClerke lost in World War II—hence her deep distress when it was stolen.
- Stolen MacGuffin Reveal: In Aunt Dimity: Snowbound, the hikers prove to be the offspring of the American G.I.s who stole the Peacock Parure. They have the jewels with them, and the plot goes from locating them to returning them to their proper location.
- Madwoman in the Attic: Lori's working hypothesis explaining the creepy-looking vampire the twins saw in the woods turns on this idea; she thinks the neighbouring DuCaral family had a crazy son they kept in the house rather than an asylum, and the man escaped (possibly more than once) and stood in the woods watching the boys.
- Magic A Is Magic A: The rules for Aunt Dimty's contact with Lori aren't explicitly spelled out; even Dimity herself claims not to understand the precise mechanics of the thing. Certain things may be deduced from the books, however.
- Dimity seems to adhere to the rule about ghosts haunting a certain place (her cottage), yet she is also deeply associated with her journal, to the point that she can travel with another character if the journal does. Lori helps her uphold this rule in Aunt Dimity Digs In by taking the journal to the Harvest Festival, including the unveiling of the renovated war memorial with Piero Sciaparelli's name added to the roster.
- Dimity is not omniscient; Lori must tell her (via the journal) about the events she witnesses and the things she does. Similarly, Dimity doesn't speak to Lori outside of the journal's pages, though occasionally Reginald is moved into a key position, or else Dimity will move the journal or leave a loose page from it to initiate a conversation.
- Dimity's writing disappears at the end of each conversation with Lori (or Bill or Emma, as the case may be). Thus, the secret is easily maintained (anyone else who opens the journal thinks it's blank), and there's no limit on the number of conversations Dimity can have.
- Dimity seems to be in some sort of stopover or holding area in the after life. Aside from joining with her beloved Bobby for a time, she expresses a willingness to remain as she is, so as to be available to advise Lori. As she points out, she has all eternity ahead of her, so she can spare the time, even if it proves to be the rest of Lori's lifetime.
- Lori's contact with Dimity makes her more susceptible to contact from other ghosts. When the ghost of Claire Byrd possesses Lori in Aunt Dimity Beats the Devil, Dimity confirms this: "Your relationship with me has made you vulnerable. Once the door is opened between the living and the dead, there's no telling who will come through. We're not all of us charming, sensible, and sane, you know. Some of us are quite mad." Several years later, in Aunt Dimity Goes West, the ghost of Cyril Pennyfeather suggests this was the reason he was able to follow Lori from the Aerie (which was built over the mine where his body lies) and finally see his own memorial and Hannah's grave in the local cemetery, as well as be seen by the local psychic in her shop.
- Dimity knows when other ghosts are in Lori's vicinity, and she can contact some ghosts on the other side. When Lori asks her about the ghostly lights she sees in Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea, Dimity agrees to "make inquiries" and find out if either Brother Cieran or the tenth Earl of Strathcairn is responsible. There are limits, however; when Lori suggests asking Prunella Hooper directly about her death, Dimity says,
"With all due modesty, my dear, I very much doubt that Mrs. Hooper and I are in the same place. A woman who would treat Kit so cruelly would almost certainly spend eternity in a location with which I, thankfully, have no contact whatsoever." - The Maiden Name Debate: Lori retains her maiden name (Shepherd) after she marries, and is often found correcting people who call her "Mrs. Willis". That said, she is characteristically upbeat about the matter, and will ask people to call her "Lori".
- Malicious Slander: Prunella Hooper is the source of a vile rumour in Aunt Dimity: Detective: namely, that Kit Smith, the Harrises' stable master, had encouraged their adolescent daughter Nell's crush. The worst version had him being caught in the act of abusing her. Naturally, when Prunella is found dead, the police concentrate on Kit as a prime suspect. In fact, Nell is a remarkably self-possessed and mature young woman (like her brother, she finished her university studies early), and though she did set her cap for him from the age of fifteen, he actively resists the idea for several years.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: This figures in the Backstory of Kit Smith, but it isn't revealed until many years after the fact. The truth his father was neighbour and family friend Christopher DuCaral is actually something of a relief, since Kit thought insanity ran in his genetic heritage and refused to marry anyone to avoid passing it on. On confirming the news, he goes to his long-time love Nell Harris, helps her down from her horse at the riding school, and kisses her.
- The Matchmaker: Another tradition that is passed on:
- Dimity is a highly skilled one. In life, she introduced Lori's parents, she presciently told a then-twelve year old Bill Willis that he and Lori would wed, and has a hand in pairing Emma and Derek (then a widower with two children). After death, she orchestrates an encounter between Lori's first nanny Francesca and archaeologist Dr. Culver, with Reginald ably assisting.
- Lori brings together the late Miss Beacham's assistant and her downstairs neighbour in Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin, and she tries to encourage Kit to marry Nell in Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: In some stories, "ghostly" happenings (unexplained sounds, objects that seem to have moved unaided) are actually caused by living people or gadgetry. In other stories, the house really is haunted.
- Meaningful Funeral: The Pym sisters' funeral is so heavily attended that The Vicar has to hook up loudpseakers (since St. George's is filled over capacity), and the graves are marked with Day-Glo flags to keep people from falling into the holes. The New Testament readings and the closing hymn were favourites of theirs. Bree Pym introduces herself to the locals in her brash but brief funeral oration, and Rev. Bunting reads a message from the sisters to the villagers: "Dear friends and neighbours. If you fail to show our great-grandniece the same loving kindness you have always shown us, we will smite you."
- Meaningful Name: From time to time in the series:
- A finch is a songbird with a bouncing flight pattern. The village of Finch is a generally happy place full of gossipy residents, with gossip topics generally of the harmless variety.
- The Willises specialise in wills and estate planning.
- Lori's former boss, Dr. Stan Finderman, is asked to find some old ephemera (specifically, pamphlets) printed by a specific and obscure Victorian author.
- Peggy Kitchen marries Jasper Taxman and takes his surname. Jasper is a retired accountant, and Peggy 's demands (as the unofficial boss of Finch) can certainly be taxing.
- One of the hikers in Aunt Dimity: Snowbound is named Wendy Walker.
- In Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon, Jinks the jester says his name comes from "highjinks" rather than bad luck (a"jinx"). It turns out to be a bit of both, since he's responsible for the "accidents" at King Wilfrid's Faire.
- In Aunt Dimity Down Under, the attorney who explains Lori's task for the Pym sisters (reuniting them with their long-estranged brother's family) is named Fortescue Makepeace.
- In Aunt Dimity and the Lost Prince, Mikhail's Russian immigrant parents named their home Mirfield ("Mir" means "peace" in Russian). They left Russia within a decade of the 1917 Revolution. Also, the Thames' Shangri-La was originally named Whiting Hall, and they made their money selling fish ("whiting" is a common name given to several species of fish). The aptly-named Lady Barbara Booker pointedly says, "What's the point of living if I can't have fires and books?"
- Military Salute: Early in Aunt Dimity and the Lost Prince, the manager of of the foundation thrift shop briskly rattles off instructions on how to sort through the latest batch of donated goods, noting in closing that she, Lori and Bree only have an hour to complete the work before the shop is due to open. In response, Bree performs one of these and replies, "Yes, ma'am."
- Mind over Matter: Dimity will sometimes initiate a conversation by making her journal fly off the shelf in the study. She will also place Reginald so as to draw Lori's attention to something or achieve some other goal.
- Mistaken Age: Early in Aunt Dimity: Detective, Lilian Bunting asks Lori to entertain her nephew "Nicky" while she and her husband attend Prunella Hooper's inquest. Lori expects to receive a visit from a small boy, and is surprised when thirty-something Nicholas Fox introduces himself.
- Mistaken for Aliens: Christine Peacock sees mysterious lights in a field near the vicarage in Aunt Dimity Digs In, and she's convinced she saw aliens land there. She's even more convinced when a circle of trampled-down grass is found on the spot the next morning. In fact, Sally Pyne and one of the archaeology students were exercising there at night, mostly because Sally was embarrassed to be seen exercising.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: Once Lori has found evidence someone was in the woods in Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter, she and her neighbours operate from the belief that a voyeur was watching the boys, possibly with pedophilic intent. Emma and Kit warn their staff at the riding school to increase their vigilance when their students use trails in the area. As it turns out, the person who wasn't even male wasn't watching the twins at all, but merely happened to be seen by them.
- The Mole: Jinks the Jester in Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon is quite helpful providing background information on King Wilfrid's Faire. Perhaps too helpful.
- Moment Killer: At the end of Aunt Dimity's Death, Bill tries to say those three little words, but he only gets the first two words out when he's interrupted by the sound of tires on the drive; he thinks it's the neighbour Emma Harris and the kids, but it proves to be his father Willis Sr., coming to complete the terms of Dimity's will.
- Moustache de Plume: A fictional inversion in Aunt Dimity and the Lost Prince: romance novelist Felix Chesterton writes under his wife's name (Frances Wylton). Frances explains to Bree and Lori that he thought his work would do better under her name, but his secret was exposed by a persistent fan, and his sales actually increased.
- The Münchausen: Miss Archer, the headmistress of Rob and Will's school in Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter, accuses the twins of this. Lori and Bill attend a meeting in her office, during which they confirm nearly all of their incredible-sounding stories. The bad man who drags the boys from a castle during a thunderstorm and tries to throw them in the sea? True, and written up in The Times. An invisible man taught them to curse? Also true he was actually in a mine tunnel under the floor of their room. A mountain exploding in the dead of night? Again, true that cursing man set a bomb in said mine shaft. So when the boys claim to have seen a figure that looks like a vampire depicted in a classmate's comic book, Lori believes them. Despite the event being written off by the other adults (even their riding instructor Kit Smith, who looked over the place the boys claim to have seen the figure), Lori wants to check it out for herself.
- My Local: Dick and Christine Peacock run the pub in Finch. Lori's husband Bill is a member of the darts team, and both she and Bill have eaten meals there (Christine is a cook with a famously greasy touch). The place has the typical mahogany-and-brass decor. While old Mr. Farnham says of it, "It's always been Peacock's pub and it'll always be Peacock's pub," the Peacocks flirt with the idea of renaming the place "The Green Men" and have a sign painted depicting a couple of the usual big-eyed aliens.
- Mysterious Note: A couple of these appear in Aunt Dimity Takes a Holiday, and the recipient had received others before the novel opens. The notes' author employs the classic pasted-letters-cut-from-printed-material technique. Dimity also tells Lori she received such notes herself during her lifetime; they proved to be from a member of her charitable foundation's staff.
- Nervous Wreck: Lori reacts to motherhood this way in Aunt Dimity Digs In. In an exaggerated bid to childproof the cottage, she fastens the kitchen cabinet doors so securely that no one can open them, padlocks the medicine cabinet and misplaces the key, and covers the edges of the coffee and end tables with miles of cotton batting. Ultimately, Bill finds her trying to wrestle their mattress out of its frame and onto the floor so the boys cannot crawl under it, although their little knees have yet to touch the carpet. Though she does calm down with time (and the services of a couple of nannies), Lori is still apt to react badly to the idea that her sons could get hurt, and the start of their schooling at Morningside in Upper Deeping sets off another crisis in Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter.
- Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: After their early meeting with the school headmistress in Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter, Bill and Lori sit the boys down for a talk about the vampire they claim to have seen. At Bill's request, Will takes up his crayons and draws a picture of it: a thin and pale vampire figure with "canines like stalactites", a voluminous black cloak with a red lining, a cloud of bats around its head, and a lightning bolt in the sky overhead. Lori sums is up this way, "Although the drawing was primitive, it was powerful enough to give me nightmares."
- Non-Idle Rich: A recurring theme in the series:
- Dimity founded and ran her Westwood Trust ("an umbrella organization for a number of different charities"), which Lori later heads in her place.
- Both Lori and Dimity also did hands-on volunteer work; some of the novels' plots involve such work.
- In Aunt Dimity and the Duke, Grayson's grandmother (wife of the twelfth Duke of Penford) was on the board of Dimity's trust, and the secretly wealthy members of Grayson's staff include a novelist and a fashion designer.
- In Aunt Dimity Takes a Holiday, Simon Elstyn, a nephew of the Earl and a cousin of Derek's, "sat on the boards of at least three corporations and twice as many charities."
- Derek Harris took a first in history at Oxford (equivalent to summa cum laude Lat. in the US) and built a thriving restoration business before he and Emma started a riding school at their restored manor home.
- Peter Harris took three university degrees, paddled on the Amazon, and studied an active volcano, among other things. This adventuresome habit creates a problem for him and for Cassie Cassandra Thorpe-Lynton, whose father sits in the House of Lords. They were working for a Seal Conservation Trust when their proud families publicized their doings, drawing such excessive media attention that they went into hiding as birdwatchers on Erinskil.
- No Time to Explain: At the start of Aunt Dimity's Good Deed, Willis Sr. abruptly leaves Lori's cottage after writing note to her that's uncharacteristically short on details, citing this trope. At first, Lori thinks it's a joke Nell played, but Nell points to the absence of the blue journal and Reginald. Dimity has left behind a second note, which has some additional information, but it ends in mid-sentence. This sets up the pursuit of Willis Sr. throughout the rest of the novel. When Nell points this out, Wiilis Sr. pleads "high spirits" at just receiving the news that Lori is pregnant.
- Not in Front of the Kid: With a bright pair of twins in the family, this looks likely to become a Running Gag:
- In Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea, Sir Percy takes Lori and her five-year-old twins to his island castle. When Lori is asking a member of Sir Percy's staff about his experience with children, Sir Percy intervenes, saying, "Andrew's also had specialized training that fits him for the job. Damian and I will tell you all about it after Rob and Will leave."
- In Aunt Dimity and the Family Tree, Lori tries to warn Bill off a secret topic by saying, "Pas devant les infants," only to have her son Will ask, "What's 'not in front of the children'?" His twin brother Rob informs her that Nell is teaching them French.
- Not with Them for the Money: Early in Aunt Dimity's Death, Lori is mortified and angry that Bill took it upon himself to buy her a new wardrobe without consulting her. (She doesn't yet know she will inherit Dimity's entire fortune.) Not relishing the role of Cinderella, she refuses the clothes with a major rant:"But you wouldn't know about that. You have servants. Well, let me fill you in. The grocery is the place where you go when you have enough money to buy maybe three cans of soup, right? It's the place where the express register is always just closing when you get there, so you and your tomato soup wind up in the regular checkout line, where you're invariably stuck behind the illiterate lady with the coupons for the things that are almost the same as the things she has in her cart. And you have to stand there juggling soup cans while she argues every pounce, ounce, liter, and gram, and you don't want to be rude, because she has blue hair and she's probably living on dog food, but you also want to scream, because you'd think that just once she could manage to bring a coupon for the right brand of dog food. Heaven knows it's important to wear the proper dress for moments like that. That blue silk number in the back should be just right."
- Nouveau Riche: The Thames' in Aunt Dimity and the Lost Prince. Husband Tony is a Self-Made Man who built up the family's fish firm into a household name. While Bree approvingly describes their home (renamed "Shangri-la") as "the 1870s meets the 1970s", Lori is less taken with the look. Wife Gracie is also depicted as overdone in clothing, shoes, hair and makeup, but she is far kinder than the blue-blooded Boghwells.
- Obstructive Vigilantism: This is Dimity's working hypothesis to explain the villagers' behaviour after the malicious Prunella Hooper is found dead in Aunt Dimity: Detective:My guess—and it is an educated one—is that the good people of Finch don't want the murderer to be caught. They believe that a contemptible woman got what she deserved, they know who the culprit is, and they've agreed to close ranks in order to protect one of their own.
- Oh, Crap!: Happens with varying degrees of comedy and drama. Notable examples include:
- In Aunt Dimity Detective, when Lori learns the police have Kit pegged as a likely suspect in Prunella Hooper's murder and are questioning him about it. Gossip ceases to be a jolly pastime when it might land a good friend in jail.
- Likely the biggest one to date is the moment at the end of Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea when Lori returns to her suite in Dundrillin Castle after she and Damian Hunter get the relatively innocuous explanation of the island's prosperity from Sir Percy and the island's elders. She sees the mirror door to the emergency stairs standing open (sans alarm) with Reginald and a toy soldier on the floor near the doorway. Then she comes into the room, sees the footprints in the dust and hears her son Will cry out "Mummy!" Realizing the crazy stalker has her sons, she follows him down the stairs and out into a Force 9 gale.
- Played for Laughs in Aunt Dimity Down Under when Lori experiences her first earthquake while she and Cameron are visiting an art gallery in search of Bree Pym. At first, she doesn't understand what's happening, then after she's told, she can't understand why the locals are so calm as they wait it out under the furniture.
- Also Played for Laughs when Kit extracts his condition from Lori in Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter: Lori must promise to take riding lessons despite being afraid of horses.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Sally Pyne's "Lady Sarah" accent in Aunt Dimity and the Family Tree "hovered precariously between the queen's and a fishmonger's." Willis Sr. could only say of it, "I cannot bring myself to discuss her accent except to say that it is strikingly original. I do not believe that it has ever been heard before on this or any other planet."
- On One Condition: Lori is given thirty days to research Dimity's letters and write the introduction, with attorney Willis Sr. checking up on her progress via phone and Bill accompanying her to England. The condition isn't particularly onerous, since she not only has help, but her expenses are fully covered, including anything that might distract her (like her credit card bills).
- Open Secret: Since the inhabitants of Finch and its environs are prone to gossip, most so-called secrets are quite open, or become open in short order.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: As noted above, Dimity fills the role of Spirit Advisor to Lori and occasionally others. In some of the books, there's some unfinished business that must be dealt with, generally with the help of Lori and others.
- Personal Effects Reveal: Also apt to happen when coping with deceased characters:
- In addition to finding the correspondence between her mother and Dimity, Lori also finds a heart-shaped locket in a box with an initial on the lid. She mistakes the letter for a "W" for Dimity's surname, when it was actually an "M" for Bobby MacLaren's.
- Fr. Bright and Lori go through the knapsack that was found on the vagrant who collapsed in the cottage's driveway. They follow the clues in the military decorations and other items to learn more about the man, who proves to be Christpher Anscombe-Smith, known as "Kit".
- When Lori enters Miss Beacham's apartment in response to her dying instructions, she is shocked to find the flat opulently furnished with antiques. She also finds a family photo album that shows the gradual decline of Miss Beacham's family.
- Ruth and Louise Pym find a letter from their older brother announcing the birth of his son many decades after the deaths of their brother (who was killed at Gallipoli in 1915) and their parents. This find prompts them to ask Lori to locate their brother's family before they die.
- Lori and Cameron enter the apartment of the recently deceased A.J. and Edmund Pym in search of information on them and Edmund's daughter Bree. They find some old family photographs of Aubrey senior and his wife, Aubrey and A.J. at A.J.'s baptism, as well as Edmund, his wife, and young Bree herself.
- Plot Detour: In the novel Aunt Dimity and the Summer King, Lori hears of a previously unmentioned neighbour whose property borders on her father-in-law's. She intends to ask her neighbours about him, since she's lived in the area a decade and never heard him mentioned. Prime oportunities to query the residents of Finch slip past repeatedly, partly because she has her new infant daughter, and partly because she wants to rejoin the social circle (or gossip circle) of Finch (having spent recent months at home with said infant). It is fairly late in the book before she even hears of a well-known and long-standing feud between the residents of Finch and those of a nearby village, a feud which centers around this mysterious neighbour.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Aunt Dimity's starts the whole series.
- Plucky Girl: Lori retains this spirit, even as she ages into her thirties as a wife and mother. More worldly characters frequently refer to her optimism and her determination.
- Point of View: Most of the books have Lori as the First Person Narrator. Aunt Dimity and the Duke, which focuses on Emma Porter, is written in Third Person Limited.
- The Pratfall: Some of the series' comedy is physical:
- Emma and Lori go for a walk in Aunt Dimity Digs In and wade in a nearby stream to cool off until Emma's dog Ham bounds in to join them, causing them to flail for balance and land in the water. At least they got cooled off.
- In Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter, Lori tries very hard to remain upright while following Kit down a steep hillside, only to land on her rump in Gypsy Hollow. Kit teasingly suggests renaming the place "Lori's Bottom".
- Early in Aunt Dimity and the Buried Treasure, Lori is in her dusty attic to retrieve a blender for new neighbours from among the many duplicate wedding gifts she and Bill have stored there when she sneezes, and the jerk of her hands topples the boxed small appliances "knocking me onto my bottom but doing no real harm until a plummeting juicer struck the flashlight and sent it spinning around the old trunk and into the dark corner."
- Prequel: Emma and Derek Harris are introduced in the first book (Aunt Dimity's Death) as a married couple, renovaters and caretakers of Aunt Dimity's cottage; the second book (Aunt Dimity and the Duke) details how they first met.
- Posthumous Character: Lori's mother Beth is revealed in Lori's recollections and a thorough review of her decades-long correspondence with Dimity in Aunt Dimity's Death.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Dimity's reaction when Lori first informs her of Prunella Hooper's death, rendered in letters that take up nearly half the page: "MURDER? IN FINCH?!?"
- Punny Name: In Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea, Sir Percy tells Lori he bought his Scottish castle after he left the oil business, and named it "Dundrillin Castle" on that account.
