Witty Little Knitter

After finishing this book I had this voice in my head telling me "You know, Dunn really has written less shallow mysteries, the end was quite foreseeable and a family-tree at the beginning of the book would have made it a bit less confusing." And then there was another voice saying "Yeah...but it was fun."No, from an objective point of view this isn't Dunn's best book. I had at first quite a hard time time figuring out (and remembering) all the family-relationships and the mystery was good but really not one of her best. It felt, I don't know, quite straightforward, no twists. The only twist could be seen from very early on.ButSmugglers. Secret passages and drawers. Ghost-stories. Children investigating.Somebody has read too much Enid Blyton in their childhood...and by somebody I mean Carola Dunn and myself. In this book Daisy's step-daughter Belinda and her nephew Derrek spent christmas with her and Alec in a really old house and can't resist the temptation to search for secret passages...basically every scene with them reminded me very much of Famous Five and I felt very nostalgic. It also helps that Belinda and Derrek are one of the few fictional children I find quite adorable (honestly: so many authors try so bloody hard to make the children cute that they end up being totaly annoying. Those two are - well - children, yes sometimes they are a bit annoying but then they're very lovely again).I couldn't help it...I was just grinning madly while reading it...3.75 stars for the mystery but 5 for nostalgia.