It is time for a new mystery (and job) for Nancy Parker!

The 3rd book in the Nancy Parker series, and I have to say I was at first worried this would be the last book (given the conclusion part in the title), but it seems that I can keep on hoping for more Nancy books!

Nancy is looking for a new job (I get it girl, I would also not be amused to stand out around in frigid temperatures selling fruit and vegetables) and thank heavens she finds one thanks to her old schoolteacher Miss Lamb! Miss Lamb has found a man, and is going to be engaged, but first she (and her soon to be hubby) need to go and visit grandmama. Grandmama wants to check out who Miss Lamb is and if she is suitable for her dearest grandson. Well, there starts the trouble. Whereas the hubby is pretty fabulous and rich, Miss Lamb is just a schoolteacher. So she wants Nancy to come with her to act as her lady maid so that she may seem a bit richer than she actually is and maybe gain some love from Grandmama (which is a brilliant idea, I would have done the same if I were in Miss Lamb’s shoes).

And thus our adventure starts, but the adventure really starts when everything starts going wrong. The snow keeps falling, no one can get out, and then there is a dead body in the library! Oh my! And let’s not forget those important papers, and what is wrong with Miss Lily’s maid? Is she really a maid or not?

It is up to Nancy to hunt for clues, solve mysteries, find out secrets, find out more about dear (and grumpy) grandmama, and of course also act like the lady maid she is supposed to be!

I loved the mystery and how exciting it was. As for the dead body and what happened to that poor fella? I hadn’t expected THAT to be the case until it was revealed in the story (and then I was a bit disappointed as I wanted it to be truly X as the setting for that was just perfect (no help from outside/snowed in/no way to contact anyone)). Of course the dead body in the library isn’t the only thing happening in this huge mansion, there are a ton of things that are hidden and need to be revealed. I loved seeing everything come together as the story got closer to the ending. How we find out all sorts of things about various characters and why they were invited to this winter party.

I love the fact that the house had all sorts of fun secrets! Secret passageways, hidden nooks and crannies. And did I mention the huge library? Ah, I would love it to live in a house like that! dreams

Oh and I have to give plus points to Edie, she was just so sweet and adorable! Hopefully her plan will go all right and we will see her again. 🙂

So, apparently Quentin, yes the terrible Quentin whom I disliked in the first book is back again in this book, and again he isn’t contributing a poop worth of anything. Instead he is just there, acting like he is so high and mighty and so awesome (hey, you are not). I had such a laugh when he woke up one morning and thought everyone had just up and left him. Why would you think that? It is just silly. Really, you could just remove him from the story and not miss a thing. So I was kind of disappointed that he was one of the two POVs in this book. I would rather have seen someone else as POV or just Nancy’s alone.

As with the previous books there are spelling errors in Nancy’s diary, in the beginning of the series I didn’t quite like it, and it is still a bit of a mixed bag (mostly due to the randomness of the errors). But I am starting to see the charm to it, and I am also happy that Nancy is learning (though at times she is choosing not to correct her spelling which had me laughing).

So all in all, this was just too much fun to read and I flew through it. Highly recommended!