I intended to read the Mrs. Tim books in order, but that hasn’t quite worked out, and I received this one just in time for Dean Street Press in December.
Hester Christie (Mrs. Tim) reluctantly leaves her husband in Kenya, where he is now posted, to form a household in England that her children can return to for the summer holidays. But en route she stops for two days in Rome. There she is unexpectedly met by family friend Tony Morley. Her couple days of sightseeing with him create a misunderstanding that travels all the way back to England to cause trouble for her through the person of Mrs. Alston, whom she met on the plane from Kenya to Rome.
Mrs. Tim has found a house in Old Quinings called the Small House. Although she loves the house, she finds she has a troublesome back neighbor and a landlady who isn’t to be trusted. She also meets some pleasant neighbors and helps out a young man in his romance with a nice young girl. She solves a mystery and finds out why some of the villagers are treating her oddly.
This book is another breezy entry in the Mrs. Tim series, written in the form of letters to her husband. It gets a little patronizing toward the ancient Romans (conveniently forgetting about the Inquisition), but they’re dead so they won’t mind. Otherwise, it’s an entertaining read.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and fair review.
whatmeread 
This sounds good, but I haven’t read any of the Mrs Tim books yet so will start with the first one!
Good plan!
I do love the Mrs Tim books, although she was very unfairly treated in this one! I think Mrs Tim Gets a Job might be my favourite. Thank you for contributing this one to Dean Street December, I couldn’t be more thrilled at how it’s going!
That’s great! A lot better than Reading Thirkell, I’ll bet.
Well almost no one joined in my year-long Larry McMurtry challenge and those who did read a book I didn’t read, so you win some, you lose some!
True!