Lady Osbaldestone’s Plum Puddings

Lady Osbaldestone’s Christmas Chronicles, Volume 3: 1812

By: Stephanie Laurens

Narrated by: Helen Lloyd

Number one New York Times best-selling author Stephanie Laurens brings you the delights of a long-ago country-village Christmas, featuring a grandmother, her grandchildren, an artifact hunter, the lady who catches his eye, and three ancient coins that draw them all together in a Christmas treasure hunt.

Therese, Lady Osbaldestone, and her household again welcome her younger daughter’s children, Jamie, George, and Lottie, plus their cousins Melissa and Mandy, all of whom have insisted on spending the three weeks prior to Christmas at Therese’s house, Hartington Manor, in the village of Little Moseley.

The children are looking forward to the village’s traditional events, and this year, Therese has arranged a new distraction - the plum puddings she and her staff are making for the entire village. But while cleaning the coins donated as the puddings’ good-luck tokens, the children discover that three aren’t coins of the realm. When consulted, Reverend Colebatch summons a friend, an archaeological scholar from Oxford, who confirms the coins are Roman, raising the possibility of a Roman treasure buried somewhere near. Unfortunately, Professor Webster is facing a deadline and cannot assist in the search, but along with his niece Honor, he will stay in the village, writing, remaining available for consultation should the children and their helpers uncover more treasure.

It soon becomes clear that discovering the source of the coins - or even which villager donated them - isn’t a straightforward matter. Then the children come across a personable gentleman who knows a great deal about Roman antiquities. He introduces himself as Callum Harris, and they agree to allow him to help, and he gets their search back on track.

But while the manor five, assisted by the gentlemen from Fulsom Hall, scour the village for who had the coins and search the countryside for signs of excavation and Harris combs through the village’s country-house libraries, amassing evidence of a Roman compound somewhere near, the site from which the coins actually came remains a frustrating mystery.

Then Therese recognizes Harris, who is more than he’s pretending to be. She also notes the romance burgeoning between Harris and Honor Webster, and given the girl doesn’t know Harris’s full name, let alone his fraught relationship with her uncle, Therese steps in. But while she can engineer a successful resolution to one romance-of-the-season, as well as a reconciliation long overdue, another romance that strikes much closer to home is beyond her ability to manipulate.

Meanwhile, the search for the source of the coins goes on, but time is running out. Will Therese’s grandchildren and their Fulsom Hall helpers locate the Roman merchant’s villa Harris is sure lies near before they all must leave the village for Christmas with their families?

©2019 Stephanie Laurens (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing

Book #3, and my favorite, so far :)

Have always avoided these Christmas themed regency offerings ...
expecting something overly "nice"
but this series is purely delightful !

Holiday Treasure

Lady Osbaldestone is a lovely lady with strengths that she can see in her grandchildren. Her love and pride shine through tho everyone in her 'realm' is equally attended. This is the 3rd 'Lady O' book that i have enjoyed, and hope to see more of.

1812 Mystery in Little Moseley

Once again Lady Osbaldestone's five grandchildren have come to stay with her for the Christmas holidays at Hartington Manor in Little Moseley. And as always, there are adventures to be had. This year Lady Osbaldestone and her staff are making plum puddings for the entire village, and the villagers have been donating the coins which will be used as the puddings' good luck tokens in two boxes located in town. The children are busy cleaning the coins that will go into the plum puddings when they notice that three of the coins are different than the others. They appear to be Roman coins, a lot older than the rest. With the help of Reverend Colebatch, they find a knowledgeable Professor who is summonsed to help in researching the origins of the coins. Meanwhile, another young man, Callum Harris, who is also very knowledgeable about Roman archeology shows up in the village . . . but Lady Osbaldestone thinks she recognizes him. This is such a delightful, wholesome and all together fun Christmas listen . . . the third in the series . . . filled with the theme of the times. I loved it and can't wait for the next one!

Fun, clean story, well written

A mystery, a family and always a bit of a love story somewhere built in.

charm galore and major poignancy

Date: 1812 December
Chronology: set after LADY OSBALDESTONE AND THE MISSING CHRISTMAS CAROLS and (pending more Lady O stories) before THE LADY CHOSEN set in 1816.

Lady Osbaldestone is joined for the third year by her grandchildren Jamie, George and Lottie. Melissa also returns, with the addition of her older sister Amanda.
Due to a large plum crop, Lady O’s cook has volunteered to make plum puddings for the town for Christmas. The townspeople have contributed coins to put in the puddings and a mystery arises when 3 are ancient Roman coins. The 5 join the Fulsom Hall group on a Treasure Hunt and again volunteer for the Guest Choir.
Lady O recognizes a new romance budding between Miss Honor Webster, Professor Webster’s niece and Mr Harris, his former assistant and protégée. The Professor and Mr Harris had parted in misunderstanding and Lady O does her people magic to resolve the conflict and pave the way for the romance to flourish.

The secondary romance Lady O is keeping track of is her granddaughter Melissa 15 and Viscount Dagenham who is 21, graduated from Oxford and ready to go out into the Ton. Melissa and Dagenham recognize their hearts are involved but there is a significant life imbalance due to their ages. And Oh, as a reader you know they’re too young, but boy do you want to root for them finding each other again! I just don’t remember if they were referenced in the Bastion Club or Cynster series.
Much as I love a good romance, I’m finding the Lady O books even better than Laurens’ next generation stories.

Lloyd is a great choice as the voice for this story and series. She gives Lady O maturity without sounding creaky and does a very decent job of character differentiation.