Vane Pursuit

Peter Shandy #7

by Charlotte MacLeod

A gang of thieves determined to steal every Praxiteles Lumpkin weathervane in Balaclava County winds up snatching Helen Shandy as well, and it is up to her husband Peter to set her free

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Cozy Mystery, Humor, Audiobook, Amateur Sleuth

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1989

About the author

Naturalized US Citizen

Also wrote as Alisa Craig

Charlotte MacLeod, born in New Brunswick, Canada, and a naturalized U.S. citizen, was the multi-award-winning author of over thirty acclaimed novels. Her series featuring detective Professor Peter Shandy, America's homegrown Hercule Poirot, delivers "generous dollops of...warmth, wit, and whimsy" (San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle). But fully a dozen novels star her popular husband-and-wife team of Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn. And her native Canada provides a backdrop for the amusing Grub-and-Stakers cozies written under the pseudonym Alisa Craig and the almost-police procedurals starring Madoc Rhys, RCMP. A cofounder and past president of the American Crime Writers League, she also edited the bestselling anthologies Mistletoe Mysteries and Christmas Stalkings.

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to follow - antique weather vanes, theft, and murder

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Librarian Helen Shandy, rather than her husband Peter, proves the hero of Vane Pursuit, the seventh entry in this irresistible series. Helen and her beautiful, zaftig friend, Iduna Stott, head off to Maine to photograph one of the few remaining weather vanes crafted by a long-dead primitive folk artist from Balaclava County, Massachusetts. While Helen and Iduna are investigating in Maine, Peter and “demon reporter” Cronkite Swope work the case back home. With its clever plot, picturesque characters, and shocking denouement, Vane Pursuit will satisfy any cozy lover. And those new to the series can start with No. 7 without missing a beat.

[Chautona Havig]

Got about halfway and boom. Two F-bombs.

Will not be continuing the series, which is too bad. I was really enjoying this one.

[Susan in NC · Rating 4 out of 5]

2025: I enjoyed my reread more this time around. I’d forgotten much of the convoluted story but just went with the flow.

It was fun to join Helen and Iduna on a road trip to visit a friend in Maine, and they had quite an adventure. Peter was busy having his own bizarre and fantastic adventure back in Balaclava Junction.

The story begins with Helen tracking down and photographing antique weather vanes - but the valuable antiques disappear soon after, and the buildings they grace are torched. When it happens to a local soap factory, an employee is killed and much of the town loses their employment. The wrong person is being blamed for the fire, so Peter and Helen feel compelled to help track down the real arsonist - and killer.

That’s the barest bare bones of the story, but the author really let her imagination and powers of invention fly with this mystery. As I said in my review below, I wasn’t in the mood to appreciate this then! This time I found a fun adventure yarn, even if I was surprised at some of the rough customers among the survivalists-murder, arson, heavy weapons, even dropping a few f-bombs! This series is generally charming, quirky and old-fashioned - this was different but fun if you can suspend belief and follow the convoluted plot and whimsical twists.

2015: I first read this Peter Shandy mystery years ago and did not remember much about it; upon rereading I realize why - this is when I felt MacLeod jumped the shark with the series! Survivalists, antique thieves, an heiress living in an underground tunnel, and a dash of obscure Latin American history got to be a bit too much - plus, no President Svenson to add titanic bluster and comic relief! I think the next two books return to the beloved and familiar grounds of Balaclava College which will be a relief; fun, whimsical and funny in parts, but too much of an incredulous stretch for me. Recommended for true fans only and I would not read this as an introduction to this wonderful, literate and delightful series. Start with the first, "Rest Ye Merry", which I reread every Christmas!

[C. (Comment, never msg). · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlotte’s cerebral dialogue knocked “the cozy mystery” out of the park, stretched to its best possible incarnations. Re-circulated characters chat in a way that proves we know them well. There was no end to her mind-boggling creativity! Antique weathervanes, which Helen is documenting and knows to be worth thousands apiece, are stolen from Lumpkin County, Massachusetts to Maine. She no sooner photographs one, when a fire destroys the soap factory; killing a veteran workman. Reporter Cronkite’s brother, injured himself, witnessed the arson but is disbelieved. Cronkite and Peter investigate a town that was whispered about, while Helen and Iduna Stott meet a friend in Maine.

Only a Charlotte MacLeod novel would comprise the following and be called a mystery instead of a fantasy. In a zany ode to Bilbo Baggins: Peter and Cronkite Swope are sheltered by a tree and tunnel lady, while Helen and the girls spend the same night marooned on an inlet, after being knocked off of a whale-watching boat by thugs! Their leader is a tautly-contained surprise. Iduna’s never-ending picnic hamper produces a never-ending laugh for me! She flings it from the boat, contents bone-dry; where it feeds four on that inlet! What a refreshing change to see: both sets of bizarrely-marooned characters procuring all the amenities they need!

Never, ever did Charlotte pen a story, that even minutely approximated any of her other numerous plots! For her: there was no such thing as a carbon copy, nor even a blueprint. A stale mould is people’s largest complaint about most novels and series of this genre. Omitting violence and featuring fun is unarguably different from weakness of plot. The subjects might be light but no work of Charlotte MacLeod was ever fluff!!!! This was an inimitable authoress, completely unafraid to literally and outrageously make things up.

[Karen Plummer · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Vane Pursuit, Helen Shandy is working on a project to photograph and document a number of antique weather vanes made by a local artisan. She's getting a great deal accomplished when it suddenly appears that the weather vanes are disappearing along with the buildings they are perched upon. When the soap factory in a neighboring town is burned to the ground and one of the workers killed in the fire the day after Helen took her photos of their weather vane, Peter and Helen are more than concerned. It surely can not be coincidence that after Helen photographs one of the antiques, the building is set on fire.

As Helen heads to Maine with her friend Iduna to photograph another weather vane, Peter remains in Balaclava Junction to investigate to soap factory arson as the locals are blaming it on their friend Cronkite Swope's brother (who was burned trying to save another man's life). Helen meanwhile gets further involved in the case even while in Maine.

This may be my favorite book of the series especially since Helen is more of a focus and I do love Helen and Peter both. MacLeod creates such lovable and eccentric characters in all of her books, but the Shandy series seems to have some of the best. I want to live in Balaclava Junction with these great people.

[Kyrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely one of the better ones. The wordplay is funny without being farcical, the plot is well done, and the characters are something else entirely. Miss Binks is a riot - almost a cross between Euell Gibbons and a hobbit.

I know this series isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I think it's one of the funnier cozies, but maybe I just have warped sense of humor.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Peter and Helen Shandy mysteries and this is no exception. The mystery is good but the real strength of all of Ms. MacLeod's books lies in her characters. They are so vivid and most of them quite eccentric. It makes her books fun to read.

[Eden · Rating 5 out of 5]

2023 bk 21. One of my favorite of the Shandy mysteries. Mysterious cases of arson and weather vane theft find the Shandy's spending the first week of summer vacation working to solve multiple mysteries. Who destroyed the soap works, why is it that after Helen takes picture of the weather vanes for her future publication are they stolen, and who are those strange survivalist on Woeful Ridge? A fun book with the introduction of more interesting characters, places, and opportunities.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vane Pursuit by Charlotte MacLeod is one of my loosely contrued academic mysteries. MacLeod has two sets of series characters: Professor Peter Shandy & his lovely librarian wife Helen and Sarah Kelling & Max Bittersohn. Both series are very literate and very funny and feature an eccentric cast of supporting characters.

Peter Shandy teaches at the fictional Balaclava College and Helen is one of the college's librarians. They manage to get into all kinds of non-academic scrapes and Vane Pursuit is no different. Helen has been asked by the Balaclava Historical Society to document and photograph all of the remaining weathervanes designed by the county's very own Praxiteles Lumpkin. She is also to write up a report for the Smithsonian Institute. However, Helen's job becomes dangerous when a gang of ruthless robbers decide to steal the priceless antiques. It seems that Praxiteles's handiwork has become a hot commodity among collectors--collectors who don't care how they acquire the desired object. It soon becomes apparent that somebody has been using Helen's researches to lead them to the valuable vanes. After a local weathervane which used to grace the Lumpkin Soap Factory is stolen and the factory is burned to the ground, Helen travels to Maine to get a photograph one of the last remaining vanes. Once the photos have been taken, she and her friends decide to relax with a bit of whale-watching--only to have their boat commandeered by the vane-snatchers. Meanwhile, back on the farm (almost quite literally--Balaclava College is an agricultural institution), Peter is getting into trouble of his own. In an effort to get to the bottom of the factory arson and the local vane thefts, he and Cronkite Swope have a run-in with a group of shaggy and demented survivalists. He manages to escape their clutches, rush off to rescue Helen, and then finger the mastermind behind the thefts and arson.

Just so you know, this isn't meant to be a serious, life-like mystery. This is meant as good clean fun and will need a good dose of belief suspension....but it's well worth it. Lots of extraordinary circumstances paired with delightful literary references and witty interactions. Some of the dialogue is laugh-out-loud funny. I love the doings of Peter Shandy and the rest of the Balaclava county residents. The only thing missing in this one is President Svenson wading in and taking on the bad guys single-handily--Svenson loves nothing so much as a good brawl with a group of ruffians. Three and a half stars.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

The action in this one was a bit more physical and less cerebral. At points it left me in a small state of shock. At first I thought Helen was going to be left out of the action, having gone to Maine, but thank heavens, Ms. MacLeod merely split the story-telling between Helen in Maine and Peter in Massachusetts. The story and plot were great, but I missed President Svenson.

[Tobie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book; great characters and set in New England.

[Jody Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good fun.

[Linda Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed

Written with humor and many twists. Again another mystery which had little stories weaved in and out. The characters are very unique and just enough eccentricity to charm
.

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am transported to another place and time when I read this series. Most enjoyable!

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 4 out of 5]

The mean streets of big cities have violent gangs. The "peaceful" dirt roads of Balaclava County have survivalists. Which are more dangerous?

Say you're a survivalist, convinced that a secular Armaggedon is imminent and that your posse will be the only survivors. You've sold everything (and stolen more) to amass an armory of weapons. You've practiced war maneuvers and slept on the ground and eaten roots and berries. You're ready for all hell to break loose.

Then the worse happens. Nothing. You're all dressed up and nowhere to go and no one to fight. Would you create a crisis so that all your hard work and sacrifice won't go to waste?

Botany professor and amateur detective Peter Shandy is concerned about the acts of vandalism that are destroying homes and businesses in Balaclava County. He and local reporter Cronkite Swope go looking for the survivalists in their back-country stronghold. They discover that armed men in camouflage and army boots are as happy to hunt humans as deer. Maybe happier.

Meanwhile, Peter's librarian/historian wife Helen is gathering pictures and information for a book about the antique weather vanes that adorn barns and businesses in the area. Those venerable vanes have become valuable collectables. Is that why so many buildings are being burned down?

She and her friends take a girls' weekend to Maine to photograph vanes. A short whale-watching trip should be a fun break for them, but not if their fellow whale-watchers have other plans. If a whale-watching boat doesn't come back to port, someone will come looking for it, but can they survive the cold and starvation until the rescuers arrive?

I love this series because it's NOT "cozy." The dangers are real and the bad guys are BAD. Peter Shandy isn't a trained detective, but his decades of research have taught him to weigh evidence. His years of teaching have shown him that not everyone is what they seem to be. Some political extremists are sincere (nuts, but sincere.) Others may be using the "cause" to benefit themselves.

This book introduces the wonderful Winifred Binks. She's the heiress to a great fortune, but right now she's broke. She's living on the land. And under it and sometimes high above it. When it comes to survival skills, she makes the camouflage brigade look like pikers. Fortunately, she becomes a recurring character, which is one of the things that makes this series so much fun to read.

MacLeod loved the people of rural New England. She had the writing chops to create memorable characters and to get them into bizarre, life-threatening situations and back out again. She knew that there are many kinds of toughness. Peter and Helen Shandy and their middle-aged and elderly friends are no push-overs.

This is a great series of off-beat mysteries.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew investigating weathervanes could be so adventurous? Prof. Peter Shandy, of Balaclava Agricultural College, has just waved goodbye to his wife Helen as she and friend Iduna head to Maine in pursuit of weathervanes. Helen is writing an article (I think) about the weathervanes created by folk artist Praxiteles Lumpkin. Problem is, every time she finishes photographing one, the building it's on burns down and the weathervane vanishes. Peter's young reporter friend, Cronkite, is upset because his brother is being accused of burning down the soap works that provides jobs for so many people, so he pulls Peter in to investigating who might actually be responsible--which leads them to hightailing it through the woods, pursued by survivalists intent on murder, and being rescued by the most unlikely heiress ever. Meanwhile, Helen and Iduna are with their friend Catriona. Helen has finished photographing the last weathervane for her article, and of course, the barn it's on then was burned down. Helen's beginning to realize that someone is following her to find the weathervanes, but she doesn't expect to that leading to herself and her friends being thrown overboard when pirates hijack their whale-watching boat. Where will it all end?

This is more of an adventure than a mystery, so not my favorite of the series, but I do adore Miss Binks (the heiress), and I was never too worried that any of the main characters would be injured or killed. The descriptions are wonderful--so much world-building! The story is well-structured, too, and the characters are certainly memorable. I listened to the audiobook, and while it was mostly fine, there were some egregious mispronunciations that really grated on my nerves, particularly the name Catriona. I can't really complain because when I looked it up, I've been mispronouncing it myself, though in a completely different way. It should be pronounced like Katrina, I've been pronouncing it Cat-tree-OH-na, and the narrator pronounced it Ca-TROY-na. I think my mispronunciation was better, TBH!

[Jim Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Antique weather vanes are being stolen, and the soap factory burned to the ground and one man killed. The townspeople are blaming Cronkite Snope's brother, so Cronk goes to Peter Shandy for help finding out what really happens. At the same time, Helen Shandy is off to Maine to track down another antique weather vane.

What follows is another adventure -- one of the most entertaining of the series -- as Peter and Cronk escape from armed survivalists and meet Miss Binks, who is living in an underground burrow. Helen and friends meanwhile wind up on a hijacked lobster boat, are thrown overboard, and have to make their way to a small island.

It all comes together in the end, and of course Peter sorts it all out. It's exciting and fun, but as usual what really stands out is the cast of characters. Miss Binks, in particular, though only in the book for perhaps 25 or 30 pages, really stands out (and becomes a major character in the next book, which I mistakenly read out of order).

Recommended.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are an amusing ride, crazy names and eccentric characters and all, but I think what they do best is perform as a time capsule. Historical fiction can get all the research right, but it can’t reproduce the unsaid things: the assumptions, the exact flavor of socially accepted feminism, the unnoticed bits. It’s good to get out of your own time every now and again, and to realize that you probably believe more just because of when you were born than you realize.

I am having a terrible time figuring out the value of money in these! They use dollars and cents, but it’s certainly not 2023 dollars. Characters complain about buying baked goods and having so little change for a five. Someone had $15 on him at his demise, which was apparently enough to significantly buy stuff. Fifty dollars was enough for a port manager guy to go hunting a lost captain over. I think things now cost maybe three times what they did in the ‘80s?

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up to 4, since I learned the word "titivate" which feels like a useful word to know.

Hard to say how much of my enjoyment of this book was due to low expectations. Also the fact that I recently listened to The Curse of the Giant Hogweed, which was much more challenging.

I found this one a pretty satisfying collection of eccentrics, bad guys, and at least one whale to go along with familiar characters and a couple new ones that live in Maine.

I now love immersing myself in a world before cell phones and am thoroughly enjoying the Peter Shandy series despite it's many foibles.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

#7 in the Peter Shandy professor at Balacava College in a rural small Massachusetts farming community mystery series. More mystery on the light side with a lot of tongue in cheek story line and characters.

This is a bit of a double story featuring both husband and wife. While Shandy is dealing with a group of armed and violent survivalists, his wife, Helen, is researching and taking pictures of antique weather vanes created by a local artist at the request of the Smithsonian Institute, but each time she takes a picture, the featured vane vanishes and th building is burned down.

[Mary Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

This novel is billed as a screwball mystery. I was intrigued by that and tried to imagine the main character Helen Shandy as Carole Lombard or Helen and husband Peter as "Nick and Nora Charles". Didn't work. This wasn't clever it was just silly. I went by the 50 page rule. Since I wasn't intrigued or amused by page 5o, I gave up.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early Bird Book Deal | Unusual for the series, but pretty good | This had more action and more locales than the series usually indulges in, and both Peter and Helen are put directly in harm's way. But--possibly in part because I didn't really like the previous installment--it was fun. Miss Binks is definitely a worthwhile addition, and I hope she returns.

[Marci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I so enjoyed this mystery. This really is a murder mystery--but it also features incredibly funny, witty, tongue-in-cheeky adventures and characters and escapes from violent death (nothing too graphic), and lots and lots of charm and New England coziness. I recommend all the Peter Shandy mysteries, but this one is my favorite.

[Mandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quirky and cozy mystery starring Professor Shandy as the unlikely amateur sleuth. In Vane Pursuit, Helen Shandy proves to be every bit the capable sleuth as her husband. They have a charming and playful repertoire. Vane Pursuit is perfect for a quick and fun, but intelligently written fiction pick.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, I think especially some of the screwball characters and events which were some of them quite fantastical. There was plenty of mystery to figure out--and I didn't get everything before the end so there were some satisfying surprises to round out the pleasure. I had forgotten how much I enjoy this author

[Lana Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vanes, Fires, Whales & Burrows: The Best Yet!

If you are looking for an excellent mystery with imagination to delight the funny bone and twists to surprise and satisfy this is your book. MacLeod is beyond compare. Do wish I could have shared a cup of sassafras tea with her! Highly recommend reading!

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stolen Weathervanes and burned buildings

Peter Shandy and his wife, Helen are an interesting, well educated couple. Helen is putting together research about some very specific weathervanes in New England. Add to the story a whale watching trip and a destructive group of survivalists and it is quite an adventure. Fun to read

[Terri · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a good series, but it is a bit much when binge reading, or even reading the books close in time. The author certainly know how to use her words. There are puns glowing, the repartee between the characters is enjoyable, most of the plots are just nuts, but she makes them work. Craziness set in a small agricultural college town that is set in the northern Appalachians. It's just fun.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book left me interested in survivalist lifestyles, hungry for all those food, and a little wistful as I'd love to live in the world these characters populate. I love the sense of community shown in the Peter Shandy books. And I loved that in this one, we read in both Peter and Helen's pov.