The Curious Case of the Missing Figurehead

Professor and Mrs. Littlefield Mystery #1

by Diane Noble

She’s Passionate about Solving the Case ... with the Town’s Life-Long Bachelor  El Littllefield runs The Butler Did It catering. It’s the perfect cover for her to solve “who-done-its” (nothing too dangerous, please!) in this small university town nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains. While catering her most important event yet—a fancy retirement dinner for Dr. Max Haverhill, life-long bachelor and history dean—countless guests fall ill, a 200 year-old relic is stolen, and her best friend vanishes. All in the first hour. As El and Max race to solve the mystery, they discover there’s more to their relationship than simply solving the case. Welcome to Eden’s Bridge—the perfect small town setting for big intrigue, romance, and humor.

Genres: Mystery, Christian Fiction, Contemporary

416 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2014

About the author

Diane Noble is the award-winning novelist of more published books than she can count: historical fiction, contemporary mysteries and suspense, and romance (written under the pen name Amanda MacLean).

Diane writes from a heart of deep faith that's woven into her stories and nonfiction writings. She often posts on Facebook and Twitter about her journey with Parkinson's Disease and the unexpected gift of learning to live moment by moment with humor, grace, and optimism.

With more than a quarter million books in print, Diane continues to spin tales that touch readers' hearts. Book one of her new three-book mystery series, The Professor and Mrs. Littlefield, will be in bookstores September 1, 2014. It's title? THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE MISSING FIGUREHEAD.

Diane is a professed Third Order Franciscan in the Anglican (Episcopal) Church, following the footsteps of Jesus with simpicity, love, and joy as lived out by St. Francis of Assisi. Mother to two beautiful daughters and Gramsy to two cutest-ever granddaughters, Diane lives in Southern California with her wonderful husband and two spoiled cats. Oh yes, and Diane loves

Reviews

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!! About halfway through it really sped up. I enjoyed all the characters as well as the different threads. Love, love, LOVED the perfect ending! On the author's website she says this is the first of 3 books. I am so happy and can not wait!!

[C.B. Cook · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this is going to be a hard one to rate. Let's get on with this...

The Good
-Action. I reeeeeeally, really liked the action in this book. The "mystery" was kind of not a mystery, per se, but eh, close enough, I guess...
-Madeleine. OH MY GRAVY I LOVED HER. But she was only in the prologue!!!! And the epilogue... I really, really wish that she had been the main character.
-The big reveal. HAHAHA!!! I was suspicious of the "big bad" from the start, sort of, although that eventually died off a little. ONLY TO COME BACK AND BITE ME IN THE REAR.

The Bad
-The characters. I never really connected with the characters in this book. Maybe it was just because they were *cough* too much older than me. But even Chloe Grace, who was seven, seemed more like she was older, at least grammar-wise.
-The romance. Okay, okay, I'll admit it. I did not like the romance in this book. But that's been a big pet peeve of mine lately - unrealistic romance. Every book I've read lately has it, including this one. Every. Single. Book. (Except LotR :D)
-Mystery. This is called "The Curious Case of the Missing Figurehead," but we know where the figurehead is pretty much all the time, due to Hyacinth's POV being included.

Sooo... a hard book. I like-ish it??? I was kind of all set to rate it two, then three, then two again.... Grrr... So I'm rating it 2.5. :P

[Kathleen (Kat) Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

What do you get when you take the owner of a catering business and couple that with her ability to help the local sheriff with solving crimes in her free time? You get the latest series from best-selling author Diane Noble in The Curious Case of the Missing Figurehead, the first novel in the Professor and Mrs.Littlefield Mystery series. It's like taking Angela Lansbury from Murder She Wrote and pairing it up with Indiana Jones and you get a taste for what this novel is like.

El Littlefield runs The Butler Did It, a catering company that allows her to operate her own detective agency to aid in solving the latest crimes to hit Eden Bridge, where she lives along with her daughter Katie and her granddaughter Chloe Grace. Armed with her partner in crime at times, Hyacinth Gilvertin, Southern Highland University's archivist, they hope that they will be able to pull off the biggest catering event of the year. Dr. Max Haverhill is set to host a dinner party and announce his latest archaeological find, a figurehead that was carved by a Boston artisan in 1812 that quite possible holds a map to locate one of the largest stockpiles of treasures stolen by the Nazis and hidden by the French Resistance.

But Dr. Haverhill is convinced that someone has been responsible for a recent attempt on his life while removing the figurehead from the ocean bottom where he discovered it had been hidden all these years. In fact he suspects that unless he cancels this dinner party tonight, his life and that of countless innocent guests may be in jeopardy until they have more time to hunt down the elusive couple from Paris that seem to have a connection to these recent events. But doing so now that El and Hyacinth have pretty much invested their entire life savings in food and party rentals, would mean the disaster to the future of her catering business. Just as she is able to convince Dr. Haverhill that there is plenty of security and all the mysterious guests have been accounted for, the guests at the dinner party becoming violently ill with apparent food poisoning and the figurehead goes missing along with Hyacinth, who was suppose to ensure that the figurehead remained safe and secure. Now El has a limited amount of time to do the investigation because as more time continues to elapse, the fingers are beginning to point to El and Hyacinth as being the criminals.

I received The Curious Case of the Missing Figurehead by Diane Noble compliments of David C.Cook Publishers and Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions contained here are strictly my own. This is such a great mystery series, because it adds a bit of comedy, romance, and of course down-to-earth detective work as El tries to unravel the clues she finds as she tries to clear her name and that of her business while trying to find her best friend, which no one believes is really missing. Even more amazing is that El finds herself suddenly falling in love with the Professor while helping him hunt down his missing artifact that will undoubtedly hold more mysteries once it's found. A must read for fans of mystery fiction coupled with a bit of romance. It's fast paced and definitely a whole lot of fun until she can solve the crime of the century, at least in her small town, and you'll never guess who is behind it all!! I rate this one a 4 out of 5 stars in my opinion.

[Jalynn Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Review:

El Littlefield runs a catering business by the name of, "The Butler Did It"---with a little bit of solving mysteries as a side business. While catering Dr. Max Haverhill's fancy retirement dinner, she is pulled into the disappearance of a 200 year old relic. As El would say, it's time for a triple chipper! With her best friend missing and several guests at the party getting sick, El knows it's time to get busy on this mystery. With Max by her side they rush to get this mystery solved.



When El's daughter and grand daughter go missing El knows its no longer playtime, suddenly things get even more serious and overwhelming for all involved.With so many things going wrong at once, the lead character feels that she is backed against the wall and must face this on her own. Using the figurehead as a bargaining tool, El must take matters into her own hands and get her family back. Soon she realizes that lines have been drawn and the people that she thought she could trust, can be trusted no longer.

**Disclosure** This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from CFBA.

[Karen R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great cozy mystery with a fun cast of characters! After a bit of background and introduction, the story picks up speed and zooms to the end as fast as Elaine Littlefield driving her Karmann Ghia. Hoping they all return for another adventure. 4.5 stars

[Richard Paschall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diane wrote this book before moving to Trinity Oaks Retirement community in Salisbury, NC, but she mentions Trinity Oaks and Salisbury very briefly in this novel. Because I live there and have met this author, I was very interested in reading her books; this is the first I've read.

I did enjoy the mystery she created. It takes place mostly in the North Carolina mountains, somewhere near Asheville and Waynesville, in a fictional town. A combination of a love story, great friendships, a divorced daughter and a granddaughter of the main character, a setting in a university, maritime elements, ties to World War 2 and France...all combine for a very busy but interesting story. It's an easy read and will keep you entertained.

I am ready to read another of Diane's books....she is a very friendly and warm person whom I am delighted to have met.

[Kat Burton · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was fine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I didn’t connect to any characters, granted they were a lot older than I. However, the romance felt like teenagers. Like so instalove it’s not funny. They were “falling in love” after 2-3 days of meeting each other. And when the confessions finally came it was so random imo, and just a weird way for it to go.

The mystery was fine, I did enjoy being right so there’s that.

Oh, very religious tho. Which I guess I should’ve expected since it’s a book about older people written by an older person. (When I say older I just mean significantly older than I am not like OLD yk) but as someone who isn’t that religious I found myself kinda wishing it wasn’t there. But to each their own.

So 2.5

[Brenna Feld · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so amazing! I could not put it down. If you like sweet love stories and suspense then this is the book for you! It reminds me of a Hallmark movie. It is a light easy read that will keep you on your toes.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Good characters. A different take on the cozy mystery - like if there was a subcategory of Christian cozies. And even though there is a recipe card on the cover and the main character is a caterer, there is not all that much about food in it - no recipes at all.

[Leanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my word. I enjoyed every second of it! The characters are exiting - and the story is thrilling and well written. I would recommend this to teens and adults al ages. So sweet and funny, keep up the good work!

[Laura Carter]

DNF I’ve enjoyed several of Noble’s books but this one wasn’t for me. Plus it felt like a sequel but as far as I could tell it’s the first in a series. I think it has potential if this is the type of book you like.

[Mandy Pye · Rating 4 out of 5]

A light hearted easy read

[Barb Friedrich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read, little too drawn out for my taste. Some of it hard to believe. However it was fine during the Covid -19 stay at home order.

[Susan Snodgrass · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an absolutely delightful book! I picked it up in the book store because it just *looked* interesting. I'm so glad I did.

This story centers around a 'woman of a certain age' who is widowed, runs a catering service and does a little sleuthing on the side. Mrs. Littlefield is her name. She has a friend named Hyacinth, who is also a 'woman of a certain age and shape'. Mrs. Littlefield meets Professor Max and the excitement begins.

When everyone at Mrs. Littlefield's catered banquet of several hundred fall ill, she is in a desperate situation. Can her catering company survive? Will she avoid jail time? What about those feelings she has for the professor? At her age? Is this real?

And there are other, serious issues going on besides the missing figurehead, of which the story is about. Goodness, what a ride this novel was! It was funny, serious, spiritual and just pleasantly romantic.

Diane Noble tells the story from 3 different points of view: Mrs. Littlefield's, Hyacinth's and Professor Max. However, this is not the least bit confusing because each character has their own chapter. It is vastly amusing and interesting and I look forward to more A Professor and Mrs Littlefield Mysteries.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not read a book by Diane Noble in years, and remembered her as being a good author, so I requested this book. It did not disappoint. This is a fun and humorous type of mystery. The main characters are older than in most mystery books - 60-ish, and although there was a lot of danger and suspense, it wasn't what I would call close to scary. I couldn't put it down once I got pulled into it and enjoyed every page of it.

Books intrigue me that have a historical slant in it, and this one did. As far as I know, the figurehead in the story was totally fictional, but what it was connected with was not, so that made for an interesting angle.

I've never been a fan of first person style of writing, but this book went back and forth between first and third person in a way that made the book more enjoyable to read than if it had just been first person the whole way through.

I'd definitely recommend this book, even to those who don't normally read mystery and suspense. It is a truly fun read.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

When El's catering company is blamed for food poisoning at a retirement party for history professor Max Haverhill, she should be in despair. Well, she is, but she's too busy worrying about her friend Hyacinth, who has disappeared after appearing to have helped steal a precious artifact that Max discovered. Actually, of course, both women are innocent, but they're caught in the toils of a clever plot that also endangers El's daughter and granddaughter. If you really want to read a Christian romantic mystery, this would be a good choice.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful cozy mystery

A fast-paced story full of plot twists and turns, populated with likeable, sometimes eccentric, characters who not only solve a mystery or two, but also discover new depths of faith, love, friendship, and family.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this new-to-me author!
Terrific characters who come to life as you read! Hoping she has more written...

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good story and I enjoyed it. I found it a bit too long which lost it a star.

[Chacha]

A very fun book to read