problem of his own. He owes a pair of local mobsters, the Batinga brothers, a lot of money, and they intend to kill him to make a point about what happens to those who welsh on their debts to the brothers. Mrs Pargeter offers her help, which begins by finding a safe house for Short Head while she figures out how to put the Batinga brothers out of business.

The unfortunate bookie’s nickname, Short Head, is just one of the many delights for readers of Mrs Pargeter’s Past. Mr Pargeter’s criminal associates all have colorful nicknames, some of which are explained in the book, like “Hedgeclipper” Clinton, “Truffler” Mason, “Derek the Draft,” “Holy” Smirke, and “Jukebox” Jarvis (Mr Pargeter’s former accountant, so named because he kept all the records). Those acquaintances are all quite good at what they do, and the first section of the book resembles an escapade straight out of a Mission: Impossible movie, as they find a hiding place for Short Head and his mother (he won’t travel without her) in an apartment buried deep underneath Holy Smirke’s church (he is an actual minister).

Once Short Head is safe, Mrs Pargeter can turn to the business at hand. At this point, a large part of “Mrs Pargeter’s Past” comprises flashback scenes from thirty years earlier, when the Pargeters were first married. Longtime fans of the series will note that this section marks readers’ first encounter with the late Mr Pargeter while he was alive and shows his sweet infatuation with his wife. The flashbacks also reveal that Mr Pargeter was a considerably more important gangster than earlier books in the series might lead readers to believe. While having dinner with his wife, Mr Pargeter butts heads with the younger Batinga brothers, who introduce themselves as the Smith brothers. Much later in the book, Mrs Pargeter realizes that the present-day Batinga brothers are the same Smith brothers she met thirty years earlier.

The Mrs Pargeter books require a huge suspension of disbelief from readers. Mrs Pargeter is supposedly completely ignorant of her husband’s illicit activities, an obtuseness I found especially hard to accept given the criminal goings-on in Mrs Pargeter’s Past. (At one point, Mr Pargeter refers to getting in a turf war with the Smith Brothers, which his wife interprets to mean a dispute over landscaping.) Mrs Pargeter’s charms, being completely in the dark about her husband’s criminality while witnessing several crimes committed around her, were somewhat hard for me to accept.

The Batinga brothers also seemed out of place in this type of book. The older Batinga brother has had a romantic crush on Mrs Pargeter for thirty years, since they first met. However, the younger one is a psychopath who enjoys torturing people to get information, especially when he doesn’t get enough sleep. His threats of violence against various characters, including Mrs Pargeter, are quite credible, leading to a finale that seems more appropriate in a traditional crime thriller than in a cozy story like Mrs Pargeter’s Past.

I learned something about British life from reading Mrs Pargeter’s Past that I never knew before: the tradition of the livery company. For those like me who live on this side of the pond, a livery company is a trade guild that, at least in this story, has rituals and traditions similar to those of American fraternal societies. Mrs Pargeter and the older Batinga brother attend one of their ceremonies in one of the book’s pivotal (and more entertaining) sequences.

Mrs Pargeter’s Past represents my first encounter with Mrs Pargeter and her colorful associates. I did research on the character after I read the book to get a better background before writing this review. However, knowledge of the earlier books in the series isn’t essential for readers to enjoy the current story. I can’t compare Mrs Pargeter’s Past to those earlier novels, and I didn’t feel the same thrill some readers might at finally meeting Mr Pargeter. However, I enjoyed the colorful nicknames, the author’s wit, and Mrs Pargeter’s character. I wasn’t able to fully suspend my disbelief, and some events here were a bit too silly. Nonetheless, the book’s charms outweighed my occasional discomfort. For fans of this series or cozy mysteries in general, Mrs Pargeter’s Past should be in those readers’ presents.

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.