This page is for tropes that have appeared in Aunt Dimity.
For the rest:
- Jaw Drop: Lori is very apt to do this when given unexpected or astonishing information. Humourously related to her inability to conceal her feelings. She also looks forward to seeing Bill's jaw drop when she debuts a slinky black dress for the first dinner at Hailesham Park in Aunt Dimity Takes a Holiday, but when the moment comes she's so preoccupied sizing up Gina Elstyn she doesn't actually notice his reaction.
- Just for the Heli of It:
- In Aunt Dimity and the Duke, the Duke of Penford (in Cornwall) provided the local physician with a helicopter for his use. Emma Porter learns of it from the estate mechanic. When she expresses surprise at the idea, he tells her, "Yes, well, Dr. Singh had to have one, and since the village needed him, His Grace got him his chopper." The chopper later comes in handy when the duke's cousin, fashion model Susannah Ashley-Woods is found unconscious from a head injury and airlifted to hospital in Portsmouth.
- In Aunt Dimity's Christmas, when a vagrant collapses unconscious in Lori and Bill's driveway, the couple bring him inside. Willis Sr. calls in an RAF rescue helicopter to transport the man to hospital in Oxford (in part because the roads were blocked after a blizzard). Various neighbours express astonishment when they repeatedly ask Lori, "Did you really call out the RAF to rescue a tramp?" Peggy Kitchen ("shopkeeper, postmistress, and undisputed mistress of Finch") roared, "In a helicopter! Seems the lap of luxury to me."
- Just Friends: In Aunt Dimity and the Buried Treasure, Lori finds a gold and garnet bracelet in the attic of her cottage and goes to the blue journal to ask Dimity about it. Dimity eventually reveals it was a gift from a young man who befriended her just after World War II, and that he gave it to her and declared his love for her after she had given him a stuffed badger. Dimity was taken by surprise (thinking they were only this trope), plus she was mourning her fiancé and couldn't return his feelings; she says, "I could do nothing but gape at him like an addled goldfish." He left the cafe abruptly, and though she searched for him in an attempt to explain, she lived out her life without finding him and asks Lori to do so.
- Keeping Secrets Sucks: A major factor in the resolution of Aunt Dimity: Snowbound. A wealthy young woman loses her betrothed at Dunkirk and turns her country home into a convalescent hospital for other troops. A valuable diamond parurenote goes missing, and she is written off as crazy when she lodges her complaints with the military authorities. She gradually retreats into her own world, spending much of her time and dwindling resources on writing letters to Americans she thought were the thieves until her death. It turns out two American servicemen did steal the jewels, but fearing exposure, they hide the pieces for decades, and their children, disillusioned by the revelation, pose as stranded hikers to secretly enter the estate and return the full set.
- Kitchen Sink Included: In Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon, Bill lifts the day pack Lori prepared for the family outing to the opening day of King Wilfrid's Faire and gives a low whistle:"I hope you remembered to put the kitchen sink in here," he said. "We may have to wash King Wilfrid's dishes before the day is through."
"I knew I forgot something," I said, snapping my fingers. "Wait here. I'll run in and get the sink." - Knight in Shining Armor: There are occasional references to upstanding men as this trope, especially when they demonstrate their goodness openly. Also, among Lori and Bill's wedding gifts is a portrait of Bill on horseback and wearing armour—and his glasses.
- Lame Pun Reaction: When Lori asks Bill how he got the irises (see the Flower Motifs example above), he starts to reply, "Where there's a Willis—". Lori groans to cut him off.
- The Lost Lenore: Derek Harris' first wife Mary is this in Aunt Dimity and the Duke. The novel takes place over five years after her death from pneumonia, and the Duke's reference to the horrors of death by drowning triggers a flashback for Derek. He throws himself into his work, with young Peter covering for his absences and for the drunken housekeeper Derek unwittingly hired. Most of his character development involves his recovery and the budding romance between him and Emma Porter.
