The Pumpkinnapper : A Halloween Story

The Pumkinapper is a fun quick story with a dash of supernatural thrown in to keep things lively.  Henry and Emily have a comfortable relationship from the start--having been childhood friends and (unbeknownst to them both) crushing on each other for years.  I'll admit I'm happy that Emily's first husband, a dashing Naval officer, made her happy and didn't follow the normal cliche that she married too young and regretted it quickly.  She held genuine affection for him with only the remote regret of 'what could have been' with Henry.

Her goose, also named Henry (she calls the Baron 'Hank' however) was a quirky addition to the cast.  Its not the first time I've seen a goose as a guard-animal, but its not too common.  The Baron's friend was just there--he wasn't rounded out or given much backstory other then his ties to Hank.  Similarly several other characters are mentioned (the Viscount and his wife, Emily's mother), but not given much backstory or time.  This is  a short story so by necessitation it had to stay focused on the romance between Hank and Emily.

The true Pumpkinapper is part of the supernatural element, but overall only plays a part in drawing Emily and Hank together with little else use.  I did learn something however, I didn't realize that pumpkins weren't a well known part of England.  I found it interesting that Emily and Viscountess were busy trying to grow them in wake of the bad crop year.  And Emily figured out how to make pumpkin pie.