Hester's husband is stationed in Egypt (World War II is over), and her two children are safely off to boarding school. What is she to do to while away her days? A friend tells her that a woman named Miss Clutterbuck has been forced to turn her family home into a hotel to make ends meet, and she badly needs an assistant. Hester takes up the job, but with many misgivings. This book is a fun look at how she gets to know her eccentric employer, try to patch up the lives of Major Elden and Miss McQueen (an engaged couple for whom things are not going well), and accustom herself to her children growing up.
There is a cute scene where Miss Clutterbuck elects to read aloud to a sewing circle. They fawn over "a scene from Jane Austen," but clearly they are fans in name only, for they fail to recognize that the scene and the characters are absolutely nowhere to be found in the Austen canon. Miss Clutterbuck wrote up the excerpt herself, just for amusement, and because she feels that Jane Austen is too good for the likes of them.
Enjoyed this book--possibly the strongest of the Mrs. Tim books so far. There are only 4 (I think). ( )

This is the third in the Mrs. Tim books and was published in 1947. The four very successful Mrs. Tim books grew out of the author's diaries from this period and reflect her experiences as an army wife. This one sees Hester on her own with her husband stationed in Egypt and her children at boarding school. Although the war has ended, times are still tight, with continued rationing. Deciding that she must keep busy and needed a place to live after her current lease expires, Hester decides to take a job helping to run an inn in the Scottish borderlands. Tocher House is a private estate owned by a single woman needing to take in guests in order to keep her home. Hester learns to adapt to the crotchety owner while observing the inn guests with her usual wit (and matchmaking skills).

I continue to enjoy the series for its comfortable, relaxing reads about a strong woman faced with ordinary, homey problems. I still can't understand her love for her husband, whom we rarely see or hear from, when she is obviously best friends with the inestimable Tony Morley. She writes so much more about Tony than Tim. I keep hoping that she and Tony will get together, but according to her biography, that is a vain hope. ( )

The war is over but Tim has not been sent home. Instead he's stationed in Egypt. Bryan is at boarding school & with Betty at school all day, Mrs. Tim is at loose ends. Then her landlord notifys her that he wants his house back early! Hester's friend, Grace, decides that what Hester needs is a job - one in Scotland helping crusty Miss Clutterback run her hotel.

As with Mrs. Tim Carries On, nothing much happens. But what does happen is so utterly charming that the reader wants the book to go on forever. ( )

Catches and lobs forward Hester Christie's narrative of her life, post-war, when she decides to take a job in Scotland as an assistant to a gruff hotelier. As charming as Mrs. Tim of the Regiment. ( )