Secret
Sins
A
Callie Anson Mystery
Kate
Charles
Poisoned
Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-356-6 (1590583566)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-356-2 (9781590583562)
Publication Date: March 2007
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Life may not be getting any easier for curate Callie
Anson, but it is definitely getting more interesting. Her relationship
with policeman Marco Lombardi grows ever warmer, even though he seems
to be keeping her away from his close Italian family. Then her own
brother Peter, beloved and engaging as he is, gets a bit too close for
comfort when he moves in with Callie.
Professionally, things are challenging as well. Callie has become
involved with the problems of a new parishioner. Morag Hamilton is
worried about her granddaughter Alex--a lonely and isolated
twelve-year-old with a work-obsessed father and a self-absorbed
step-mother. If Morag knew how much time Alex spends on the internet,
she would have even more cause for worry.
Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Neville Stewart tries to put his
personal problems on hold as he deals with Rachel Norton, a pregnant
young woman with a missing husband. With the birth of their first baby
only a few days away, why would Trevor Norton go out jogging and not
return?
Trevor's disappearance may not be what it seems. Just when Neville
thinks he's solved it, someone else goes missing: young Alex Hamilton.
Review:
Kate Charles' second entry in the Reverend Callie Anson series, Secret Sins,
is a series of interrelated vignettes that when viewed as a whole make
for an intriguing novel but which barely qualify to be characterized as
a mystery.
The primary plot thread and the only one that has a logical beginning
and ending is also the most interesting. Alex Hamilton is the young
daughter of a successful businessman who attends an exclusive school
where she doesn't fit in. She has an antagonistic relationship with her
stepmother and though her treasured grandmother lives only a short
distance away, Alex isn't allowed to visit with her. She has only a
locket by which to remember her mother who is locked away in a hospital
in Scotland. When her situation at home becomes intolerable, she leaves
on a treacherous trek to find her mother. Callie Anson, the local
parish curate who has befriended Alex's grandmother Morag, unwittingly
participates in the investigation of Alex's disappearance when she
accompanies Morag on a trip to Scotland.
The mystery of Secret Sins
is in one of the secondary subplots. A father-to-be is killed one
morning while jogging by person or persons unknown. The only item
missing is his iPod which the police rapidly conclude the theft of
which was the reason he was killed. Astute readers will just as rapidly
come to a different, more probable, and in the end correct, conclusion.
Callie isn't involved in this subplot which itself seems to have been
added for the sole purpose of including a dead body into the book.
The various other plot threads (Callie's relationship with her family,
her potential romantic relationship with policeman Marco Lombardi, her
relationship with the members of her church and their families, and two
or three more) all serve to round out the principal character, but do
little else in and of themselves.
Secret
Sins is an interesting, well
written book populated by appealing, complex characters, but don't
expect a whodunit, howdunit, or whydunit—it's none of these.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Secret Sins and to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Secret Sins? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series ...
Evil
Intent
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), October 2005
ISBN-10: 1-59058-200-4 (1590582004)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-200-8 (9781590582008)
Secret Sins
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), March 2007
ISBN-10: 1-59058-356-6 (1590583566)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-356-2 (9781590583562)
Deep Waters
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), March 2009
ISBN-10: 1-59058-602-6 (1590586026)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-602-0 (9781590586020)
Omnimystery
keywords for Secret Sins
...
Location(s) referenced: London, England Scotland.
