The
Body in the Sleigh
A
Faith Fairchild Mystery
Katherine Hall Page
William
Morrow (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-06-147425-8 (0061474258)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-147425-5 (9780061474255)
Publication Date: October 2009
List Price: $24.99
Synopsis (from
the publisher): It's Christmastime, and the Fairchild family is
spending the holidays on idyllic Sanpere Island in Maine while the
Reverend Thomas Fairchild recuperates from surgery. His caterer wife,
Faith, is rejoicing in the rare, holiday family-time
together—watching ice boaters, snowshoeing, and doing plenty
of reading in front of the fire.
But Faith's high spirits are dampened when she discovers the body of a
young woman in an antique sleigh in front of the Sanpere Historical
Society. The victim, Norah, was a teenage drug addict who apparently
died by her own hand. Beloved by many, her untimely death rocks the
isolated, tight-knit island community.
Meanwhile, Mary Bethany, a local spinster who raises goats, happens
upon a newborn baby boy lying in the manger of her barn on Christmas
Eve. The only clues to his identity are a note in the basket asking her
to take care of him, as well as an alarming amount of cash. As Faith
helps Mary locate the baby's mother, she soon finds that the truth
behind the abandonment is connected to Norah's last days—and
that, just as death and life are intertwined on Sanpere, so are evil
and redemptive goodness.
Review:
Katherine Hall Page incorporates a traditional Christmas story within a
murder mystery in The Body in the
Sleigh,
the 18th entry in this series featuring caterer and amateur sleuth
Faith Fairchild.
The body in the sleigh is of a young woman, carefully placed between
two other lifeless figures -- mannequins -- that are part of a holiday
display in the center of Sanpere Island. As Faith notes upon
discovering the body, this was not an example of Christmas cheer, but
the polar opposite. But Faith's attention is quickly diverted by
another unexpected visitor to the island -- a baby found in the barn of
Mary Bethany, a local resident who lived alone on a goat farm. If the
baby is a surprise, so is what accompanied him: $50,000 in one-hundred
dollar bills. Though there is nothing to link the dead woman with the
baby boy, Faith surmises that there must be a connection and sets out
to discover what it is.
The
Body in the Sleigh is a
pleasant enough mystery, though by no means a demanding one. The final
paragraph of the second chapter pretty much summarizes what is to
follow: "But the something-wrong-with-this-picture was the mound of
cash on the kitchen table. Cash that Faith had a strong feeling didn't
lawfully belong to [the baby's] mother. And the real owner wasn't going
to waste any time looking for it. Looking for it all over the great
state of Maine." The identity of the dead woman is a little more
uncertain, but an extended backstory threaded through the main story
fills in those details.
The yuletide message, as it were, though, is somewhat heavy-handed. A
baby named Christopher, found in the barn of a virgin named Mary, on a
clear Christmas Eve night with a bright star overhead, is a little
overly contrived, even for a spiritual novel, which this isn't ...
exactly. Fans of this series will likely be content with the story and
how it plays out here, but it all seems a bit too strained and
overdone, formulaic even.
Special thanks to HarperCollins for providing an ARC of The Body in the Sleigh for this review.
Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read The Body in the Sleigh? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series …
The
Body in the Belfry
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), February 1990
ISBN-10: 0-312-03798-8 (0312037988)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-03798-7 (9780312037987)
The
Body in the Kelp
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), January 1991
ISBN-10: 0-312-05392-4 (0312053924)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-05392-5 (9780312053925)
The
Body in the Bouillon
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), December 1991
ISBN-10: 0-312-06309-1 (0312063091)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-06309-2 (9780312063092)
The
Body in the Vestibule
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), September 1992
ISBN-10: 0-312-08148-0 (0312081480)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-08148-5 (9780312081485)
The
Body in the Cast
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), November 1993
ISBN-10: 0-312-09755-7 (0312097557)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-09755-4 (9780312097554)
The
Body in the Basement
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), December 1994
ISBN-10: 0-312-11470-2 (0312114702)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-11470-1 (9780312114701)
The
Body in the Bog
William Morrow (Hardcover), March 1996
ISBN-10: 0-688-14573-6 (0688145736)
ISBN-13: 978-0-688-14573-6 (9780688145736)
The
Body in the Fjord
William Morrow (Hardcover), November 1997
ISBN-10: 0-688-14574-4 (0688145744)
ISBN-13: 978-0-688-14574-3 (9780688145743)
The
Body in the Bookcase
William Morrow (Hardcover), November 1998
ISBN-10: 0-688-15747-5 (0688157475)
ISBN-13: 978-0-688-15747-0 (9780688157470)
The
Body in the Big Apple
William Morrow (Hardcover), November 1999
ISBN-10: 0-688-15748-3 (0688157483)
ISBN-13: 978-0-688-15748-7 (9780688157487)
The
Body in the Moonlight
William Morrow (Hardcover), March 2001
ISBN-10: 0-380-97842-3 (0380978423)
ISBN-13: 978-0-380-97842-7 (9780380978427)
The
Body In The Bonfire
William Morrow (Hardcover), March 2002
ISBN-10: 0-380-97843-1 (0380978431)
ISBN-13: 978-0-380-97843-4 (9780380978434)
The
Body in the Lighthouse
William Morrow (Hardcover), May 2003
ISBN-10: 0-380-97844-X (038097844X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-380-97844-1 (9780380978441)
The
Body in the Attic
William Morrow (Hardcover), January 2004
ISBN-10: 0-06-052529-0 (0060525290)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-052529-3 (9780060525293)
The
Body in the Snowdrift
William Morrow (Hardcover), May 2005
ISBN-10: 0-06-052530-4 (0060525304)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-052530-9 (9780060525309)
The
Body in the Ivy
William Morrow (Hardcover), November 2006
ISBN-10: 0-06-076365-5 (0060763655)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-076365-7 (9780060763657)
The
Body in the Gallery
William Morrow (Hardcover), May 2008
ISBN-10: 0-06-076367-1 (0060763671)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-076367-1 (9780060763671)
The Body in the Sleigh
William Morrow (Hardcover), October 2009
ISBN-10: 0-06-147425-8 (0061474258)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-147425-5 (9780061474255)
Omnimystery
keywords for The Body in the Sleigh
...
Location(s) referenced: Maine.
