Customer Reviews

The Body in the Attic: A Faith Fairchild Mystery (Faith Fairchild Mysteries)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I became an avid reader of Katherine Hall Page's wonderful mysteries after reading an article about her in The Tufts Criterion, the alumni publication of Tufts University. In my estimation, The Body in the Attic is her best work yet. The protagonist, Faith Fairchild, is maturing as a mother and as a caterer. In some ways, perhaps she is an alter-ego of the author herself. While the two concurrent plots of the mystery provide a really good read, other themes such as balancing family with career, gourmet cuisine with urban homelessness and hunger, and ministry with personal fulfillment, are also of central concern. To be sure, there are feminine frills, presented with a delightful touch of humour, i.e. comments on accessories and designer clothes, but at its heart the novel delves in a lighthanded way into some rather serious issues of modern life.

Because Faith Fairchild's husband, Tom, is a minister, there is a spiritual overtone as well. But the religious theme does not usually enter through his character, not in previous works in which he is pastoring, nor in this one where he teaches at Harvard Divinity. Rather, it is Faith the minister's daughter and pastor's wife who usually interjects the element of living with meaning and integrity. In this volume, it is intriguing that the victim's diary is also the vehicle which speaks of God's love, as well as of the moral issues and dilemmas that spring from a commitment to live with some sort of integrity during the intolerably evil imprisonment within her home.

Then, too, the pleasures of food are presented throughout the book in a number of interesting ways. While this is true in all Katherine Hall Page's mysteries, the catalog of luscious-sounding restaurants that actually exist in Cambridge and Boston are worth researching on-line and exploring in person. Readers who live in the greater Boston area are doubly blessed.

Finally, it is worth obtaining a copy of this book for the narrative pages which follow as a sort-of postscript. Of special note in all Katherine Hall Page's works are the recipes, but as more a reader than a cook I really enjoyed this particular volume's notes on both comfort food and comfort reading. The author provides a lengthy list of authors one could curl up with for a long time to come.

In addition to our author's reading suggestions, I also look forward to curling up with a long list of future novels by this author. I wonder if she is as delightful a person as Faith Fairchild and her fictional friends. May Katherine Hall Page continue to bless us with years of new reading pleasure!

Faith Fairchild's husband Tom is becoming discontented with his life as pastor of a church in Aleford, a small town in Massachusetts. Because of this, he feels that he can't turn down the offer of a chance to fill in for a divinity professor at Harvard for a semester. Surprisingly, big-city girl Faith feels sad to pull up her roots from Aleford, if only for a little while. When she reaches their house in Cambridge, she feels a sense of foreboding, as if something mysterious has happened there at one time. Her feelings prove to be true when she finds a diary written by a woman who was literally held as a prisoner by her husband in the house in the 1940's. Meanwhile Faith encounters an old boyfriend named Richard at a homeless shelter and he tells her that he is doing undercover research for a new book he is writing. She begins to meet with Richard and does not tell her husband Tom about the meetings. This particular plot twist did not sit well with this reader, particularly since Faith is very vocal about her jealousy over one of Tom's female graduate students who becomes friendlier to him than Faith would like. Eventually the questions brought up by the diary and by Richard's presence are answered, and this latest "Body" book ends with some of Faith's favorite recipes. This is another good entry in the series about the caterer and the pastor.

I enjoyed this one. Very nice character development, as in the past, and good story line. A nice mellow read. A series is difficult to sustain, but the author has done well by this one. I certainly recommend it. I do hope there are more coming.

Rev. Thomas Fairchild seems to be going through a mid-life crisis. At least that is what his wife, Faith, believes. Understanding he needs a break she agrees to a temporary move to Cambridge, MA, even though she did NOT like the way Thomas went about telling her. Faith and their two children will housesit for Professor Ted Robinson while Thomas teaches a semester at the Harvard Divinity School.

While working at a homeless shelter, Faith comes face-to-face with an old boyfriend, Richard Morgan. Richard claims that he is not really homeless, but doing research for a book. Then Faith finds a diary in the old house's attic. The diary is from a past resident of the house, a miserable wife who had been virtually a prisoner in the house by her husband. The more Faith reads, the more curious she becomes. And there is still someone alive, today, who does not want the information in the diary to get out.

**** Sections are choppy, especially toward the beginning of the book, and I found myself getting confused. But it soon smoothed out and became a great mystery. To me, the novel was like reading an older version of the Nancy Drew series, a clean mystery with only a touch of real danger. All-in-all, readers will find this one to be a great way to spend an afternoon of light reading. ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Faith Fairchild uproots her family to join her husband on a short stay in Cambridge. She misses her home and familiar surroundings but is soon fascinated by the town, its people and the history hidden in the walls (and the attic!) of the house they are staying.

Not one of Page's best but certainly worth reading.

I love this series, Faith is a wonderful character and never gets stale for me. This book appealed to me because it dealt more with relationships and didn't have a boring subplot as did The Body in the Lighthouse. I was intrigued with Faith's range of emotions about Richard and Tom and enjoyed reading the diary entries of Dora. Without giving too much away, there is a twist in this book regarding the title that differs from previous Faith Fairchild mysteries, I was a bit confused until I was about 2/3 through the book. Personally, I wish Tom wasn't such a stick in the mud, Faith seems too young and vibrant to be with him. Also, Faith must have amazing metabolism as she eats her way through this whole book and never seems to have to work it off. This is a nice, light mystery and a quick read. I'd highly recommend it.

I have enjoyed all of the Faith Fairchild series, not least because their milieu is familiar to me. Caterer Faith Fairchild reluctantly follows her husband. The Reverend Tom is taking a sabbatical leave to spend teaching at Harvard. Faith doesn't like being uprooted, especially because Tom didn't discuss it with her in advance. The family relocates to a historic house in the Brattle Street area of Cambridge. Two major plot lines run through the book; Faith runs into an old flame at a soup kitchen and her children find a post-World War II diary in the attic. Sometimes series' heroes seem too perfect to be true, but here Faith and Tom have their occasional warts on view.
The Body in the Bonfire is still my favorite of the series, but this comes close.

Faith Fairchild's husband, Rev. Thomas Fairchild, is discontent with his life as a pastor and takes a sabbatical to teach at Harvard Divinity School. This moves the family to Cambridge, MA, temporarily. They stay in another professor's home while he is away. It is a nice large house with lots of antique furniture. But that is the problem with their two small children. Plus Faith does not get good vibes from the nursery on the third floor.

Faith helps out at the soup kitchen one day and runs into an old flame from her past. She agrees to meet him, but things are not always what they seem.

When her children are playing in an old wardrobe, a diary is found. Faith reads it and begins to work at unraveling the secrets of the house.

But can she do so without endangering herself or her family?

I enjoy this series. Faith is a fun character. She doesn't do much catering in this book. I did enjoy when she went to a party and commented on the catering. Really saw it from a different view point.

I was a little disconcerted with the lack of communication between Faith and Tom in this book. I think it added to the mystery of some of the events, but I was surprised by it.

I look forward to reading more in this series. I highly recommend this book and series.

While I enjoyed this installment of the series more than the last few, I did find it be somewhat confusing, with too much going on.

Faith has never been a likeable character to me, but she seems to get worse with every book. She's always come across as pompous and superior, but with Ms. Page throwing in tons of French words and phrases, the books on a whole are starting to come across as arrogant as well.

Still, not a bad way to spend a couple of evenings.

Thomas Fairchild, the minister at the First Parish Church in Aleford, Massachusetts, is tired of taking care of his flock, exhausted from their demands and needing a change of scenery. He arranges to teach at the Divinity School in Cambridge which means his wife Faith and her two children have to find a place to live. It is fortunate for them that Professor Ted Robinson needs a housesitter while he is on sabbatical in California.

While working at a homeless shelter, Faith meets Richard Morgan an old boyfriend who disappeared from her life before she met Thomas. He tells her that he is working undercover so that he could write a book about the plight of the homeless. They meet several times before he again disappears from her life. While worrying about Richard she finds a diary about a woman who lived in the house she is now occupying, a wife who was imprisoned by her husband. Little does she know that reading that diary gets her kidnapped and almost gets her killed by a person who has everything to lose if the contents of the journal are made public.

Anyone who wants action should give THE BODY IN THE ATTIC a miss as it dwells more on the emotions of the heroine and the woman in the diary. Although the plot meanders in places, readers get a good understanding what it means to be a minister's wife who doesn't want to be a reflection of her husband's career choice. The mystery subplot is exciting because it takes the audience totally by surprise. Katherine Hall Page writes a very compelling tale about the sins of the past having an impact on the present.

Harriet Klausner