Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Faith Fairchild is the wife of a minister, mother of two children, owner of a catering business and oh yeah - amateur detective. Have Faith, her business has been affected by the slowing economy, so when her friend Patsy suggests that Faith take over the cafe at the Ganley Art Museum, she jumps at the chance. There is of course a catch....

Patsy and her husband have donated a painting to the Ganley Museum and plan to make the loan permanent when she notices that something is not quite `right' with the painting. Patsy wants Faith to take over operation of the museum café and use her amateur detective skills to find out who has been replacing original works of art with skillful forgeries. As always, it doesn't take Faith long to stumble over trouble or rather a body. What starts out as an investigation into art forgery quickly turns to murder. Meanwhile on the home front Faith knows something is not quite right with her middle school aged son.

Initially I thought this book was boring, but the book did pick up speed about half way through and eventually grabbed my attention. I felt that a major portion of the book was taken up by paragraph after paragraph of descriptions about the origins the Ganley Museum, the food that was being served by the catering company or descriptions of the various pieces of artwork (real or imagined) that was highlighted in the story. This is the first book I had read by Ms. Page and perhaps if I had started from the beginning of the series (which is usually my preference); I might have felt more of a connection to Faith as a character. On a rating scale of 1-5 (where 1 = bad, 3 = average, 5 = exceptional) I would give this a rating of 3.

In summary, I believe that while this book is good, it could have been better had it contained less detailed descriptions of the food, artwork, museum etc., and had the plot expanded. I would have also liked for the book to be a little longer, at just over 250 pages including the recipes it felt, well, short.

Unlike earlier titles in the series, the latest Faith Fairchild mystery takes place close to home in Aleford, Massachusetts. Other reviewers have captured the plot; no need to recap that. I especially enjoy this series because the family dynamics are so real. Whether Faith is dealing with Tom's extended family (THE BODY IN THE SNOWDRIFT) or her own past (THE BODY IN THE BIG APPLE), the interplay among characters feels right on. In THE BODY IN THE GALLERY, Faith's relationship with her troubled teenaged son Ben has a great been-there-done-that feel to it. I can think of other series where the protagonist's family is just too perfect, which makes Katherine Hall Page's books such good reads--and I know that somehow Faith, Ben, Tom and the rest will survive Ben's adolescence--even with all of us watching from the sidelines. The issue of bullying is handled from an interesting point of view; so often the victim takes the forefront, but in this case not. Another thought-provoking book in a stellar series.

Caterer Faith Fairchild is asked to take over the cafe at Aleford's Ganley Art Museum, and at the same time do some snooping for her friend Patsy who wants to know who put a fake collage in the museum in place of the genuine piece that she and her husband donated. In the course of her duties Faith discovers the body of an unknown woman who has become a gruesome part of an art object. Faith works to uncover the woman's identity and also to discover who murdered her. In the course of her investigation she uncovers unsavory aspects about many of the people who are connected to the museum.

The book also chronicles Faith's struggles with her teenaged son who has become uncommunicative and rebellious. He is involved in an activity which is an old one with a new cyber twist. It makes for interesting family background and also serves as a warning to parents of teenagers who may be involved in a similar activity. This is another good read from Katherine Hall Page.

It's been awhile since the last book in the series, but as soon as I started reading this installment, I remembered why I was ready to give it up after the last one. Faith has never been a likeable character to me -- she's too stuck-up and snobby -- but the author's writing style has just become so condenscending and uppity that it's no longer enjoyable to read her books.

The reasons Faith finds herself involved in these causes are no longer plausible. And it's even less plausible that the chief of police and Dunne get so annoyed by her meddling, yet continue to share information with her and put her right in the middle of the action. I just can't stretch my believability this far.

This installment was particularly annoying because Ben has now turned into the typical big-mouthed arrogant cozy teen. And Faith and Tom's way of dealing with it is to bite their tongues and let him walk all over them. It brought back too many thoughts of Goldy Bear's son Arch and when that series jumped the shark. When Faith walked into his room, saw something on his computer and asked him about it, and he told her to mind her own business, so she and Tom left the room, I nearly put the book down for good. I just kept hoping someone would find Ben taken out by the murderer.

Unless the next book in the series gets straight five-star reviews, I think I'm finally done with this series.

As others have indicated, this latest installment in the Faith Fairchild series has her taking over a museum cafe to investigate what seems to be art forgery. In typical Faith fashion, she stumbles into yet another murder and the denoument is interesting, if not entirely a surprise.

Author Katherine Hall Page introduces a contemporary element with "cyber-bullying" thread, which helps bring the characters up to date and illuminates this important issue for parents and other adults everywhere. It is also completely believable, true to the family and the most compelling part of the story (for me, at least).

Now, for the flaw. Faith and Tom's marriage simply does not come across as realistic. They are operating out of roles that are too old for their suggested ages. Faith is entirely responsible for the domestic side. Tom doesn't lift a finger. Faith holds herself entirely responsible for Ben's problems, which Tom is only too happy to dump onto her. Nowhere do I get the sense that he thinks that this is a shared problem and a shared responsibility. They're locked into a "man as breadwinner, woman as homemaker ideology" that really doesn't ring true at all. Where's Tom's willingness to put his career aside? And just what is Faith supposed to do? Follow her son around? Ben responded better to his father, why wouldn't it occur to Tom to take a sabbatical (clergy do have them) and devote himself to some father-son bonding time? Or what if he lost his job and Faith *had* to step up? This is the 21st century, but it feels like this book got lost in a time warp.

Faith Fairchild takes her Have Faith catering service to the Ganley Art Museum to investigate a missing piece of contemporary art for her friend Patsy Avery.
A lovely young woman's body is discovered by Faith in a fish tank the morning after a major showing at the museum. A women with no identification and no apparent past until slowly little connections to the gallery emerge from reluctant witnesses.
The skill of a master weaves the threads between the food, the art exhibits, and the clues to a surprising murder.
Nash Black, author of Sins of the Fathers and Qualifying LapsHaintsWriting as a Small Business

In Aleford, Massachusetts, the Ganley Museum is gaining quite a reputation for quality items and exhibits. Board member Pasty Avery asks her close friend Faith Fairchild, owner of the catering business Have Faith, to visit the museum to see if a valuable Bearden collage she donated has been replaced by a fake. Faith is small enough to crawl under the laser beams to grab the painting, which she takes to Patsy, who becomes hysterical when the back lacks a telltale mark making this a fake.

A few days later at an extravaganza at the museum, Faith finds the dead body of a bald woman in a fish tank that is part of the exhibit. Patsy and Faith believe that the forgery and the homicide are linked with the latter trying to figure out how. Someone identifies the victim, but the police insist no such person exists. By the time the two amateur sleuths learn who the deceased is, someone else is killed. Faith is in the middle of another homicide investigation that brings her to the attention of a dangerous killer.

The latest Faith Fairchild amateur sleuth tale contains the usual delightful mystery with a murderer who is not easy to identify, but when revealed seems plausible that this person committed these atrocities. The story line also focuses on the heroine's home life and the problems she is having with her teenage son. Thus readers get an insightful family drama that adds depth to the plot, but also questions why she failed to address the issues with her son when they first surfaced. Nevertheless this is a fine body of work that will please fans of the author.

Harriet Klausner

I was eagerly awaiting the return of Faith Fairchild and this book did not disappoint. I enjoyed the descriptions of the art and cuisine in the book. I will definitely be making a couple of the recipes, especially the endive. I thought that having Faith take over the gallery's cafe was a clever way to put her on the "scene of the crime". Since we did not see much of the Fairchild family dynamic in the last book, the situation with Faith's son Ben and her husband Tom was a welcome update. One of the best aspects of this series is the way Faith juggles her many roles, which often conflict. The book takes place in the fall, and the descriptions of the fall festival and East-Coast fall weather make a great backdrop for the mystery. My only minor criticism is that the murderer was almost too much of a surprise. With the many other, more plausible, possible suspects, the murderer was a bit of a stretch for me. Without giving too much away, there is one red-herring scene in particular that seems to reveal the murderer and then there is never any explanation for the totally bizarre behavior of that person. But all in all, a great book and hopefully we won't have as long to wait before the next installment.

The writing style of this author made this book entirely too difficult to get into. As such, I was not interested in this story. It might be an ok read for a plane or long car ride.

Caterer Faith Fairchild's friend Patsy Avery suggests she take over the café at the local Ganley Art Museum since business has been slow. Plus Patsy wants her to figure out who switched the priceless piece she lent the museum with a fake.

Faith stumbles upon a mysterious corpse one morning that stirs up the already murky history of the museum. Who is she and could have killed her and why?

As if that weren't enough, Faith's middle school aged son, Ben, is being more secretive and defiant than normal. Where did her little boy go? What is he up to? Why aren't he and Josh, who was his best friend for many years, no longer hanging out?

Can Faith unravel the mysteries without putting herself in danger?

I enjoy this series. Faith and her family are very real. Middle school is such a hard time for kids, and the author has really captured some of that frustration for the kids as well as the parents.

The mystery is well-crafted and there are plenty of suspects to keep you guessing.

I highly recommend this book and complete series.