The Body in the Ivy: A Faith Fairchild Mystery (Faith Fairchild Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Katherine Hall Page (Author)

Book Description

Series: Faith Fairchild Mysteries | Publication Date: October 30, 2007

In this homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, Faith Fairchild is asked to cater a very small, very private college reunion on an isolated New England island—an event that could be her dream job. But when she discovers the true reason for the get-together, not even the spectacular ocean views can keep it from turning into a nightmare. Thirty years ago, bestselling suspense writer Barbara Bailey Bishop lost her twin sister in a tower fall deemed a suicide. But Barbara is convinced that Hélène did not die by her own hand, and she's trapped Hélène's former classmates—her prime suspects—at her home with no phone lines, no cell reception, and no means of escape.

One by one, the alumnae fall prey to a madwoman. A disturbed sister's revenge . . . or a former coed's coverup? Faith must quickly unlock the secrets of Hélène's last night if she wants to leave the island alive.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Agatha Award–winner Page pays clever homage to Christie's Ten Little Indians in the 16th outing of her Faith Fairchild series, which finds the amateur sleuth trapped on a remote New England island with a group of imperiled weekend guests. Faith is invited to the island by reclusive bestselling author, Barbara Bailey Bishop, presumably to cater the gathering, but Faith soon suspects that she and the other guests, the hostess's former classmates from Seven Sisters–style Pelham College, have all been invited under false pretenses. Flashbacks to the class of '70s school days reveal that Barbara's twin sister, Helene "Prin" Prince, fell from a campus tower the night before graduation—an apparent suicide. After a northeaster cuts off all access to the mainland, one of the guests is found dead. As the death toll mounts, Faith seeks answers and wonders if she will be the next victim. Readers of the series will relish this addition; Christie fans will enjoy an engaging tribute. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

This romantic mystery, filled with -country-house atmosphere and cookery, offers an homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. In this, the sixteenth entry in the Faith Fairchild series, New England caterer and part-time sleuth Fairchild receives a summons to cater a weekend at a best-selling mystery writer's island estate. Ten other women, who all attended an exclusive women's college in the 1970s, are invited. Readers soon discover that the invitations are lures to bring a very specific group together. The novel shuttles back and forth between the women's college years and the island. The link all the women share is the one girl who never graduated, one of their group, who fell to her death from a campus tower. It soon becomes apparent that their hostess is putting each one of the 10 on trial for this girl's death. Formulaic but addictive, from a master of the form who has won three Agatha Awards since 1990. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Avon (October 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060763663
• ISBN-13: 978-0060763664
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #207,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Katherine Hall Page is the author of seventeen previous Faith Fairchild mysteries, the first of which received the Agatha Award for best first mystery, and recently The Body in the Snowdrift was honored with the Agatha Award for best novel of 2006. Page also won an Agatha for her short story "The Would-Be Widower." She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and son.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clever Christie parallel, November 21, 2006

By 

Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Body in the Ivy: A Faith Fairchild Mystery (Hardcover)

Faith Fairchild is asked to cater a reunion for reclusive author Barbara Bailey Bishop and her friends from Pelham, an exclusive women's college. The reunion is to take place at a remote island home which is owned by Bishop, whose real name is Elaine Prince. Most of the women who have been invited have a specific expertise, such as finance or gardening, which they have been asked to share with their old college friends. Once they arrive, however, they see that the agenda is quite different. Two of the women are murdered and it becomes apparent that their hostess is out to discover which of them pushed her twin sister to her death just before they all graduated from Pelham. Flashbacks of their college years show that each of the women had reason to want to kill Prin Prince, who act cruelly towards each one of them. This book is a real departure from the others in the series and is a clever tribute to Agatha Christie's classic "10 Little Indians" in which guests to a home are eliminated one by one by a clever murderer in their midst. I found the change refreshing and thoroughly enjoyed the guessing game as to who the murderer was.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great amateur sleuth, November 6, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Body in the Ivy: A Faith Fairchild Mystery (Hardcover)

On a privately owned New England island, bestselling author Barbara Bailey Bishop hires Faith Fairchild to cater a college reunion celebration. Barbara and her classmates including her twin Helene known as Prin attended Ivy school Pelham College in the late 1960s; her name back then was Elaine Prince. In 1970, Prin fell from a campus tower to her death in what the police ruled was a suicide the night before graduation.

Faith has always felt otherwise that one of these eight killed her sibling who was universally desired and loathed. Now she has everyone who could have committed the act stranded on the island where she plans to learn the truth. The first death is considered an accident, but those that follow leave the dwindling survivors panicked as there is no escape until there is none.

In the sixteenth Fairchild amateur sleuth (can Faith still be considered an amateur, pay aside?) Katherine Hall Page pays obvious homage to Agatha Christie by modernizing And Then there Were None. The story line is fast-paced and filled with rising tension as one by one the attendees are dying with no way off the island (a storm adds to their isolation). As Faith, the only outsider, investigates while trying to remain alive, readers will appreciate this superior tale that ends with a Christie style twist.

Harriet Klausner

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Hit for Faith Fairchild, November 27, 2006

By 

M. Jeanne Bracken "refster" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Body in the Ivy: A Faith Fairchild Mystery (Hardcover)

I was lucky enough to pick up an advanced reader copy for THE BODY IN THE IVY at the American Library Association conference in New Orleans, so I didn't have to wait as long as most to read the latest Faith Fairchild novel by Katherine Hall Page. At Malice Domestic this year, Katherine was the guest of honor and also won the Agatha Best Novel of the Year ('05) for THE BODY IN THE SNOWDRIFT. That's a tough act to follow, but she has pulled it off. The atmospheric Maine island and fantastic house she describes are the perfect setting for her "locked-room" type of mystery. The characters are interesting, strong, and ring a bell for this grad (coed, Non-Ivy, alas) of the late 1960s. I enjoyed the flashbacks to tell the backstory. And the Maine weather descriptions were perfect!