The Body in the Snowdrift: A Faith Fairchild Mystery (Faith Fairchild Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Katherine Hall Page (Author) "The curtains at the window didn't quite meet in the middle, and a sliver of gray winter dawn cut across the bedclothes like a dull..." (more)
Key Phrases: Pine Slopes, Sports Center, Boyd Harrison (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Agatha-winner Page's 15th Faith Fairchild mystery (after 2004's The Body in the Attic) offers the usual tantalizing mix—an attractive setting, great characters, good food and murder most foul. Faith, an upscale caterer, and Tom, her minister husband, join the extended Fairchild clan to celebrate the birthday of Tom's father, Dick, at the struggling Vermont ski resort of Pine Slopes. The death of an old friend of Dick's, local lawyer Boyd Harrison, from an apparent heart attack while skiing throws a pall over the reunion. The plot thickens as the family gathers. Craig, Dick's athletic youngest son, has a new wife, gorgeous gold digger Glenda; Betsey, Dick's sister, is a micromanaging dictator; Betsey's three children long for a little space to grow and her husband just longs to bow out. Throw in a missing chef, whom Faith is talked into replacing until another can be found, and the granddaughter of the resort's owners, who's going through a goth stage. Heat things up with a body discovered in the water supply of the snow-making machine, and there you have it: a perfect Faith concoction, with recipes.
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
Caterer Faith Fairchild gears up for her father-in-law's seventieth birthday celebration at a ski resort in Vermont that the Fairchilds have been visiting for years. Before she can even get her mind around the family pressures, however, she finds a local lawyer's body on the slopes. Then the cook disappears, and she finds her catering skills needed to keep the lodge running. Like Faith's recipes, which range from realistic to flights of Cool Whip fantasy, the tale whipsaws between some fairly straightforward exploration of the kind of fissures any large family might endure and some fairly artificial capering by a crew of straw villains (and villainesses). In between, two marriages break up, one closeted family member comes out, a few teens come to terms with their parents, and a great deal of cooking serves as prop, mainstay, distraction, and solace. A little preachy this time but still worth the trip, especially for series fans. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Avon (May 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060525320
• ISBN-13: 978-0060525323
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #339,652 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #17 in

  Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( P ) > Page, Katherine Hall

• This is item 15 in The Faith Fairchild Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better Than The Past Few, August 13, 2006

By	A Reader - See all my reviews

This series had been getting rather annoying, with Faith becoming more and more unbearable. This one had far too many characters to keep straight, many of whom really weren't necessary, but they managed to make Faith more tolerable.

The murderer's identity was fairly easy to figure out, and there were parts where the book became muddled -- particularly when a chapter just jumped into something major, completely out of left field. But the family dynamic made it more interesting than the past few books, in which Faith just looks down her nose at everything.

The one thing I didn't understand was the relationship between Faith and Betsy -- I'd never had a hint in previous books that there was any problems between them, and suddenly they're at each others' throats as a plot device. That should've been tightened up in the previous books leading up to this one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Body in the Snowdrift, November 28, 2005

By	MysteryLover (Sanpere Island, ME) - See all my reviews

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

I have never written a review to Amazon before, but after reading the two previous reviews, I had to say something. Katherine Hall Page's books just keep getting better and better. I especially enjoyed the family dynamics in this one and no, I did not guess whodunit. I'm looking forward to whatever she cooks up next.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A mixed bag, May 14, 2005

By	Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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

Faith Fairchild is not looking forward to the family reunion which her father-in-law has planned at a ski resort in order to celebrate his birthday. As she tells her friends, she likes the Fairchilds but in "small doses". When she and her family arrive, things go downhill fast, as Faith discovers a dead body on the ski slopes. Tensions rise as Faith's sister-in-law has much different ideas about child-rearing than Faith does, and their families are sharing a cabin. When the resort's chef disappears, caterer Faith takes over and her vacation is essentially over. Another dead body shows up and no one knows who to trust. Author Page does a good job of portraying the difficult relationships which can occur when an extended family gets together for an long period of time. Her choice of a Vermont ski lodge as the setting of the book is also a good one. Her portrayals of the teenagers and the strange woman who lives in a "gingerbread house" in the middle of the woods are less believable. Also, the motive for murder is not hard to unravel and the ending is a muddle of information which is thrown at the reader in order to tie up all of the loose ends.