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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
an almost perfect read, October 27, 2004
This review is from: A Christmas Visitor (The Christmas Stories) (Hardcover)
"A Christmas Visitor" may not be in the style of a grand puzzler, but it was a great read nevertheless. As is usual with a novel by Anne Perry, at the heart of "A Christmas Visitor" lies a question of morality -- doing the right thing no matter the personal cost, and the feelings that this act arouses within oneself and those affected by the act. "A Christmas Visitor" is a very short novella, and it is a very fast read -- it doesn't possess a very complex storyline, nor is it full of clever and suspenseful twist and turns, and yet within the 199 pages, Ms Perry expounds on the theme morality very well, holding my interest from start to finish. Judah Dreghorn was a very well thought of, highly respected and much loved Justice of the Peace. And yet, just before his tragic accidental death, he was accused by Ashton Gower of being corrupt and venal. Eleven years ago, Ashton Gower's ownership of his estate was questioned by his cousin, Peter Colgrave. It was Colgrave's contention that Gower had forged the deeds and that the estate rightfully belonged to him, Peter Colgrave. The case was put before Judah Dreghorn, who upon examining the deeds, discovered them to be a forgery. Gower was sent to prison for forgery and fraud, and Colgrave inherited the estate -- an estate he promptly sold to Dreghorn. But now, Gower who has been released from prison, has returned to the area to accuse Dreghorn of a deliberate miscarriage of justice in order to acquire the estate. A few days later, Judah accidentally slipped and cracked his head on some sharp stones in a deep stream. And now it is left to Judah's family (his wife, Antonia and his three brothers) to protect his name and the estate from Gower's claims. Henry Rathbone (father to Oliver Rathbone from the popular William Monk series), who happens to be Antonia's godfather and Judah's good friend, has come down to help Antonia with the Gower problem, and he cannot help but wonder about the nature of Judah's death. For Judah to die at such a time seems just too convenient. Was Judah murdered after all? And was Gower responsible for murdering Judah out of anger and spite? Or was there some other reason to Judah's death, and could Gower's claim of being wrongly imprisoned have some merit after all? Sure that the truth is the only way to help the Dreghorn family heal and get on with life, decides to uncover the truth about everything no matter the cost... I thoroughly enjoyed "A Christmas Visitor." It was a very fast, engaging and compelling read. And given that the book was only 199 pages long, I thought that Ms Perry had done an excellent job of vividly portraying her characters and the stark beauty of the Lake District in December. Also brilliantly done was how the entire book hinged on the moral character of the dead man -- what we know of Judah Dreghorn we learn from other characters. And yet he is a presence felt throughout the book in spite of the fact that he is dead even before the book even begins. Many authors have done this of course, but I don't think too many of them have really succeeded. Ms Perry definitely has. All in all, I was impressed by "A Christmas Visitor" -- it was short, fast paced, very well executed and the perfect thing for a train or bus ride.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A decent Christmas Story..., December 27, 2004
This review is from: A Christmas Visitor (The Christmas Stories) (Hardcover)
This book was just ok for me. It's very short, it only took me a day to finish, and I really wanted to know who-dunnit, but the story seemed to be lacking some, and was a bit repetitious. The excitment didn't really pick up till about 3/4 of the way through. This is the story of the Dreghorns. A very prominent family living in England that has ownership of a glorious house and all it's property. When Judah Dreghorn, the eldest of four brothers (3 surviving) dies in a freak accident, everything they know is challenged. The two surviving brothers, the widow of the previously dead one, and Mr. Henry Rathbone, a long-time family friend, come to tend to Judahs widow Antonia, and their son Joshua. While there they all try to figure out the mystery of how Judah died exactly, and for what reasons. I found the battle of the property to be a little confusing sometimes, but by the end I knew how it worked and what was going on. I gave this 3 stars because I was truly surprised with the ending of this book. The mystery part of it is very clever, however the rest seemed to fall a little flat for me. Overall, I though it was decent read for the Christmas season, and though I don't highly recommend it, it's not a complete waste of time.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Light Tale for Christmas, March 20, 2006
This review is from: A Christmas Visitor (The Christmas Stories) (Hardcover)
In this second of her Christmas parables, Anne Perry chooses to focus on Henry Rathbone, a minor character in her Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series. The book is short and easy to read. The mystery itself is somewhat confusing-- the issue regarding the date of property deeds took my slow little mind a while to catch on, but by the end I understood everything. If you are looking for a happy ending, you won't find it with this book, but the ending is a surprise and is a good morality tale. I have a feeling that in real life, it wouldn't quite end as simply as Ms. Perry would have it, but then, it is fiction.
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