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Description

Product Details

  • Pub. Date: April 2005
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • Format: Mass Market Paperback, 320pp

Synopsis

Caterer Faith Fairchild and family are living in one of historic Cambridge, Massachusetts', venerable Brattle Street houses while the Reverend Tom teaches a course at the Harvard Divinity School and does some soul searching — is his Aleford parish his true calling? One night in downtown Boston, Faith is startled by a face from her past. It's Richard Morgan, a former boyfriend from her life as a single woman in Manhattan. Their heady, whirlwind affair in the waning days of the self-indulgent 1980s ended abruptly. Now he's back, as exciting as ever.

Then something occurs that turns a pleasant sabbatical into a nightmare — Faith discovers a diary, written in 1946 and hidden in the attic, that reveals an unspeakable horror. Suddenly dark secrets seem to permeate every room. And with Richard guarding strange secrets of his own, Faith is soon caught up in solving more than one troubling mystery ... with a murderer lurking a little too close to home.

Publishers Weekly

In Agatha-winner Page's 14th warmhearted entry in her Faith Fairchild series (after 2003's The Body in the Lighthouse), the upscale caterer, amateur sleuth and born-and-bred New Yorker is, to her surprise, reluctant to leave suburban Aleford, Mass., when her minister husband Tom, frustrated and worn-out by day-to-day parish duties, announces that he's going to take a position at Harvard Divinity School for a semester. Soon after the couple settles in at their beautiful temporary home on Cambridge's prestigious Brattle Street, Faith realizes that the darkness and the creepy feeling she has about the old house are due to more than overgrown bushes. A riveting diary found in the house's attic and the sudden reappearance of old boyfriend Richard Morgan, who mysteriously disappeared 13 years before, lead her into an investigation as chilling as a New England winter. If her relationship with Morgan strains credulity at times, the interactions between her and Tom remain realistic and human. As Faith explores the byways of Boston and Cambridge in search of dangerous past secrets, both cities come to vivid life. The tempting recipes at the end for such fare as Butternut Squash Soup and Harvard Squares leave no doubt that a delicious treat is in store for cozy fans. Agent, Faith Hamlin. (May 1) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Biography

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.

Reviews (4)

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Most Helpful Positive Review:

A mysteryious old house and old friend5 star rating
by Dawn--MysLovCorner on November 24, 2008 at Barnes & Noble
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.

Most Helpful Negative Review:

Katherine Hall Page is always faithful...3 star rating
by Anonymous on January 27, 2005 at Barnes & Noble
to deliver a good read, but this was not my favorite. The diary sections were the most compelling I've read from Ms. Page in a while (makes me wonder if she shouldn't venture out into other genres?), and the characters in the diary captivated my imagination. I couldn't wait for Faith to pick up the diary and begin reading again. However, I agree with other reviewers that the reader is inevitably disappointed by the lack of resolution between Faith and Tom. Faith really seems to struggle with questions about fidelity (both on her and Tom's), and there really is no strong conclusion, other than the lesson learned by the diary (you cheat, you give birth to illegitimate baby, you die in imprisonment???). This book could have used a much stronger finale, and the story is a bit darker than usual for Ms. Page, but still worth a read for her fans.

Reviews sorted by helpfulness:

  • A mysteryious old house and old friend5 star rating
    by Dawn--MysLovCorner on November 24, 2008 at Barnes & Noble
    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.
  • Katherine Hall Page is always faithful...3 star rating
    by Anonymous on January 27, 2005 at Barnes & Noble
    to deliver a good read, but this was not my favorite. The diary sections were the most compelling I've read from Ms. Page in a while (makes me wonder if she shouldn't venture out into other genres?), and the characters in the diary captivated my imagination. I couldn't wait for Faith to pick up the diary and begin reading again. However, I agree with other reviewers that the reader is inevitably disappointed by the lack of resolution between Faith and Tom. Faith really seems to struggle with questions about fidelity (both on her and Tom's), and there really is no strong conclusion, other than the lesson learned by the diary (you cheat, you give birth to illegitimate baby, you die in imprisonment???). This book could have used a much stronger finale, and the story is a bit darker than usual for Ms. Page, but still worth a read for her fans.
  • I was disappointed!3 star rating
    by Anonymous on August 23, 2004 at Barnes & Noble
    I looked forward to reading this book. I thought that there would be focus on Tom's need to make changes and the difficulty for Faith to change from an environment that had become comfortable and reflected the woman that she was now. I was amazed at the quick fix at the end of the book for a marital relationship with secrets of profound impact for each spouse. She communicated with great trust with her girl friends but didn't even mention her old boyfriend or the disturbing diary she had found. This diary effected her deeply; didn't Tom notice and if he did, wouldn't an experienced pastor want to understand what was happening? This is probably why I felt irritated at the excursions into menu planning! Who really cares about the details of the menu; Faith needs to worry about the details of her marriage. I enjoyed the mystery of the diary. The connection made between that mystery and the one surrounding her old boyfriend, however, was a bit of a stretch.
  • Good light mystery4 star rating
    by Anonymous on March 16, 2004 at Barnes & Noble
    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. ****

Specifications

  • Pub. Date: April 2005
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • Format: Mass Market Paperback, 320pp