The Body in the Attic (Faith Fairchild Series #14)

A mysteryious old house and old friend

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...

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!

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 mystery

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. ****

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.