THE BODY IN THE BOOKCASE - Katherine Hall Page

From the back of the book: Stretched almost to the limit by the capricious demands of a Boston Brahmin bride-to-be, caterer and minister's wife, Faith Fairchild, faces real tragedy when she discovers the body of an elderly friend. Sarah Winslow had apparently surprised burglars ransacking her Aleford, Massechusetts house. No sooner has Sarah been laid to rest than the Fairchilds find themselves the next target---the parsonage is stripped of all their most precious possessions. Devastated and furious, Faith takes action, scouring pawnshops, antique marts, and auctions. As she turns up some of their stolen property, she is drawn onto a dangerous path of larceny and corruption in New England's venerable antique business--a path that soon leads Faith straight to a killer!

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This is a very enjoyable amateur sleuth series. Everything is handled, especially the two things I look for: why the amateur sleuth starts investigating on his or her own and what happens to the kids (if the amateur sleuth has them) while said amateur sleuth is out amateur sleuthing. That has bugged me in the past when the main character has younguns and just takes off, casually dropping the kids somewhere or conveniently has someone drop by to have coffee and ends up taking care of the kids or it doesn't get addressed whatsoever. Anyway...it bugs me...This doesn't happen in the Faith Fairchild series, or at least it hasn't happened yet.

Faith always has a plan of attack and she is stubborn in taking action to find the endgame. I admire her for this. And she takes care of her kids and family.

She takes action because of the death of her elderly friend and the robbery of her own house. She feels violated and wants results faster than the police can get them. She meets plenty of shady and potentially shady characters. Makes some new friends and has old friends to help along the way.

Neat info on the antique biz is included throughout. And since Faith is a caterer, so there are recipes in the back of the book....YUM!

Five antique beans.....

THE BODY IN THE CAST - Katherine Hall Page

I enjoy the heck out of reading cozies, especially well written ones like the ones I've read in this series. I have chosen to continue reading them out of order and it hasn't diminished my enjoyment.

Faith Fairchild is the wife of a minister, mother to two adorable younguns, owner and head chef of a catering firm, Have Faith. And she still finds time to stumble over dead bodies and mysteries galore in the small town of Aleford, Massachusetts.

This episode has Faith hired to cater the film crew of a possible blockbuster movie, A, based on THE SCARLET LETTER - Nathaniel Hawthorne. The town of Aleford is abuzz with the excitment of movie stars, a big named director and the local election heating things up.

Faith also has to contend with the possibility of having her catering business closed down due to some of the cast members suffering from food poisoning after having some of Faith's Black Bean Soup (recipe included in back of the book).

This is a nicely tight book with interesting characters that I liked and some I loathed just like I was supposed to.

Four fine kettle of soup beans.....