Katherine Hall Page has extended her mystery series to 17 titles, the latest of which is THE BODY IN THE GALLERY. Faith Fairchild, the small-town caterer who gets involved in all kinds of crime, is running the lunch counter at the Ganley Art Museum. After the chaos of a special fundraising event held at the museum, everyone goes home for the night. The next morning, Fairchild decides to stop by the museum to make sure everything was cleaned up properly. That's when she discovers the dead body of a beautiful girl literally immersed in one of the exhibits.
Page's simple yet descriptive style shines forth in this book, as it did in the earlier THE BODY IN THE IVY. But whereas that book relied on an Agatha Christie plot for its storyline, this book just seems to get bogged down in a tale of Page's own creation.
It starts off with a possible art forgery, wanders through the mystery of the murder victim being way too enigmatic for her own good (or for the good of the story), and ends up with a highly unlikely perpetrator. There are too many characters and too many confusing lines of interaction between all the various characters. Paring it down a little and really focusing on the story would help so much.
With all that said, this is an American cozy that doesn't rely on gore or crimes so horrible that you feel dirty after having read it. Since Fairchild is a caterer, the novel also has a lot of tasty food discussion that's aimed at a home cook's level, complete with recipes at the back of the book. It's a perfectly casual and entertaining read, if not necessarily memorable. —Mark Rose
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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• THE BODY IN THE IVY by Katherine Hall Page
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