In a loving homage to Agatha Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, Katherine Hall Page puts her series amateur detective, caterer Faith Fairchild, into a similar mix in THE BODY IN THE IVY.
Fairchild is called to the secluded home of an extremely wealthy and very famous author named Elaine Prince, who has decided to host a college class reunion for just a few of the students with which she graduated. Not friends, you see – because the host had a sister who committed suicide just before graduation, and Prince believes that one of the people she invites to her mansion actually is the murderer of her departed sister.
At first, Fairchild, who knows nothing of Ms. Prince’s plans, is delighted at the opportunity to cook in such delightful, but remote, surroundings. But after the first body appears, things get scary indeed. Is Elaine murdering off her old college chums one by one until she finds the culprit?
The book alternates between present-day chapters and the histories of each of the college students, showcasing each pupil and his or her own adolescent motivations as they go through a particularly traumatizing four years at school. We see all how the characters interacted with each other in the past, and the analogous adult interactions as they deal once again with each other, and the certainty that one of them is a murderer.
Page has an effortless but effective descriptive style which is impressive. In a few short words, you have a perfect sense of place, what it looks like, even the smells. Obviously, with her reimagining of Christie’s plot, it comes with all the convoluted impossibilities of a totally isolated mansion, 10 fractious characters, irrational behavior and the sheer unlikelihood of someone wanting tea and scones after one of their ex-classmates has been drowned in the bath.
But if you can forgive all that, you will find a delightful, cozy-style mystery that is smoothly written, ably deals with emotions and characters, and is a quick and fun read with six recipes thrown in at the end. And yes, they include a very serviceable beef bourguignon and rhubarb crumble recipe, thank you very much.
Part of a long series, the 17th of which comes out in April, this is recommended for foodies and fans of more conventional mysteries. –Mark Rose
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I don’t doubt that she’s a competent writer, but I have a real strong hatred of cozies.