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bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
3.0
Good escape series. Not too taxing, but very entertaining.
mollykwhelan's review against another edition
BRAGGING! Literally couldn't get past the exposition, which basically consists of "she was so skinny and pretty and rich and had a perfect baby and nailed her husband all the time" BARF
aspygirlsmom_1995's review
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
exurbanis's review against another edition
4.0
This book is the beginning of a growing list of “Body in the _____” series. Its heroine is Faith Sibley, a native New Yorker who has started a gourmet catering service. She meets and falls in love with Tom Fairchild, a young minister who whisks her away from her beloved home town to a much different life in rural Massachusetts. Faith is trying her best to fit into the role of pastor’s wife in a small town where everyone’s family goes back several generations and where everyone knows everyone else’s business. While taking a walk with her baby son, Benjamin, Faith discovers a dead body in a belfry. The body is that of Cindy Shepherd a young, willful girl who had made plenty of enemies in their small town. The suspects include Cindy’s fiance, and several men with whom she had had affairs and was subsequently blackmailing. Faith’s curiosity and unofficial investigations eventually lead her and Benjamin into grave danger. (Karen Potts on Amazon.com
This is the first Katherine Hall Page work that I’ve read and, once again, I praise the web-site Fantastic Fiction where I can find out what series an author has written and the chronological order of the books in each; and our public library system which allows me to borrow from other library systems in our province – in this case, it was the Halifax Regional Library that lent me this book.
I recognize that The Body in the Belfry is not great literature. Maybe it’s not even great mystery. But I liked it.
I liked Faith Fairchild, whom various reviewers have called unlikable, a meddler and a snob. A snob she may be–especially about food and clothes–but she is not unlikable. And if she and her ilk didn’t meddle, how would we have the mystery?
Having left the city to live in the country seven years ago, I identified a little with Faith on that score. Faith has just moved and is in that difficult transition period that befalls all who make that move. Maybe she’ll mellow with time. If not, then her “snobbery” will continue to highlight the charming and not-so-charming idiosyncrasies of her fellow townspeople.
Despite the red herrings, the mystery wasn’t overly tight. I guessed the killer half-way through, although I had a harder time nailing the exact motive.
Despite the flaws, I really enjoyed this time with Faith and I’m quite sure I’ll read at least a couple more in the series (there are 18 now–it’s certainly a busy little town with a lot of dead bodies). Hall Page has a wicked sense of humor: for example, Faith reflects that her catering business Have Faith had initially been mistaken by some as “an escort service for the guilt ridden”, and perhaps as the series continues, the mysteries will be more polished.
I’m willing to give it a go. Three and one half stars out of five.
This is the first Katherine Hall Page work that I’ve read and, once again, I praise the web-site Fantastic Fiction where I can find out what series an author has written and the chronological order of the books in each; and our public library system which allows me to borrow from other library systems in our province – in this case, it was the Halifax Regional Library that lent me this book.
I recognize that The Body in the Belfry is not great literature. Maybe it’s not even great mystery. But I liked it.
I liked Faith Fairchild, whom various reviewers have called unlikable, a meddler and a snob. A snob she may be–especially about food and clothes–but she is not unlikable. And if she and her ilk didn’t meddle, how would we have the mystery?
Having left the city to live in the country seven years ago, I identified a little with Faith on that score. Faith has just moved and is in that difficult transition period that befalls all who make that move. Maybe she’ll mellow with time. If not, then her “snobbery” will continue to highlight the charming and not-so-charming idiosyncrasies of her fellow townspeople.
Despite the red herrings, the mystery wasn’t overly tight. I guessed the killer half-way through, although I had a harder time nailing the exact motive.
Despite the flaws, I really enjoyed this time with Faith and I’m quite sure I’ll read at least a couple more in the series (there are 18 now–it’s certainly a busy little town with a lot of dead bodies). Hall Page has a wicked sense of humor: for example, Faith reflects that her catering business Have Faith had initially been mistaken by some as “an escort service for the guilt ridden”, and perhaps as the series continues, the mysteries will be more polished.
I’m willing to give it a go. Three and one half stars out of five.
angrygreycatreads's review against another edition
3.0
The Body in the Belfry is the first in the Faith Fairchild series. I have read one other, number 4 out of order, and decided to go back to this one. This is a series that surprised me in that I am not religious and I usually do not like religious themed books at all. In this series, Faith is a minister’s wife, and yet the books manage to not be preachy or full of morality lessons, etc. I liked the mystery and the characters, Faith and her husband Tom manage to be fully fleshed out characters, not defined by their faith. I did find the ending a little odd in the resolution. but it was still okay. The book is a product of its time, written in 1990 and may feel a little dated, especially to younger readers, who didn’t live through it.
krisrid's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this for what it is - a cozy murder mystery about the goings-on in small towns.
As a transplanted New Yorker now living in a small town outside of Boston, there's plenty of fish-out-of-water-isms that Faith Fairchild experiences as the new wife of the local minister. As someone who grew up in a small town and now lives in a big city, I did this experience the other way around [without the marrying a minister part, because, hahahaha, the very idea of that, just not happening, but I digress] and I recommend that order.
But Faith is settling in fairly well, until she takes her baby for a lovely lunchtime walk and discovers the dead body of the town's most hated person in the belfry.
Now, aside from wondering why someone would climb all the way into the belfry just to have lunch, this is well-done small-town cozy mystery. It takes good advantage of all the components and characters you find in that environment to build a fun, entertaining and engaging mystery.
There are multiple murders, plenty of red herrings about who's doing what to whom and why. I had fun following Faith around, and I enjoyed the characters as well as the story. This was nothing earth-shaking or particulary unique, but it was a good read, and if you enjoy cozy mysteries with a small town setting, you may enjoy this first in a series following Faith's continued sleuthing outings.
As a transplanted New Yorker now living in a small town outside of Boston, there's plenty of fish-out-of-water-isms that Faith Fairchild experiences as the new wife of the local minister. As someone who grew up in a small town and now lives in a big city, I did this experience the other way around [without the marrying a minister part, because, hahahaha, the very idea of that, just not happening, but I digress] and I recommend that order.
But Faith is settling in fairly well, until she takes her baby for a lovely lunchtime walk and discovers the dead body of the town's most hated person in the belfry.
Now, aside from wondering why someone would climb all the way into the belfry just to have lunch, this is well-done small-town cozy mystery. It takes good advantage of all the components and characters you find in that environment to build a fun, entertaining and engaging mystery.
There are multiple murders, plenty of red herrings about who's doing what to whom and why. I had fun following Faith around, and I enjoyed the characters as well as the story. This was nothing earth-shaking or particulary unique, but it was a good read, and if you enjoy cozy mysteries with a small town setting, you may enjoy this first in a series following Faith's continued sleuthing outings.
leto's review
2.0
While I enjoyed the main character everything else fell flat. I wasn't interested in the mystery. The husband and his religion got tedious. And I found none of the townsfolk 'quirky' or 'charming'. A quick read but still took me days to finish.
expendablemudge's review
2.0
Rating: 2.5* of five
The Publisher Says: During her years spent in New York City. Faith Fairchild was convinced she had seen pretty much everything. But the transplanted caterer/minister's wife was unprepared for the surprises awaiting her in the sleepy Massachusetts village of Aleford. And she is especially taken aback by the dead body of a pretty young thing she discovers stashed in the church's belfry. The victim, Cindy Shepherd. was well-known locally for her acid tongue and her jilted beaux, which created a lot of bad blood and more than a few possible perpetrators—including her luckless fiancé, who had neither an alibi nor a better way to break off the engagement. Faith thinks it's terribly unfair that the police have zeroed in on the hapless boyfriend, and so she sets out to uncover the truth. But digging too deeply into the sordid secrets of a small New England village tends to make the natives nervous. And an overly curious big city lady can become just another small town death statistic in very short order.
My Review: BAD First Mystery Novel Syndrome: Introduce characters that Central Casting would find rich and nuanced, but the Experienced Mysterian finds barely three-dimensional.
Then kill people that have blindingly obvious connections to each other, and to a cast of interchangeable Cozy Village Populators. Extra points (off) for including ancestor worshiping elders in a New England setting as major plot movers. Throw in a white cop from the Bronx as a detective with a Noo Yawk attitude. Ugh.
Describe your sleuth and her family with phrases so stock as to cause the Experienced Mysterian to make a mental police-artist drawing with attendant level of accuracy.
Set your story in a small New England stereotype of a town during the fall and have the transplanted New Yorker sleuth comment on the scenery and the weather without the slightest hint of fresh observation or even any believable motivation for her to so much as notice them.
Reveal the killer in such a way as to cause maximum snorts of derision and impatient huffing. The killer's identity was, I admit, not a standard choice, and so this first novel got an extra half star.
It's the first novel of NINETEEN in the series to date. If my very, very, very favorite porn star slipped into bed next to me, whispered disgusting and salacious suggestions of what he'd like me to do to him, and then said I had to read the second in the series before I was allowed to, I'd read the next one.
Otherwise, no. I have Ambien for sleeplessness, and while not as effective as this book in conkin' me out, it hurts less.
The Publisher Says: During her years spent in New York City. Faith Fairchild was convinced she had seen pretty much everything. But the transplanted caterer/minister's wife was unprepared for the surprises awaiting her in the sleepy Massachusetts village of Aleford. And she is especially taken aback by the dead body of a pretty young thing she discovers stashed in the church's belfry. The victim, Cindy Shepherd. was well-known locally for her acid tongue and her jilted beaux, which created a lot of bad blood and more than a few possible perpetrators—including her luckless fiancé, who had neither an alibi nor a better way to break off the engagement. Faith thinks it's terribly unfair that the police have zeroed in on the hapless boyfriend, and so she sets out to uncover the truth. But digging too deeply into the sordid secrets of a small New England village tends to make the natives nervous. And an overly curious big city lady can become just another small town death statistic in very short order.
My Review: BAD First Mystery Novel Syndrome: Introduce characters that Central Casting would find rich and nuanced, but the Experienced Mysterian finds barely three-dimensional.
Then kill people that have blindingly obvious connections to each other, and to a cast of interchangeable Cozy Village Populators. Extra points (off) for including ancestor worshiping elders in a New England setting as major plot movers. Throw in a white cop from the Bronx as a detective with a Noo Yawk attitude. Ugh.
Describe your sleuth and her family with phrases so stock as to cause the Experienced Mysterian to make a mental police-artist drawing with attendant level of accuracy.
Set your story in a small New England stereotype of a town during the fall and have the transplanted New Yorker sleuth comment on the scenery and the weather without the slightest hint of fresh observation or even any believable motivation for her to so much as notice them.
Reveal the killer in such a way as to cause maximum snorts of derision and impatient huffing. The killer's identity was, I admit, not a standard choice, and so this first novel got an extra half star.
It's the first novel of NINETEEN in the series to date. If my very, very, very favorite porn star slipped into bed next to me, whispered disgusting and salacious suggestions of what he'd like me to do to him, and then said I had to read the second in the series before I was allowed to, I'd read the next one.
Otherwise, no. I have Ambien for sleeplessness, and while not as effective as this book in conkin' me out, it hurts less.