Scan barcode
A review by booksuperpower
A Christmas Escape by Anne Perry
4.0
The Christmas Escape by Anne Perry is a 2015 Random House publication.
I would like to thank the publisher and The LibraryThing early review program for the lovely hardcover copy of this book.
I always look forward to Anne Perry’s Christmas stories which has loose ties to her ‘Monk’ series. In this case Charles is on holiday on the island of Stromboli when a dormant volcano suddenly decides to awake from its long nap.
Charles is immediately befriended by a precious and delightful fourteen year old girl, named Candace.
She regales him with stories about their fellow travelers at the inn, and is especially excited about a well known novelist being in their midst.
However, the atmosphere becomes tense as a sinister occurrence leads to murder amid the evacuation of the guests, and Charles finds himself responsible for Candace. The two must attempt to escape the volcanic fury, but must also escape a murderer.
I had been hoping to add this book to my holiday reading in 2015, and thought it would make an excellent post for my blog, but sadly the book shipped out late, not arriving until nearly a month after Christmas, by which time I was pretty much burned out on holiday themed novels.
So, since I was free from a looming deadline, I decided to wait a couple of months before starting this one. This is not a long book, and I read it in a couple of hours while stuck inside on a rainy Monday afternoon.
While touted as a Christmas themed mystery, the book could be read at any time of the year, as it turns out,because the holiday atmosphere isn’t really present, and is not mentioned until the very end.
Candace is the show stealer here, and the mystery is wrapped up around her in ways I would never have guessed. I loved the dialogue and the characters, but the volcanic eruptions gave the book a more depressing aura than I expected.
In the end, however, I felt more respect for Charles and have faith he will do his best by Candace, and who knows, maybe in time, the two of them might make a great detective team.
Overall 3.5 stars
I would like to thank the publisher and The LibraryThing early review program for the lovely hardcover copy of this book.
I always look forward to Anne Perry’s Christmas stories which has loose ties to her ‘Monk’ series. In this case Charles is on holiday on the island of Stromboli when a dormant volcano suddenly decides to awake from its long nap.
Charles is immediately befriended by a precious and delightful fourteen year old girl, named Candace.
She regales him with stories about their fellow travelers at the inn, and is especially excited about a well known novelist being in their midst.
However, the atmosphere becomes tense as a sinister occurrence leads to murder amid the evacuation of the guests, and Charles finds himself responsible for Candace. The two must attempt to escape the volcanic fury, but must also escape a murderer.
I had been hoping to add this book to my holiday reading in 2015, and thought it would make an excellent post for my blog, but sadly the book shipped out late, not arriving until nearly a month after Christmas, by which time I was pretty much burned out on holiday themed novels.
So, since I was free from a looming deadline, I decided to wait a couple of months before starting this one. This is not a long book, and I read it in a couple of hours while stuck inside on a rainy Monday afternoon.
While touted as a Christmas themed mystery, the book could be read at any time of the year, as it turns out,because the holiday atmosphere isn’t really present, and is not mentioned until the very end.
Candace is the show stealer here, and the mystery is wrapped up around her in ways I would never have guessed. I loved the dialogue and the characters, but the volcanic eruptions gave the book a more depressing aura than I expected.
In the end, however, I felt more respect for Charles and have faith he will do his best by Candace, and who knows, maybe in time, the two of them might make a great detective team.
Overall 3.5 stars