While her friend Pix is away for a family wedding, Faith Fairchild agrees to look in on Pix’s mother Ursula while she’s recuperating following a hospital stay. During a series of visits, the elderly woman tries to enlist Faith – an experienced amateur sleuth – to look into a murder that happened when Ursula was just a girl during the Great Depression. Plus Ursula’s insistence that Faith keep the story from Pix is difficult, especially when Ursula tells Faith who went to prison for the murder.
Faith also has a more current problem: an accusation that her minister husband Tom pilfered $10,000 from a church account only he has access to. Faith is certain Tom did no such thing and begins her own investigation of what might have occurred.
Many of my favorite mysteries feature the solution of an old crime – and the one The Body in the Gazebo concerns itself with is especially interesting. And, although I thought there were too many pages spent on Pix’s doings while away from Aleford (Massachusetts), The Body in the Gazebo (#19) was vintage Katherine Hall Page. Her Faith Fairchild mysteries get an A+ in writing and storytelling, with great characters, children that don’t get in the way too much and a believable, likable amateur sleuth who feels like an old friend.
Faith Fairchild Mysteries
The Body in the Belfry, 1990.
The Body in the Kelp, 1991.
The Body in the Bouillon, 1991.
The Body in the Vestibule, 1992.
The Body in the Cast, 1993.
The Body in the Basement, 1994.
The Body in the Bog, 1996.
The Body in the Fjord, 1997.
The Body in the Bookcase, 1998.
The Body in the Big Apple, 1999.
The Body in the Moonlight, 2001.
The Body in the Bonfire, 2002.
The Body in the Lighthouse, 2003.
The Body in the Attic, 2004.
The Body in the Snowdrift, 2006.
The Body in the Ivy, 2006.
The Body in the Gallery, 2008.
The Body in the Sleigh, 2009.
The Body in the Gazebo, 2011