BOOK REVIEW: The Body in the Sleigh, by Katherine Hall Page

The Body in the Sleigh: A Faith Fairchild Mystery, by Katherine Hall Page

Published by William Morrow on October 27, 2009

Review first appeared on Cozy Little Book Journal on February 2, 2014

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I've read at least one Faith Fairchild mystery before and I enjoyed it, but this one didn't quite live up to my expectations. It started off very promising but the pace slowed to a crawl at times and it seemed the author was still laying down establishing details and character background right up to the last page.




Plus, the titular murder--the so-called body in the sleigh--takes a back seat to the far more interesting story of the baby in the manger (very much alive, thankfully). If that sounds like a Christmas cliché it's because it's meant to. Katherine Hall Page weaves a tale of an abandoned baby named Christopher found in a barn by a spinster goat farmer named--of course--Mary. And on Christmas Eve no less. As trite as it all sounds, I did find it engaging and I could happily read more about Mary and her goats.

The rest of the book, unfortunately, was less memorable. In fact I can barely remember why the "body in the sleigh" was killed or by whom, and I literally just finished reading it ten minutes ago. I do know that it was finally unravelled at the very end of the book and by that time I wasn't all that invested anymore. It was related--sort of--to the baby in the barn but that was the only storyline I found myself caring much about (the book was sort of a "Mary's goats" mystery more than a "Faith Fairchild" one).

All in all, I'd say this book had great elements--really great at times, in fact--but they didn't add up to a great book.