AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Ten Lords A-Leaping, by C.C. Benison...which should have been called "Not As Christmas-y As It Sounds"

Ten Lords A-Leaping is like a combination of several genres of cozy mystery: it's an English country house murder; it's a vicar mystery; at times it's a sexy romance mystery that has the sleuth lingering over impure thoughts (which was kind of weird in a vicar mystery).

One thing it is NOT is a Christmas mystery, which is bull crap as far as I'm concerned. Not only do I LOVE Christmas cozies, I had every reason to expect that this would be one. It's called Ten Lords A-Leaping, the third in a series that started--of course--with Twelve Drummers Drumming and Eleven Pipers Piping. As if that weren't Christmasy enough, the sleuth's name is FATHER CHRISTMAS! And this one was published in December! Why WOULDN'T I expect it to be a Christmas mystery? But alas, no, it does not take place at Christmas time.

It was a little hard for me to get past that one, if I'm honest. It's like C.C. Benison was taunting me. But I digress.

The mystery itself is enjoyable enough, I suppose, though it does proceed at a meandering pace (read: it's a little long). It was hard to maintain any sense of urgency when the murder itself seems all but forgotten throughout much of the book as the characters go off on tangents about lost relatives and weird romances. But I did like the English manor setting, complete with labyrinth (who doesn't love a labyrinth?), and the set up of the literal "lords a-leaping" (Peers of the Realm skydiving for charity) is a lot of fun.

I read this book and also listened to the audiobook, and I must say that the narration by Steve West (with Jean Gilpin) was amazing. I'm pretty picky (read: easily annoyed) about audiobook narration, but I had no complaints about this at all. In fact, I may look up other books narrated by Steve West to see if there are any others I'd like to hear.


BOOK DETAILS:
Ten Lords A-Leaping: A Father Christmas Mystery
by C.C. Benison (Douglas Whiteway)
Audiobook narrated by Steve West and Jean Gilpin
Published by Random House/Delacorte Press
Audiobook published by Random House Audio
Publication Date: December 3, 2013
View on Amazon

 Source: NetGalley (audiobook from my local library)

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

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

Published by HarperCollins on April 30, 2013

First reviewed on Cozy Little Book Journal on April 4, 2013

View on Amazon.com

View on Amazon.ca

I didn't quite "get" this book. I haven't read any in the Faith Fairchild series so I'm not sure exactly what I expected, but it wasn't this. Faith Fairchild is the wife of a minister who travels (extensively, by the looks of some of the other titles), this time to Rome. Although it seems like Faith and her husband Tom are happily married, almost as soon as they arrive Faith engages in a flirtatious and--to my mind--wildly inappropriate relationship with a British stranger named Freddy Ives (mild spoiler: he's the "body" in the piazza). The beginning of the book read like a cross between The Man Who Knew Too Much with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day and Bitter Moon with Hugh Grant and Kristin Scott Thomas. But Faith and Freddy never actually kissed or anything, so I was left wondering if I was misreading it. Was I more prudish than the author of a series about a minister's wife? It was weird.

Weirder still is the fact that after Freddy is murdered, Faith initially vows to solve the crime (as one would expect in a "Faith Fairchild Mystery") but then leaves to go on some sort of cooking retreat with her husband for a huge portion of the book. It does all tie in at the end, but I was confused by the change of pace. All sense of urgency was gone as Faith spent days and days perfecting her homemade pasta. I actually found myself skipping ahead to make sure they really did get back to talking about Freddy eventually.

Ultimately it was the lack of urgency that made the book fall apart for me. The author note at the end talks about her own to trip to Italy which was the basis of the book (even the author's note was long and rambling and didn't connect to anything). It seems obvious that this book was a "love letter to Italy" as the author says, but with a murder mystery thrown clumsily in so she could call it a mystery. Mostly it's just a collection of "stuff that happened" with little connective tissue and no stakes. It should have been called Eat, Pray, Murder.

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

View on Amazon

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.

BOOK REVIEW: Sherlock Holmes and the Needle's Eye, by Len Bailey

Sherlock Holmes and the Needle's Eye:

The World's Greatest Detective Tackles the Bible's Ultimate Mysteries 

Author: Len Bailey 

Foreword by: Warren W. Wiersbe

Publisher: Thomas Nelson 

Publication Date: May 7, 2013 

View on Amazon.com 

View on Amazon.ca 

I really, really enjoyed this book! Since it's a book about Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson travelling through time to solve Biblical mysteries--complete with Bible study questions and notes on scripture--it's sort of fan fiction on multiple levels. Because of that, I feel I should disclose my own bias--i.e. where on the fan-fiction fan spectrum I fall. 

First of all, I LOVE mysteries, particularly Sherlock Holmes. Actually, I have a particular fondness for modern day mysteries set in Victorian London and written in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (so, fan fiction, essentially). That alone was enough to make me want to read this book. But I'm not Christian (despite my frequent reviews on Booksneeze), so I may not exactly be the target audience for this book. BUT here's a little secret: I actually love reading religious books, albeit in a non-religious way. I even have a degree in Religious Studies. So I've done my fair share of Bible reading, even though it was in a classroom more than a church.

Okay, now that I've alienated the atheists and the Christians alike, here's my review:

BOOK REVIEW: A Christmas Secret, by Anne Perry

NOTE: Oh. my. GAWD. Can't even deal with this.
A Christmas Secret
Author: Anne Perry
Series: The Christmas Stories
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: November 7, 2006
Source: local library
View on Amazon




NOTE: So I read and reviewed this book before I realized that Anne Perry was, in fact, herself a convicted murderer. I'm still trying to process that information. (Agghhhhh! That's the sound my mental processing makes.)

This is the first Anne Perry book I've ever read and I was pleasantly surprised. I guess I've always avoided her because, despite the "mystery" label, her covers always look like they belong on romance novels (not my favourite genre). And with a plot description about a 19th century vicar's wife who accompanies her husband to a remote village at Christmastime to replace the regular pastor, well, I was afraid the only "secret" she'd be uncovering would be the "secret to a happy marriage" and maybe a new biscuit recipe. But I am happy to say I was wrong.

BOOK REVIEW: The Advent of Murder, by Martha Ockley

The Advent of Murder:
A Faith Morgan Mystery
Author: Martha Ockley
Publisher: Lion Hudson
Publication Date: July 19, 2013
Source: NetGalley
View on Amazon



Oh I'm a sucker for a good vicar mystery. The Father Dowling Mysteries, The Father Brown Stories (both with excellent TV adaptations), Sidney Chambers stories (we need more of those!) and now, the Faith Morgan series.

Faith Morgan is a lot of cozy mystery detective types all in one. She's a former police officer who has changed careers and become a vicar, and she has to deal with her surly police inspector of an ex-boyfriend Ben (I've never thought of vicars as having ex-boyfriends), and in this one she has to solve a murder while planning the Christmas pageant. Oh and it's a Christmas cozy! Basically this book was written with me in mind. If it had somehow included recipes or puzzles, I would have been in heaven.