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kathydavie's review
5.0
Eighteenth chronologically and nineteenth in the publication order in the Faith Fairchild culinary-religious mystery series. This one challenges Tom and also takes us back to the 1920s of Ursula's teens.
My Take
Okay, the whole takedown scene at the end was pretty unreal. Not that I minded seeing the straits to which the bad guys were reduced…talk about justice at last! But it was just too easy a finish.
Zach gives a brief yet thorough précis of the number of ways computer hackers work while the Uppity Women's Luncheon Club whip it out for a friend in need.
I also think the embezzlers got off too light and I wanted to see some decent payback…dang it!
The Story
Ursula is getting nasty letters that hearken back to her teens when her brother was murdered.
A new parishioner with the heart of a Scrooge has gotten very active with the church and has coerced an independent audit of the Church's books. It appears that Tom has embezzled $10,000 of church funds.
On a positive note, Pix is panicking over having to spend several weeks bonding with the potential in-laws — Mark is getting married!
The Characters
Tom, Faith's husband is a reverend, also comes in for some nastiness that proves how naively trusting he is with people. How sad that he can't even find Christians within his own church.
It's rather nice to get some back history on Ursula, Pix's mother. Proves up what a truly decent woman she is as are her parents! Pretty rare to encounter parents willing to buck the status quo. Theo was Ursula's brother. Mark, Pix and Sam's oldest child, is getting married! And it turns out that the new daughter-in-law's father is an old beau of Pix's.
Niki Constantine is preggers! A fortunate event that is eclipsed by an unfortunate event. Zach Cummings makes an appearance to help Faith with some computer hacking insight as does a former church intern, Lily Sinclair.
The Cover and Title
The cover is more picnic than gazebo. I suspect they got stories mixed up since there are no picnics in The Body in the Gazebo although, I suppose, you could say that life for the Fairchilds and Ursula Rowe is not a picnic… As a title, it is accurate.
My Take
Okay, the whole takedown scene at the end was pretty unreal. Not that I minded seeing the straits to which the bad guys were reduced…talk about justice at last! But it was just too easy a finish.
Zach gives a brief yet thorough précis of the number of ways computer hackers work while the Uppity Women's Luncheon Club whip it out for a friend in need.
I also think the embezzlers got off too light and I wanted to see some decent payback…dang it!
The Story
Ursula is getting nasty letters that hearken back to her teens when her brother was murdered.
A new parishioner with the heart of a Scrooge has gotten very active with the church and has coerced an independent audit of the Church's books. It appears that Tom has embezzled $10,000 of church funds.
On a positive note, Pix is panicking over having to spend several weeks bonding with the potential in-laws — Mark is getting married!
The Characters
Tom, Faith's husband is a reverend, also comes in for some nastiness that proves how naively trusting he is with people. How sad that he can't even find Christians within his own church.
It's rather nice to get some back history on Ursula, Pix's mother. Proves up what a truly decent woman she is as are her parents! Pretty rare to encounter parents willing to buck the status quo. Theo was Ursula's brother. Mark, Pix and Sam's oldest child, is getting married! And it turns out that the new daughter-in-law's father is an old beau of Pix's.
Niki Constantine is preggers! A fortunate event that is eclipsed by an unfortunate event. Zach Cummings makes an appearance to help Faith with some computer hacking insight as does a former church intern, Lily Sinclair.
The Cover and Title
The cover is more picnic than gazebo. I suspect they got stories mixed up since there are no picnics in The Body in the Gazebo although, I suppose, you could say that life for the Fairchilds and Ursula Rowe is not a picnic… As a title, it is accurate.
marlynb's review
5.0
Secrets.
One of the disadvantages of being discreet and an easy person to talk to is that many people entrust you with their secrets. Faith Fairchild is finding this a problem in the 19th book in Katherine Hall Page's popular series.
Faith's dear friend Pix Miller and her husband are planning a week in Hilton Head to meet their oldest son Mark's prospective in-laws. From there, Pix is going to Charleston for a week for wedding attire fittings and a bridal shower. Pix's mother Ursula has been very ill, so Pix asks Faith to stop by often to check on her.
Unbeknownst to Pix, Ursula has been receiving anonymous letters reminding her of an incident from her childhood, and decides that she needs to confide in someone about this occurrence, and that confidant will be Faith. It's a long story, and Ursula pieces it out to Faith an hour or so at a time, depending on how much energy she has.
Meanwhile, Faith deduces that her employee and friend Niki is expecting, but the newlywed tells her that she hasn't told her husband, as he has just been laid off from his job. The younger woman insists that Faith keep her secret until Niki feels that it's the right time to tell him.
Then, Faith's husband Tom learns that money has been disappearing from a bank account that supposedly only the minister had access to. Tom is the primary suspect, but tells his wife that no one must know about this mystery, so Faith is unable to share her own worries with her friends.
Of course, all of these issues do end up resolved somehow, but not before Faith feels that she is being smothered by secrets. Faith manages her usual multitasking with as much grace as ever (though she may be the only one unaware of this). As usual, food is often used as a panacea, and the book closes with some recipes from the fictional catering company Faith owns.
*FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher, who sent me a copy of the book for review purposes.
One of the disadvantages of being discreet and an easy person to talk to is that many people entrust you with their secrets. Faith Fairchild is finding this a problem in the 19th book in Katherine Hall Page's popular series.
Faith's dear friend Pix Miller and her husband are planning a week in Hilton Head to meet their oldest son Mark's prospective in-laws. From there, Pix is going to Charleston for a week for wedding attire fittings and a bridal shower. Pix's mother Ursula has been very ill, so Pix asks Faith to stop by often to check on her.
Unbeknownst to Pix, Ursula has been receiving anonymous letters reminding her of an incident from her childhood, and decides that she needs to confide in someone about this occurrence, and that confidant will be Faith. It's a long story, and Ursula pieces it out to Faith an hour or so at a time, depending on how much energy she has.
Meanwhile, Faith deduces that her employee and friend Niki is expecting, but the newlywed tells her that she hasn't told her husband, as he has just been laid off from his job. The younger woman insists that Faith keep her secret until Niki feels that it's the right time to tell him.
Then, Faith's husband Tom learns that money has been disappearing from a bank account that supposedly only the minister had access to. Tom is the primary suspect, but tells his wife that no one must know about this mystery, so Faith is unable to share her own worries with her friends.
Of course, all of these issues do end up resolved somehow, but not before Faith feels that she is being smothered by secrets. Faith manages her usual multitasking with as much grace as ever (though she may be the only one unaware of this). As usual, food is often used as a panacea, and the book closes with some recipes from the fictional catering company Faith owns.
*FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher, who sent me a copy of the book for review purposes.
tracey_stewart's review
3.0
A bit more to this is on my blog.
I received the hardcover of The Body in the Gazebo as a LibraryThing Early Reader book, and I was tickled - I've liked Katherine Hall Page's Faith Fairchild series from the beginning. It's one of several "cozy mystery" series about a caterer or chef who keeps finding bodies and solving the attached mysteries, and then after you find out who dunnit you can apply yourself to the recipes in the back of the book. (I always wonder with these series, though, why characters like Faith Fairchild or Goldy Schulz or [insert cozy hero/ine here] don't see friends and family go screaming away from them; would you really want to be friends with someone who seems to (sometimes literally) stumble over a body every six months?)
The jacket art is very attractive, but odd; I don't know what the red-and-white-check tablecloth is supposed to represent. It makes it look as though Faith opens an Italian restaurant, or goes on a picnic.
I like the series ... but I don't like Faith that much. She is, avowedly and proudly, a snob. Any food which costs less than one of my hours' pay, or clothing which costs less than one of my weeks' pay, is beneath her, and it's annoying and extremely unattractive. And she's *still* stunned that she can bring herself to live in this tiny provincial place.
Besides that snobbery - an irritation that is not unique to Faith among fictional characters - this was a well-done mystery with a very different slant. There is a body, but Faith isn't the one to stumble over it here, and in fact it's a body long gone to dust before she was born. As Faith's best friend and neighbor Pix frantically prepares for her son's wedding and the two-week-long gathering his soon-to-be in-laws have arranged for the two families, her mother (Ursula) falls abruptly, alarmingly ill. Faith promises to help look after her while Pix is gone, which is one of the only reasons Pix goes - and almost as soon as Pix is gone, her mother begins to unfold a story to Faith, looking for her help. It is a secret, even from Pix and her brother, which has been dormant for decades - and isn't anymore. Intertwined with the old murder story is a current mystery involving funds missing from a church account to which only Faith's minister husband Tom has access, along with a smaller but still personally important mystery involving a person from Pix's past at the wedding.
The storytelling is excellent. The interludes of Ursula's story drew me in, and I would honestly have enjoyed staying there for the whole book; Ursula as a girl was engaging, and that story was terrific. It's fascinating to see how Katherine Hall Page has grown as a storyteller from the first Faith Fairchild mystery, which was very much in the frothy cozy vein; later books like Gazebo show greater depth and almost, at times, poetry. (I wonder if KHP has written anything in a different vein under a different name. I'd like to see it.) However I feel in general about Faith, I love her marriage to Tom. The problems they have had in past books have been believable and painful, and I like them much better than I do her. I like Faith's assistants, and I like Pix, though she carries some cliches with her. Actually, many of the characters and situations carry along some been-there-done-that baggage, which is one reason I like the Fairchild marriage so much: it feels genuine.
The reason I rate this at three and a half stars instead of higher has quite a bit to do with said cliches, and the tiresome repetition that series like this can't seem to manage to avoid: in each book there is a certain set of touchstones which have to be included, such as a synopsis of the first book, and the story of how Faith got to where she is as a caterer and as a minister's wife in Aleford, and brief summaries of any other books that are touched upon in the current story. Some of these are more necessary than others, and I'm sure I'm wrong when I grumble that the wording is always the same. There just has to be a better way than this infodump. The main reason, though, for the less than very high rating has a great deal to do with part of the climax. Melodramatic and over the top, it felt absurd, and as though it had been dropped in from another book (either an earlier one in this series, from which it felt very familiar, or ... Robert Ludlum or something). Pity; I enjoyed most of the rest quite a lot.
I received the hardcover of The Body in the Gazebo as a LibraryThing Early Reader book, and I was tickled - I've liked Katherine Hall Page's Faith Fairchild series from the beginning. It's one of several "cozy mystery" series about a caterer or chef who keeps finding bodies and solving the attached mysteries, and then after you find out who dunnit you can apply yourself to the recipes in the back of the book. (I always wonder with these series, though, why characters like Faith Fairchild or Goldy Schulz or [insert cozy hero/ine here] don't see friends and family go screaming away from them; would you really want to be friends with someone who seems to (sometimes literally) stumble over a body every six months?)
The jacket art is very attractive, but odd; I don't know what the red-and-white-check tablecloth is supposed to represent. It makes it look as though Faith opens an Italian restaurant, or goes on a picnic.
I like the series ... but I don't like Faith that much. She is, avowedly and proudly, a snob. Any food which costs less than one of my hours' pay, or clothing which costs less than one of my weeks' pay, is beneath her, and it's annoying and extremely unattractive. And she's *still* stunned that she can bring herself to live in this tiny provincial place.
Besides that snobbery - an irritation that is not unique to Faith among fictional characters - this was a well-done mystery with a very different slant. There is a body, but Faith isn't the one to stumble over it here, and in fact it's a body long gone to dust before she was born. As Faith's best friend and neighbor Pix frantically prepares for her son's wedding and the two-week-long gathering his soon-to-be in-laws have arranged for the two families, her mother (Ursula) falls abruptly, alarmingly ill. Faith promises to help look after her while Pix is gone, which is one of the only reasons Pix goes - and almost as soon as Pix is gone, her mother begins to unfold a story to Faith, looking for her help. It is a secret, even from Pix and her brother, which has been dormant for decades - and isn't anymore. Intertwined with the old murder story is a current mystery involving funds missing from a church account to which only Faith's minister husband Tom has access, along with a smaller but still personally important mystery involving a person from Pix's past at the wedding.
The storytelling is excellent. The interludes of Ursula's story drew me in, and I would honestly have enjoyed staying there for the whole book; Ursula as a girl was engaging, and that story was terrific. It's fascinating to see how Katherine Hall Page has grown as a storyteller from the first Faith Fairchild mystery, which was very much in the frothy cozy vein; later books like Gazebo show greater depth and almost, at times, poetry. (I wonder if KHP has written anything in a different vein under a different name. I'd like to see it.) However I feel in general about Faith, I love her marriage to Tom. The problems they have had in past books have been believable and painful, and I like them much better than I do her. I like Faith's assistants, and I like Pix, though she carries some cliches with her. Actually, many of the characters and situations carry along some been-there-done-that baggage, which is one reason I like the Fairchild marriage so much: it feels genuine.
The reason I rate this at three and a half stars instead of higher has quite a bit to do with said cliches, and the tiresome repetition that series like this can't seem to manage to avoid: in each book there is a certain set of touchstones which have to be included, such as a synopsis of the first book, and the story of how Faith got to where she is as a caterer and as a minister's wife in Aleford, and brief summaries of any other books that are touched upon in the current story. Some of these are more necessary than others, and I'm sure I'm wrong when I grumble that the wording is always the same. There just has to be a better way than this infodump. The main reason, though, for the less than very high rating has a great deal to do with part of the climax. Melodramatic and over the top, it felt absurd, and as though it had been dropped in from another book (either an earlier one in this series, from which it felt very familiar, or ... Robert Ludlum or something). Pity; I enjoyed most of the rest quite a lot.
judyward's review against another edition
3.0
Pix Miller's son is getting married and Pix and her husband travel from Aleford, Massachusetts to Hilton Head and Charleston to meet the new in-laws and enjoy a round of pre-wedding showers and parties. Faith Fairchild agrees to watch over Pix's seriously ill mother, Ursula, during Pix's absence. Of course, Ursula decides to tell Faith a story that she never told her own children--about the unsolved murder of her brother in 1929. Ursula has recently received some unsigned notes attempting to blackmail her about the murder and she wants Faith to figure out what's going on. As if Faith doesn't have enough to do--her catering business has slowed down because of the recession and there's $10,000 missing from her husband's Ministers Discretionary Fund at their church. Faith puts down the wisk, puts on her thinking cap, and sets out to put the world right.
sbunyan's review
3.0
I wish there were 1/2 stars. I like Faith Fairchild and her pastor husband and this was fun with the visit to the past.
ncrabb's review against another edition
3.0
This is one of my least favorite books in this long-running series about a Massachusetts caterer and minister’s wife. I’m not a huge fan of the story-in-story stuff that seems so popular with everyone else. This is one of those story-in-story books. I’ve enjoyed the four people who ultimately make up this family, especially Faith Fairchild. She’s not this cloying sweet character, but nor is she selfish or thoughtless. Quite the opposite. I don’t know that I’d eat all the food she cooks, but much of it fascinates me. She’s a bit snobbish, living life in her small town but always reminding readers that she’s really from Manhattan. Well, bully for you, Faith.
In this installment, Faith’s friend, Pix Miller, is off to her son’s wedding at Hilton Head. She’s conflicted about going, since her mom is quite ill, but Faith promises to check on the old woman daily and let Pix know if something goes badly.
While visiting with the old woman, Faith learns of a story that not even Pix knows about her mom. Prior to the Great Depression, Pix’s mother had a brother who was a bit of a gambler and a rogue. A party guest murders him one summer night during a Martha’s Vineyard party the victim hosted.
It’s up to Faith to figure out a nearly century-old mystery while working to clear her husband’s name. Ten thousand dollars is missing from a church discretionary account, and some congregants wonder whether Minister Tom Fairchild embezzled the money.
Before this ends, two people endanger Faith’s life in a morass of threats and blackmail.
In this installment, Faith’s friend, Pix Miller, is off to her son’s wedding at Hilton Head. She’s conflicted about going, since her mom is quite ill, but Faith promises to check on the old woman daily and let Pix know if something goes badly.
While visiting with the old woman, Faith learns of a story that not even Pix knows about her mom. Prior to the Great Depression, Pix’s mother had a brother who was a bit of a gambler and a rogue. A party guest murders him one summer night during a Martha’s Vineyard party the victim hosted.
It’s up to Faith to figure out a nearly century-old mystery while working to clear her husband’s name. Ten thousand dollars is missing from a church discretionary account, and some congregants wonder whether Minister Tom Fairchild embezzled the money.
Before this ends, two people endanger Faith’s life in a morass of threats and blackmail.
olivesnook's review
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
jesabesblog's review against another edition
3.0
I picked up this book expecting it to follow the 'find a body, investigate suspects, end by confronting the murderer and probably risking your life in the process' formula, like most (all?) of the other Faith Fairchild mysteries. It didn't, though. There was a mystery, but it wasn't related to a murder, and there was a murder, but there wasn't much mystery to it. I was disappointed because it wasn't what I expected. I would have liked it more if I'd gone into it knowing into it there wasn't anything to "solve." (It was a good book, just different than I thought it would be).
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