From Publishers Weekly
In Agatha-winner Page's 14th warmhearted entry in her Faith Fairchild series (after 2003's The Body in the Lighthouse), the upscale caterer, amateur sleuth and born-and-bred New Yorker is, to her surprise, reluctant to leave suburban Aleford, Mass., when her minister husband Tom, frustrated and worn-out by day-to-day parish duties, announces that he's going to take a position at Harvard Divinity School for a semester. Soon after the couple settles in at their beautiful temporary home on Cambridge's prestigious Brattle Street, Faith realizes that the darkness and the creepy feeling she has about the old house are due to more than overgrown bushes. A riveting diary found in the house's attic and the sudden reappearance of old boyfriend Richard Morgan, who mysteriously disappeared 13 years before, lead her into an investigation as chilling as a New England winter. If her relationship with Morgan strains credulity at times, the interactions between her and Tom remain realistic and human. As Faith explores the byways of Boston and Cambridge in search of dangerous past secrets, both cities come to vivid life. The tempting recipes at the end for such fare as Butternut Squash Soup and Harvard Squares leave no doubt that a delicious treat is in store for cozy fans. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
Faith packs up the kids and her catering business for a semester's stint in Cambridge, where her minister husband, Tom, will teach at Harvard and serve the homeless. In the rambling old house the family inhabits in Cambridge, Faith's children find an old wardrobe that contains . . . not Narnia but a diary from 1946. Using a lost diary as a plot device has become something of a cliche in crime fiction, but here Page uses it quite expertly to explore what's going on in Faith's life. The diary belongs to a young woman who was held prisoner in the house by a rapacious husband. Did she live and escape? Faith caters luncheons, shops with friends, rejoices in her powerhouse sister's marriage, all the while puzzling out what it is she might want and who the woman of the diary might be--using one investigation to fuel the other. While the plot comes to a sudden and very wobbly end, Faith becomes an ever more interesting character, and the recipes included are yummy. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description

Caterer Faith Fairchild and family are living in one of historic Cambridge, Massachusetts', venerable Brattle Street houses while the Reverend Tom teaches a course at the Harvard Divinity School and does some soul searching -- is his Aleford parish his true calling? One night in downtown Boston, Faith is startled by a face from her past. It's Richard Morgan, a former boyfriend from her life as a single woman in Manhattan. Their heady, whirlwind affair in the waning days of the self-indulgent 1980s ended abruptly. Now he's back, as exciting as ever.

Then something occurs that turns a pleasant sabbatical into a nightmare -- Faith discovers a diary, written in 1946 and hidden in the attic, that reveals an unspeakable horror. Suddenly dark secrets seem to permeate every room. And with Richard guarding strange secrets of his own, Faith is soon caught up in solving more than one troubling mystery ... with a murderer lurking a little too close to home.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In her thirteen previous Faith Fairchild mysteries, Katherine Hall Page has proven to be one of the most beloved and masterful writers of the village mystery. But when caterer Faith Fairchild's husband's job takes the family out of peaceful Aleford, Massachusetts, and into greater Boston, death rears its ugly head in the big city as well.

Fall is in the air — its crisp chill hinting at the approaching holiday season — yet Faith Fairchild's minister husband, Tom, is not in a festive mood. His job has become routine, and his parish seems to care more about church gossip than worship or service, leaving him doubting his own effectiveness. So when the opportunity to teach for a semester at Harvard's Divinity School comes up, he leaps at the chance . . . but Faith is reluctant. After all, this New York City girl has just gotten used to life in Aleford — and now she has to move? But soon Faith relents, and within months the family has settled happily into a large, old home in historic Cambridge, just across the river from Boston.

Faith is shocked when she runs into an old boyfriend in downtown Boston. Thirteen years before, Richard Morgan had swept Faith off her feet, then disappeared. But the intelligent, handsome man's return is a happy one for Faith as their friendship is renewed.

Back in Cambridge, though, something is amiss in the temporary Fairchilds' residence.

Faith discovers a diary hidden in the attic by a woman living there in 1946. It reveals unspeakable horror, and soon dark secrets seem to permeate every room. Richard Morgan has secrets of his own, too, and Faith is caught up in solving the mysteries . . . with a murdererlurking a little too close to home.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly