The Body in the Snowdrift
Series: A Faith Fairchild Mystery Book #15
Author: Katherine Hall Page
Publisher: Avon Books
Page Count: 294
My Rating:
Book Summary
Caterer Faith Fairchild has a bad feeling about her father-in-law’s decision to celebrate his seventieth birthday with a family reunion ski week at the Pine Slopes resort in Vermont — the Fairchilds’ favorite getaway since Faith’s husband, the Reverend Thomas Fairchild, was a toddler. At first her unease seems unfounded — until Faith comes across a corpse on one of the cross-country trails, the apparent victim of a heart attack.
Then one catastrophe follows another: the mysterious disappearance of the Pine Slopes’ master chef, a malicious prank at the sports center, a break-in at the Fairchild condo, the sabotage of a chairlift. And when a fatal “accident” with the snow-making machines stains the slopes blood red, Faith realizes she’ll have to work fast to solve a murderous puzzle — because suddenly not only are the reunion and the beloved resort’s future in jeopardy . . . but Faith’s life is as well.
More Facts for Readers about our Sleuth:
Main Sleuth: Faith (Sibley) Fairchild
Age: Early forties (not stated specifically)
Physical Description: White female, blue eyes, blonde hair
Business: Caterer with her own catering business ‘Have Faith’ that she opened in the eighties. She studied at the French Culinary Institute.
Location: Vermont at ski resort called ‘Pine Slopes’ (the sleuth is originally from Upper Eastside Manhattan although she now lives in Aleford, Massachusetts (west side of Boston) with her husband and kids)
Time of Year: February ( the week of Valentine’s Day)
Pet: None, at least not in this book since they’re on vacation.
Love Interest: Faith is married to Reverend Thomas Fairchild
Family: Faith is a mother and she has a 10 year-old son (Ben) and 6.5 year-old daughter (Amy). She has a younger sister named Hope, a mom (realtor) and dad (reverend). She also has a large in-law family that are a big part of this book (mother and father in-law, and three brother in-law and two sister in-laws.
Diversity? A little. All of the main players in this book are described as white or implied to be white including a man from Australia, however, this is a kitchen full of international students predominantly from Peru and Bolivia and so there is a fair amount of fusion food described and a blending of languages when Faith works alongside these characters. They are all described as young students who have traveled to Vermont to work on their English and gain work experience as well. The main sleuth Faith is very kind and friendly and very consciously seeks to have a good relationship with everyone.
My Review
Well this was a nice read! I had not previously read any books in this series. This is book #15 in the series and I literally read it by itself because it’s a snowy, non-holiday-focused cozy book and I wanted to read something in winter (Jan-Mar) with those same cold and snowy vibes that Maryland was having (where I live). I was a little hesitant at first by some elements in the book (such as the main sleuth being married to a Reverend and things possibly being ‘too’ religious) but I was relieved that they were not dominant in the slightest. Don’t get me wrong – I’m totally open to all kinds of lifestyles, cultures, and religions, but just not having them shoved down my throat (any of them, unless I’m deliberately seeking them out). I love learning though and having a flavor of those elements, but again, this book was not ‘flavored’ in any of those ways.
Like most cozies, I was able to jump right into book #15 because the author was very skilled at recapping family dynamics and referencing past ‘cases’ without rambling on or getting lost. There was plenty of focus on the case at hand and the new mystery – and this one was great! Lots of suspects, lots of reasonable doubt for why it might be one person or another, no obvious villain off the rip. Lots of pop culture / literary references. I think I got them all despite my own age at the time of this review and the time in which this book was published. Some of those might not age well with future readers, but if anything, it gives readers things to look-up when they’re in-between reads.
I love the range of characters; we have parents, siblings, teens, grandparents, and all of the dynamics that come within a large family or dealing with in-laws. I feel like a lot of cozies keep the inner-circle very small, but this sleuth has a lot of family and it was all relayed in a very sensible, easy-to-follow way.
But so anyway! In the story, there were two things that jumped out at me in particular.
- I LOVE when we get the perspective of the victim (at the start of the book) and their last moments. They’re more than just a barely-known character that gets bumped off – we actually get put in their shoes and can empathize with them. It amplifies the tragedy and has us root to find the murder all the more!
- This might come out wrong, but I ‘like’ when a death is a little more unusual, maybe even a bit more grizzly than a typical poisoning, or stabbing. I know that sounds weird, but what I mean is that there are literally thousands of ways for folks to die in real-life, and truth IS often stranger than fiction. I’ve followed a lot of true crime cases and there’s some really bizarre murders, or cover-ups, or just freak accident deaths (that could be plausibly spun into a murder for the sake of a cozy). Obviously real-life tragedy is NOT in any way entertainment, in fact, I’m not sure entertainment is the right word for a cozy mystery either, but in this book we did get a really unique murder method which was pretty grizzly and painted a pretty awful mental scene at one point BUT I appreciated that the author went for something unusual and different. Not your typical cozy mystery death. Think Fargo… that’s all the hint I’ll give.
I would definitely read another book in this series. The writing was excellent, the mystery was good, and the sleuth was engaging. It’s especially nice to have a sleuth who has matured into motherhood and has a stable marriage and again, that whole family dynamic. Not just a single, ready-to-fall-in-love sleuth whose in their twenties and starting over, but an almost middle-aged mom with a career and full schedule.
