Saturday, May 21, 2016

The Body in the Wardrobe by Katherine Hall Page (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Minster’s wife, caterer, and part-time sleuth Faith Fairchild pairs up with Sophie Maxwell, last seen in Body in the Birches and now a newlywed living in historic Savannah, Georgia, where Sophie crosses paths with murder. Another delightful entry in the beloved mystery series, complete with delectable recipes.

Attorney Sophie Maxwell has come to Savannah to be with her new husband, Will. But nothing throws cold water on a hot relationship faster than a dead body. Worse for Sophie, no one believes the body she knows she saw is real. Will is spending an awful lot of time in Atlanta on a case he claims is urgent, and she’s been tasked with house hunting for them with his former sweetheart, who Sophie can’t help but suspect wishes Sophie would return to her Yankee roots!

Fortunately, Sophie has a good friend in Faith Fairchild. With teenage Amy being bullied by mean girls and husband Tom contemplating a major life change that will affect all the Fairchilds, Faith is eager for distraction in the form of some sleuthing. In between discussions of newlywed agita, surprising Savannah customs and, of course, fabulous low country food, Faith and Sophie will pair up to unmask a killer!"


My Thoughts:

I am currently two books into this series and I've enjoyed both of them.  I read (and adored) the first book in this series titled The Body In the Belfry last year.  I've been meaning to continue on with this series since then but we all know by now how awful I can be when it comes to doing just that.  This is the twenty-third book in this long standing mystery series- you can probably already imagine how thrilled I was to realize how many more books I now have to look forward to!  I love when I find long standing mystery series with huge backlists to explore!  Even though I read this book completely out of order, I found that it didn't affect my enjoyment of this book in the slightest.  Partly this was because the main story line was about Sophie and her new life with her new husband. I'm sure that this really helped but the secondary story line was focused on Faith's family and I enjoyed that as well despite having missed so much of the back story.  It just made me more excited to continue on with this series and to get my hands on the second book!

One of the things that I liked about this book so much (and really the series in general) is the main characters.  In this book really the mystery felt secondary to the characters and what they were going through in life.  I loved every minute of it!  This was a quiet mystery but it still had just enough suspense to make me unable to stop reading.  I just loved the author's attention to detail and the way that she brings the characters to life on the pages.  The descriptions of Savannah which is Sophie's new home and all of the delicious food- it is no wonder that I was hungry half of the time while I was reading this book!  I just found myself completely immersed within the pages of this story and was almost sad to see it end.  These characters just felt like old friends and I enjoyed my time with them.  The mystery portion was tied up nicely and I loved that the author was able to bring Sophie and Faith's story lines both to a satisfying close.  I really don't plan on waiting as long to get back to this series and I've already checked my library system for the second book.  

Overall, this book was another great read in this mystery series.  I've come to really adore the characters and as I've only read two books in this series I feel like that is a really great accomplishment.  Don't feel like you can't read this book out or order- I did and it didn't bother me in the slightest.  I think what I loved about this book the most was that I just let the author take me on the ride that she intended.  I didn't rush, I just enjoyed my time reading this book.  Fans of cozy mysteries should really check this series out as it does have a cozy feel to it.  Plus, the way that the author describes and brings the story to life are very reminiscent of other cozy series that I love.  I can easily recommend both this book and this series in general.  Recommended!

Bottom Line:  A perfect way to spend a few days just immersed in this book!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley as part of a PICT tour.

1 comment:

  1. Your review has me wanting to read this series. Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

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