Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Book Review: Anne Perry's Christmas Mysteries - A Christmas Guest & A Christmas Secret

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
It’s been a few year since I’ve ready anything by Anne Perry, but I really enjoyed the first Christmas Mystery I read by her (featuring Vespasia Cumming-Gould from the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mysteries) and I was in the mood for Christmas stories.  I got these two as a single Nook book because the two were cheaper together than the one I was interested in, A Christmas Secret, featuring Dominic, the brother-in-law from the first Thomas Pitt mystery.  

I thoroughly enjoyed both of these stories.  I read A Christmas Secret first and liked not only Dominic, but also his wife, Clarice.  The village was interesting.  I almost had it figured out by the end.  It left me wanting to re-read Burnswick Gardens, the book that introduced Clarice to Dominic.  It also left me wanting to see more of Dominic and Clarice in future stories. 

I was very pleasantly surprised by A Christmas Guest.  It featured Mariah Ellison, the Grandmother of Charlotte Pitt.  She has never been a favorite character as she is a sharp tongued old woman.  This story redeemed her somewhat and makes me a little curious if her change of heart (for lack of a better word) spills over into the Pitt mysteries written after this story (I’m a little behind on my Anne Perry’s).  

The mysteries themselves were a bit anti-climatic, but still very enjoyable.  I’d recommend these books to anyone who likes historical fiction and a nice little mystery.  These are basically stand-alone stories, so one does not need to have read any of the Charlotte and Thomas series to enjoy these mysteries.  



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