Saturday, October 8, 2011

A Christmas Homecoming-Anne Perry

A Christmas Homecoming


Anne Perry

Ballantine, Oct 25 2011, $18.00

ISBN: 9780345524638



Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Pitt’s mother-in-law Caroline Fielding and her husband Joshua the actor travel to Whitby, York for a performance of Bram Stoker’s recently published novel Dracula. Alice Netheridge has adopted the horror thriller to be performed on the stage at the town where the Count first disembarked on English soil. Joshua will direct the play with hopes of obtaining major funding from Alice’s wealthy father Charles for next spring’s theatre productions. Charles hosts the Fielding couple and actors from Joshua’s troupe.



A heavy snowstorm isolates everyone at the mansion on the hill. While the weather outside is frightful, a straggler Anton Ballin arrives asking for sanctuary from the storm. He uncannily resembles Dracula and makes recommendations to improve the production that sound like someone who is a vampire insider. Soon after his arrival, murder follows. With everyone locked inside the mansion believing Ballin is the cold blooded killer, Caroline investigates.



The latest Anne Perry Victorian Christmas mystery (see Silent Night and A Christmas Odyssey) is a superb locked mansion whodunit as Caroline proves to be a capable detective and a wonderful protagonist who holds the entertaining tale together. The cast is solid while Carline’s detecting is clever fun. Fans will enjoy Pitt’s in-law as an amateur sleuth investigating a homicide.



Harriet Klausner

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