A Christmas Guest

October 10, 2005
Charlotte's tetchy Grandmama from Perry's Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mysteries does a bit of sleuthing on her own (and learns the true meaning of Christmas) in the author's latest holiday treat (A Christmas Visitor
). When the London lady finds herself banished to the Romney Marshes home of her former daughter-in-law, Caroline (now married—scandalously, in Grandmama's opinion—to a younger actor), she is more than indignant. As if it isn't bad enough to be exiled to "some bog by the sea" at Christmastime, another guest soon arrives: "pointlessly joyous" Maud Barrington, the middle daughter of an old local family who has returned after 40 years of travel in Muslim Africa. Maude's family won't have her; they think she'll be an embarrassment to a visiting peer. Grandmama doesn't take to brash, vivid Maude, either—but as soon as Maude is discovered, suddenly and suspiciously dead in her bedroom, Grandmama regrets her coldness and vows to uncover the truth. When she imparts the sad news to Maude's family in the nearby town, she finds the reaction of Maude's two sisters strange. Their husbands, too, seem odd. Who might be the guilty party? Grandmama digs deep into family secrets and betrayals and becomes a whole new person along the way in this quick and enjoyable read.

October 15, 2005
In the third volume of Perry's holiday series (after A Christmas Visitor and A Christmas Journey), tart Grandmama from Perry's Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mysteries turns amateur detective when a fellow guest at the home of Charlotte's parents is murdered.

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2005
What was supposed to be another proper English holiday spent in her granddaughter's home turns out to be anything but for Mariah Ellison, in the latest installment of the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Christmas series. Against her wishes, the already cantankerous Mariah, called Grandmama throughout, is shoved off to spend the holiday with Caroline, the wife of her late son, and Joshua, Caroline's new husband, in the nippy shore town of Romney Marshes. Grandmama decides not to let anything please her--not the lovely home, not the excellent help, and especially not a surprise visit by Joshua's Aunt Maude, present only because no one else would have her. Maude regales her hosts with tales of her travels, but Grandmama, though secretly fascinated by the stories, abhors Maude's clumsy appearance and abrupt nature. Even when Grandmama finds Maude's body cold and dead, she is incensed that her holiday should be ruined by an unseemly upset. Nonetheless, Grandmama takes to solving the case herself and, predictably though no less charmingly, undergoes a Grinch-like transformation in the process, finding the meaning of Christmas after all. Lightweight fare, certainly, but ably constructed by genre veteran Perry and sure to please those who enjoy holiday-season mysteries. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)