Joy L. (vintagejoy) -
Helpful Score: 3
This is one of the best books Katherine Hall Page has written in this series, IMHO. The plot is extremely detailed, the characters are well drawn and you really feel like you care what happens to them. It is of course, very well-written. I wouldn't call it a complicated book, but there is more to keep track of than is usual with Page. Faith of course runs into a mystery that she has to solve, and on her own as she is on an island with no access to the mainland, husband Tom, or bestfriend Pix. In fact, if she doesn't solve it, she may never make it back to the mainland. An extremely good "I couldn't put it down" novel. Highly recommend it!
Linda B. (windelinde) reviewed The Body in the Ivy (Faith Fairchild, Bk 16) on + 33 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Enjoyable read, interesting characters, twisty plot.
Jennifer W. (GeniusJen) reviewed The Body in the Ivy (Faith Fairchild, Bk 16) on + 5322 more book reviews
Reviewed by K. Osborn Sullivan for TeensReadToo.com
Nearly forty years ago, Pelham College senior Helene Prince plummeted to her death from the school's tower. A wealthy, popular, beautiful woman, Prin, as she was known, seemed to have everything going for her. Which made her suicide that much more tragic. But Prin's group of friends at Pelham, as well as her twin sister, suspected there was more to the story.
After graduation, the young women all went their separate ways, until decades later when all are summoned to a mysterious island by a famous suspense writer. The former friends would never have agreed to go if they had known the others would be there, and they certainly would not have gone if they had known that the nightmare of Prin's death was about to come back to haunt them. When the island's reluctant guests start getting killed off, it is up to the caterer, Faith Fairchild, to catch the murderer and stop the carnage. This isn't Faith's first experience with homicide, either. It seems that she is often buried in dead bodies while she is trying to serve delicious delicacies to her catering clients.
THE BODY IN THE IVY is an entertaining mystery that kept me guessing. I don't read many mysteries, and I found myself wondering why that is as I turned the pages of this book. It's fun to wonder "Who dunnit?" and to watch the clues and suspects as they are revealed. In this particular book, the setting - an isolated private island - added greatly to the mystery and atmosphere. The prime suspects were eight former college friends who had gladly shaken the dust of their all-women's college off their feet decades earlier. They were all successful in their own ways, and it was fun to see how they each had evolved since college, and how they handled the stress of being trapped on an island with a murderer.
About half of this book takes place in present day, largely on the private island where all the women have been gathered. The other half of the book is made up of flashbacks to the women's lives and relationships when they were in college. These flashbacks focus on each woman in turn, and show key turning points in their relationships with each other and, especially, with the dead woman, Prin. The flashbacks in the story where the women are in college will undoubtedly be of most interest to teen readers. Those readers will likely identify with college students in their late teens and early twenties. Although I believe that readers of any age will enjoy meeting the women that those college students became and seeing how their past experiences shaped their lives.
I recommend this book for readers who enjoy a nice, juicy mystery. The story is unique, too, because the sleuth is a caterer. That gives the author an opportunity to offer some recipes for dishes that are served during the story. That was a neat touch. I discovered that THE BODY IN THE IVY is the most recent in a series of more than a dozen mysteries by Katherine Hall Page. All the titles begin with "The Body in the...," so it's clear that Page's catering heroine, Faith Fairchild, has plenty of experience in solving murders. This was good news for me because now I have a long list of intriguing mysteries to add to my "to be read" pile.
Nearly forty years ago, Pelham College senior Helene Prince plummeted to her death from the school's tower. A wealthy, popular, beautiful woman, Prin, as she was known, seemed to have everything going for her. Which made her suicide that much more tragic. But Prin's group of friends at Pelham, as well as her twin sister, suspected there was more to the story.
After graduation, the young women all went their separate ways, until decades later when all are summoned to a mysterious island by a famous suspense writer. The former friends would never have agreed to go if they had known the others would be there, and they certainly would not have gone if they had known that the nightmare of Prin's death was about to come back to haunt them. When the island's reluctant guests start getting killed off, it is up to the caterer, Faith Fairchild, to catch the murderer and stop the carnage. This isn't Faith's first experience with homicide, either. It seems that she is often buried in dead bodies while she is trying to serve delicious delicacies to her catering clients.
THE BODY IN THE IVY is an entertaining mystery that kept me guessing. I don't read many mysteries, and I found myself wondering why that is as I turned the pages of this book. It's fun to wonder "Who dunnit?" and to watch the clues and suspects as they are revealed. In this particular book, the setting - an isolated private island - added greatly to the mystery and atmosphere. The prime suspects were eight former college friends who had gladly shaken the dust of their all-women's college off their feet decades earlier. They were all successful in their own ways, and it was fun to see how they each had evolved since college, and how they handled the stress of being trapped on an island with a murderer.
About half of this book takes place in present day, largely on the private island where all the women have been gathered. The other half of the book is made up of flashbacks to the women's lives and relationships when they were in college. These flashbacks focus on each woman in turn, and show key turning points in their relationships with each other and, especially, with the dead woman, Prin. The flashbacks in the story where the women are in college will undoubtedly be of most interest to teen readers. Those readers will likely identify with college students in their late teens and early twenties. Although I believe that readers of any age will enjoy meeting the women that those college students became and seeing how their past experiences shaped their lives.
I recommend this book for readers who enjoy a nice, juicy mystery. The story is unique, too, because the sleuth is a caterer. That gives the author an opportunity to offer some recipes for dishes that are served during the story. That was a neat touch. I discovered that THE BODY IN THE IVY is the most recent in a series of more than a dozen mysteries by Katherine Hall Page. All the titles begin with "The Body in the...," so it's clear that Page's catering heroine, Faith Fairchild, has plenty of experience in solving murders. This was good news for me because now I have a long list of intriguing mysteries to add to my "to be read" pile.
Karen S. (CacaoBear) reviewed The Body in the Ivy (Faith Fairchild, Bk 16) on + 87 more book reviews
This installment in the Faith Fairchild Mystery series marks a return to top form. The characters are fully developed, and the story is intricately woven. Faith is level-headed and intelligent, dealing with a difficult situation in a believable manner.
As always, Page does not disappoint! Love this book.
Brenda W. (brendao) reviewed The Body in the Ivy (Faith Fairchild, Bk 16) on + 351 more book reviews
Page is always a winner! This take-off of college reunion members isolated on desert island with murderer among them continues to puzzle and entertain as more and more layers of the puzzle are revealed. Faith Fairchild is caterer at the event and it's up to her to find the killer before her name comes up on the list.
Wow! I have read several of the mysteries in this series and this is the best one by far! The back and forth of the retrospective and the current action was very effective in keeping up the suspense. Very cool references to the Agatha Christie novel, "And Then There Were None".
Tim H. (Timbuktu126) reviewed The Body in the Ivy (Faith Fairchild, Bk 16) on + 481 more book reviews
Really good story! This series is always good, but this one was one of my favorites. None of the other Aleford characters are in this story except for Faith. Chapter by chapter, it rotates from the current reunion that Faith is catering for and what happened at the college each year the girls were there so you can really hate the first victim! Lots of questions and suspicion throughout!
Beautiful gift copy! I have also posted a beautiful gift copy of book 13 and beautiful copy of book 11.
n this homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, Faith Fairchild is asked to cater a very small, very private college reunion on an isolated New England island--an event that could be her dream job. But when she discovers the true reason for the get-together, not even the spectacular ocean views can keep it from turning into a nightmare. Thirty years ago, bestselling suspense writer Barbara Bailey Bishop lost her twin sister in a tower fall deemed a suicide. But Barbara is convinced that Hélène did not die by her own hand, and she's trapped Hélène's former classmates--her prime suspects--at her home with no phone lines, no cell reception, and no means of escape.
One by one, the alumnae fall prey to a madwoman. A disturbed sister's revenge . . . or a former coed's coverup? Faith must quickly unlock the secrets of Hélène's last night if she wants to leave the island alive.
n this homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, Faith Fairchild is asked to cater a very small, very private college reunion on an isolated New England island--an event that could be her dream job. But when she discovers the true reason for the get-together, not even the spectacular ocean views can keep it from turning into a nightmare. Thirty years ago, bestselling suspense writer Barbara Bailey Bishop lost her twin sister in a tower fall deemed a suicide. But Barbara is convinced that Hélène did not die by her own hand, and she's trapped Hélène's former classmates--her prime suspects--at her home with no phone lines, no cell reception, and no means of escape.
One by one, the alumnae fall prey to a madwoman. A disturbed sister's revenge . . . or a former coed's coverup? Faith must quickly unlock the secrets of Hélène's last night if she wants to leave the island alive.
was unable to finish this book. i like mysteries but this one could not interest me. maybe you will like it! i did not.
