A Christmas Visitor, 2nd book in Anne Perry's Christmas mystery series, is set in mid-December 1850 on an estate near Penrith in the Lake District of England. The Dreghorn siblings will be arriving from around the globe (Palestine, Africa, America) for a Christmas celebration. Henry Rathbone receives an urgent request from new widow Antonia Dreghorn, his god-daughter: please come to discover the facts of her husband's sudden and unexpected death, and fight the slander spread about him. The case seems obvious: convicted forger Ashton Gower had just returned from 11 years in prison to accuse Judge Judah Dreghorn of dishonor, and he is the likely suspect in Judah's death. Henry and the Dreghorn siblings carefully review evidence and interview all the involved parties, with the hope of finding proof of Gower's guilt to silence his slander. The story vividly describes the Lake District landscape "...pale blue waters of Stickle Tarn looking over toward the summit of Pavey Ark; or the snow-streaked hills of Honister Pass...climbed Scafell Pike to the roof of the world..." Enhancing the story are rich details of local idioms and specialties: Henry enjoys at breakfast "...a plate of Cumberland sausage, eggs and bacon, and thick, brown toast on the side. Instead of marmalade there was a dark, rich jam in the dish. He remembered from the past that it was witherslacks, a tart kind of small plum, known as a damson in the rest of England..." After riding into town with Henry to interview the doctor, Benjamin Dreghorn proposes "Let's go to the Fleece and take a pint of Cumberland ale. It's a long time since I've tasted a jar of Snecklifter. It's too early for lunch, or I'd have had a good crust of bread and a piece of Whillimoor Wang. There's a plain, lean cheese for you to let you know you're home." At a late afternoon tea, the family enjoys "...scones, hinberry jam and slices of ginger cake, baked with spices and rich molasses from the West Indies." One evening after dinner they enjoy "one of the local delicacies for pudding - a dish known as rum nicky - made of rum, brown sugar, dried fruit, and Cumberland apples." When Henry arrives in town at the marketplace, "All the traditional manufactures of the Lakes were there: clogs, slate, bobbins, iron goods, pottery, pencils. And every kind of food: oats, mutton, fresh fish, especially salmon, potatoes, Forty Shilling and Keswick Codling apples, and spices from the coast."The mid-century timeframe is evident when Naomi Dreghorn, arriving from America, describes the "...vast plains of the west, the herds of buffalo that made the earth tremble when they ran...", a description true only before the transcontinental US railroad fever and slaughter of the buffalo.Henry's careful investigation and insistence on uncovering the truth leads him to a profoundly different outcome for the family, requiring them to follow honor rather than desire.
*snores* Wait, what? I finished it? Golly but it was boring. So. This dude was found dead in a stream. His brothers and sister-in-law were toddling back for Christmas. Our lead is a friend of the family. I just... thought it was boring. Uneventful. Lots of talking. No action besides riding back and forth between town and the manor and walking. I was literally reading it and I had to close my eyes for a bit because I was falling asleep over it. Sometimes when I read a mystery, I get a little amped up with whodunnit and all, but this time, I was more amped up because "shoot! I've got fifty pages to go!" If you're looking for a pageturner that doesn't bore you to tears, this is not the one. Hell, even the title was not exactly accurate. If you're going to call it a mystery, at least give us the benefit of a cover that depicts something more mysterious than this one. This looks like one of those cute Christmas books that doesn't contain murder. I should have quit, but I have too much curiosity. This was so deathly boring that I ought to have hired the book gunman to go in and make it more interesting. I mean, even the ending was so effing dull I thought there needed to be several more pages. So bloody dull I want to shoot it. *can't even give it an extra star for finishing it* So bloody dull. No blood. We don't even know how the murder was committed. Honestly, isn't there supposed to be some torture and "I would have gotten away with it were it not for these meddling middle aged folks"? *yawns* Do yourself a favor and ignore the quaint cover. It's not worth the afternoon I spent on it.
What do You think about A Christmas Visitor (2004)?
I'm skeptical about Christmas-themed fiction, so I was surprised that this one is such a gem. It's actually a murder mystery of the classic sort. One of four brothers has been found dead, apparently by slipping and falling in a stream. Then, doubts surface. Was it accident or murder? If murder, who and why? I don't want to spoil the mystery, but Christmas isn't just a backdrop for the story. Rest assured that if this was sentimental mush I wouldn't recommend it. It's a quick, enjoyable read for the Advent season.
—Lori
A CHRISTMAS VISITOR (Historic Mystery-England-1850’s) - VGAnne Perry – StandaloneBallantine Books, 2004- HardcoverHarry Rathbone is off to spend Christmas with his newly widowed goddaughter, Antonia Dreghorn, and her family. But when he finds her husband’s death may not have been accidental, he decides to find out the truth.*** This is the second year Ms. Perry has taken one of the secondary characters from her main series and given them their own Christmas mystery novella, which is wonderful. It’s a tradition I hope she continues. There is no one who creates a sense of time and place, as does she. The story contains a message of the true spirit of Christmas, wrapped in a very good mystery. If you’re either a Perry fan or one who loves period mystery, I highly recommend it.
—LJ
I like Anne Perry's Christmas novellas. They're a nice, light read but this one was lighter than most. There was a mystery at the heart of it but it was less complex than her usual offerings and left me wondering a little whether this would have been better as a sub plot in one of her full length novels. Despite that, it was well written with all the little period details that make the author's books a joy to read. I'm glad I read it but only because it gave me a little more insight into one of the recurring characters in the Thomas Pitt novels, Henry Rathbone.
—Tracy Enright
