The Body In The Vestibule (2001) - Plot & Excerpts
Nice little cozy mystery. To keep things fresh, our heroine, Faith Fairchild, her husband Tom and child Ben are in Lyon, France. Tom has an opportunity to do a fellowship which will help him complete his doctorate of divinity. Faith, gregarious one that she is, has been meeting people and making friends while learning more and more conversational French. She has invited several friends over for dinner, which was of course delicious. However, she awakens in the middle of the night bothered by the smells of the remains of the bouillabaisse she had made for the dinner party. She has to lug the trash down several flights of stairs and when she gets down to the vestibule, she sees the dead body of a local panhandler. To make matters worse, she has to go back up all those stairs to get to the phone in her apartment. She convinces her husband that he must call the police rather than she because his French is far better than hers. To make matters worse, when the police arrive, there is no body - just the trash she spilled - in the vestibule. For a cozy, this was well written and entertaining. If you like this genre, this might be one you would enjoy.
I certainly picked the right book to read as my first Katherine Hall Page novel. This book takes Faith Fairchild, her minister husband, and their small son to live in Lyon, France for a short sabbatical. I've loved books in which families go to live abroad ever since a non-fiction book called Cornflakes and Beaujolais captured my interest in junior high. I'd previously avoided Page's books because the uniformity of titles (they're all called "The Body in the ...) and inclusion of recipes (after the first four books) made me think they might be the gimmicky, "hobby-of-the-month" type of mystery I don't care for. I'm happy to report I was wrong. The setting and characters are lovingly drawn, but besides that, the plots in the two books I've read so far are excellent. Engaging characters, many plot twists, and a heroine who is not only inquisitive but resourceful when she finds herself in a tight spot make this a very good book. (There are mouth-watering descriptions of French food, but no recipes; Page began including them in the fifth book of the series).
What do You think about The Body In The Vestibule (2001)?
