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Faith Fairchild #21
The Body in the Piazza
To celebrate a significant wedding anniversary, amateur sleuth/caterer Faith Fairchild and her husband, the Reverend Tom Fairchild, are off to Italy for a vacation filled with exquisite indulgences. The plan is to spend a romantic weekend in Rome, before heading to Florence to visit Faith's former assistant Francesca at her new cooking school. But a dark shadow clouds joy when someone is murdered in the Eternal City almost right before the Fairchilds' eyes! Familiar faces from Rome appear in Tuscany. Coincidence? And someone seems intent on sabotaging Francescaâ??s new business. Faith struggles to follow a trail more twisting than fusili and ends up putting both herself and her husband in peril.
Audio CD
First published April 1, 2013
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About the author
Katherine Hall Page
54 books465 followersKatherine Hall Page is the author of twenty-five previous Faith Fairchild mysteries, the first of which received the Agatha Award for best first mystery. The Body in the Snowdrift was honored with the Agatha Award for best novel of 2006. Page also won an Agatha for her short story “The Would-Be Widower.” The recipient of the Malice Domestic Award for Lifetime Achievement, she has been nominated for the Edgar, the Mary Higgins Clark, the Maine Literary, and the Macavity Awards. She lives in Massachusetts and Maine with her husband.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 186 reviews
September 12, 2013
I have read all of the author's books and always enjoyed them. This one just seemed to go on and on. There was so much detail abut food, scenery, hotel room decor, that the actual mystery was very sparsely referred to and solved much too neatly. I was listening to this book on audio mp3 so I could not fast forward. If it were the paper version, I would have skipped the endless descriptions. There were two instances where people were in danger and all of a sudden, it was either later that day or the next day and the danger was resolved. I still am not sure who the killer was. With so much time spent on travelogue type descriptions, very little words were used to wrap up the murder and explain why, how and whom.
Also I sometimes get tired of the author's snobbery regarding food. Making fun of airplane food is pretty old.
The narrator read the abbreviation for Daughters of the American Revolution as the word "DAR" not speaking each letter separately which is how it should be pronounced. Aren't there proof listeners for audiobook narrators?
This book was annoying and tiresome. Hopefully the next one will be better.
Also I sometimes get tired of the author's snobbery regarding food. Making fun of airplane food is pretty old.
The narrator read the abbreviation for Daughters of the American Revolution as the word "DAR" not speaking each letter separately which is how it should be pronounced. Aren't there proof listeners for audiobook narrators?
This book was annoying and tiresome. Hopefully the next one will be better.
May 18, 2013
I usually give a book 50 pages before I declare it unworthy. Favorite writers get 75 or 100 pages. While I have read and enjoyed most - if not all - of the Faith Fairchild books, by the time I worked my way through 30 pages of this book, I was done. The lengthy description of an uneventful trans Atlantic flight, including a page and a half about Faith bringing her own food really did not do it for me.
May 15, 2022
I really enjoyed this mystery combined with a travelogue through Rome and Tuscany and a week spent at a cooking school. Granted the mystery part of it was not the major theme, but having spent several different weeks traveling in Italy, and loving cooking tips, this really appealed to me. By the way, I saw several reviews complaining about the amount of Italian used in the story. I didn't think it was at all overwhelming, and most of the time she found a way to slip in the translation with a comment after the word was used. I'm glad I've wandered back into this series!
May 11, 2013
Katherine Hall Page is one of the few writers I still buy in hardcover, when her books are first released, so I've been an appreciative fan of her series since the beginning. And for me, a mediocre Faith Fairchild mystery is still worth reading, in no small part because Faith is so much fun to spend time with. But the last few books, including this one, have definitely lost something from the earlier entries. It's as though Page is on auto-pilot when it comes to both mystery plot and characterization. She still has an acute eye for social commentary and surroundings -- in this case, a weekend in Rome followed by a week at a cooking school in Tuscany, with descriptions that made me want to book my flight immediately -- but this is not enough to create a strong story, especially one classified as a mystery.
The mystery itself was a cross between silly and derivative. While I love the films to which Page seemed to be paying homage (The Man Who Knew Too Much and North by Northwest), these elements weren't strong or sustained enough to form an integral part of the plot, so the various crimes (and there were several, though I won't spoil what little mystery this book contained by naming them) included in the book were handled superficially, and were too easily resolved, with Faith injecting herself in the obligatory way, but this time, not at all believably.
I have wondered, in the last five or six entries in this series, if the author is simply tired of Faith's world. This may be the reason that her plots and characters seems to have lost their depth and complexity. If so, perhaps Page should consider writing a book of travel essays. Her eye for other cultures is keen, and her actual writing remains strong and appealing.
For those of you who have not read the early books in this series, please, please, PLEASE give them a try. If you're a fan of the traditional mystery I think you'll enjoy them very much. I would discourage anyone from starting with this book, or the last few in the series. For those of you who, like me, are longtime fans who have always been excited about the release of a new Faith Fairchild mystery, relax and enjoy Faith's time in Tuscany, which is enjoyable for its own sake, especially if you don't dwell on how wonderful this series used to be.
The mystery itself was a cross between silly and derivative. While I love the films to which Page seemed to be paying homage (The Man Who Knew Too Much and North by Northwest), these elements weren't strong or sustained enough to form an integral part of the plot, so the various crimes (and there were several, though I won't spoil what little mystery this book contained by naming them) included in the book were handled superficially, and were too easily resolved, with Faith injecting herself in the obligatory way, but this time, not at all believably.
I have wondered, in the last five or six entries in this series, if the author is simply tired of Faith's world. This may be the reason that her plots and characters seems to have lost their depth and complexity. If so, perhaps Page should consider writing a book of travel essays. Her eye for other cultures is keen, and her actual writing remains strong and appealing.
For those of you who have not read the early books in this series, please, please, PLEASE give them a try. If you're a fan of the traditional mystery I think you'll enjoy them very much. I would discourage anyone from starting with this book, or the last few in the series. For those of you who, like me, are longtime fans who have always been excited about the release of a new Faith Fairchild mystery, relax and enjoy Faith's time in Tuscany, which is enjoyable for its own sake, especially if you don't dwell on how wonderful this series used to be.
May 20, 2015
Dollycas’s Thoughts
The last book in this series, The Body in the Boudoir, was Faith remembering how her life with minister husband started as she was traveling on a plane to Italy. In this installment the plane has landed and Faith takes us quite a tour of Italy from the foods to the amazing architecture. She also meets up with her old friend, Francesca who is opening a cooking school.
I have loved this series since it started but this was not one of my faves. The author went way overboard with the lengthy descriptions of everything Faith saw, did, cooked and ate that is really took away from the mystery. There was more than one time I stopped reading wondering if I wanted to continue. But the mystery was good and I wanted to see how it played out so I kept reading. I enjoyed how the killer could be someone they were traveling with and trying to figure out if that was true then who could it be. Taking the series out of the New England area was a nice change as well if only the focus had been more on solving them crime than the settings.
I truly thought this was the last book in the series so I was pleasantly surprised to learn about The Body in the Birches. I hope that we get back to the kind of story I expect from this author, but I do admit if I was lucky enough to travel to Italy I would want to tell everyone I could all about it. I think that is what happened here. The author had a fabulous trip and she just wanted to share it with her readers.
The last book in this series, The Body in the Boudoir, was Faith remembering how her life with minister husband started as she was traveling on a plane to Italy. In this installment the plane has landed and Faith takes us quite a tour of Italy from the foods to the amazing architecture. She also meets up with her old friend, Francesca who is opening a cooking school.
I have loved this series since it started but this was not one of my faves. The author went way overboard with the lengthy descriptions of everything Faith saw, did, cooked and ate that is really took away from the mystery. There was more than one time I stopped reading wondering if I wanted to continue. But the mystery was good and I wanted to see how it played out so I kept reading. I enjoyed how the killer could be someone they were traveling with and trying to figure out if that was true then who could it be. Taking the series out of the New England area was a nice change as well if only the focus had been more on solving them crime than the settings.
I truly thought this was the last book in the series so I was pleasantly surprised to learn about The Body in the Birches. I hope that we get back to the kind of story I expect from this author, but I do admit if I was lucky enough to travel to Italy I would want to tell everyone I could all about it. I think that is what happened here. The author had a fabulous trip and she just wanted to share it with her readers.
March 17, 2016
I found this to be a rather slow moving story which focused more on food than on the mystery. At first I enjoyed the way the clues were sort of stumbled upon but I got impatient after a while with all of the diversions. When things finally started moving along the conclusion didn't really seem to fit the rest of the story.
July 15, 2015
It was okay. Did not find it special.
August 31, 2019
I have read many of the Faith Fairchild books, but this wasn't one of my favorites. The emphasis seemed to be on descriptions of Rome, Florence and Tuscany sightseeing and attractions. There are too many details about food prep and wine tasting. The mystery seemed to be secondary to the story rather than the main purpose. The Author's Notes at the end of book however were interesting and worth reading.
January 30, 2016
Twentieth chronologically and twenty-first in the publication order in the Faith Fairchild cooking mystery finds Faith and Tom heading back to Italy to help Francesca with her new venture, Cucina della Rossi.
My Take
Oh, wow, Page is so beautifully descriptive---I wanted to catch the next flight to Rome!
Huh, I never knew that what we consider Roman cuisine developed from la cucina ebraico-romanesca. Makes sense though when you consider that what we think of as fine French food was also a case of peasant survival!
Hmm, good bit of travel advice: learn the 9-1-1 for a country you're visiting! Ya never know when you'll need it!
Getting the tour of the Rossis' revamped house and the kitchen...and then the food…oh, lordy...I need some Italian food. It sounds so incredibly glorious! That rabbit dish, the sea bass, and all the asparagus dishes...yum! And I love the explanations Page includes---she slips them in beautifully. No info dumps here! I want to hit the markets, the fratoii, and wineries they visit…!
However, the imprisonments and kidnapping, the undercover bit felt artificial. I can't believe they didn't explore the pen before this. I thought it was very unlike Faith to ignore this.
No. No. No, that scene at the Teatro Verdi makes no sense. Why would Faith have to react like this if the good guys know about the situation and even have an agent in the theater? And the big drama between the Russos? Oh, brother…
The Coda at the end was curious...it sounds like Tom and Faith are remembering back to their trip to Italy---this one---as if it happened some years ago.
The Story
It's been years since Faith and Francesca's last visit ( Body in the Boudoir , 20) and now the Rossis have opened a full-fledged cooking school with week-long culinary classes and Tom suggested a visit to celebrate yet another anniversary.
It's a beautiful start until their newest friend is murdered. When they get to the Rossis, it's to find another beautiful start and a gorgeous setting only to encounter another series of hiccups: unpleasant know-it-all fellow guests, a runaway assistant, a murderer who pops back up, and acts of sabotage.
The Characters
Faith Fairchild has settled in as pastor's wife, chef, and mother while the Reverend Tom Fairchild has resigned himself to his wife's curiosity, even if he's still unhappy with it. Ben is at that cranky teen-stage while Amy is their youngest and still sleeping with her stuffed animals. Hope Sibley Lewis is Faith's sister in New York City. With access to the Internet.
Francesca Rossi had worked for Faith in New York before returning home to marry Gianni and open her own cooking school. Jean-Luc, a Frenchman, is the Rossis' neighbor who's been doing up the villa next door—and it's gorgeous! Alberto is the assistant who has disappeared. Mario is the new assistant. Sandro and Maurizio are the frantoii, olive oil pressers.
Fellow guests for the Rossis' maiden class include:
Len and Terry Russo from Livingston, New Jersey; Harriet and Sally Culver; Sky Hayes and Jack Sawyer are from Beverly Hills; Olivia is Goth Girl and very unfriendly; and, Roderick and Constance Nashe are the insufferable Brits from Surrey.
Frederick "Freddy" L. Ives, an Englishman who writes travel guides, is a genial, fellow guest at the hotel and offers all sorts of useful advice, including that they dump any guidebooks.
Sam and Pix Miller are their longtime neighbors and friends who have volunteered to take on sitting the house AND the kids. Their son, Dan, is now in IT while Sam works at the Gardner Museum. Niki Constantine is still Faith's assistant at Have Faith and quite capable of taking care of business—she'll be bringing her new baby, Sofia, to work—while the Fairchilds are in Italy. Trisha Phelan is a part-time worker.
Paolo is a neighbor of Francesca's from the village and runs the hotel in Roma. François Dumond is the French minister of culture. Fronte de Liberazione Naziunale Corsu is a terrorist group.
The Cover
The cover is clever with its straight-up shot from within the courtyard of an Italian building, making a very nice frame.
The title is to the point, The Body in the Piazza is most unexpected.
My Take
Oh, wow, Page is so beautifully descriptive---I wanted to catch the next flight to Rome!
Huh, I never knew that what we consider Roman cuisine developed from la cucina ebraico-romanesca. Makes sense though when you consider that what we think of as fine French food was also a case of peasant survival!
Hmm, good bit of travel advice: learn the 9-1-1 for a country you're visiting! Ya never know when you'll need it!
Getting the tour of the Rossis' revamped house and the kitchen...and then the food…oh, lordy...I need some Italian food. It sounds so incredibly glorious! That rabbit dish, the sea bass, and all the asparagus dishes...yum! And I love the explanations Page includes---she slips them in beautifully. No info dumps here! I want to hit the markets, the fratoii, and wineries they visit…!
However, the imprisonments and kidnapping, the undercover bit felt artificial. I can't believe they didn't explore the pen before this. I thought it was very unlike Faith to ignore this.
No. No. No, that scene at the Teatro Verdi makes no sense. Why would Faith have to react like this if the good guys know about the situation and even have an agent in the theater? And the big drama between the Russos? Oh, brother…
The Coda at the end was curious...it sounds like Tom and Faith are remembering back to their trip to Italy---this one---as if it happened some years ago.
The Story
It's been years since Faith and Francesca's last visit ( Body in the Boudoir , 20) and now the Rossis have opened a full-fledged cooking school with week-long culinary classes and Tom suggested a visit to celebrate yet another anniversary.
It's a beautiful start until their newest friend is murdered. When they get to the Rossis, it's to find another beautiful start and a gorgeous setting only to encounter another series of hiccups: unpleasant know-it-all fellow guests, a runaway assistant, a murderer who pops back up, and acts of sabotage.
The Characters
Faith Fairchild has settled in as pastor's wife, chef, and mother while the Reverend Tom Fairchild has resigned himself to his wife's curiosity, even if he's still unhappy with it. Ben is at that cranky teen-stage while Amy is their youngest and still sleeping with her stuffed animals. Hope Sibley Lewis is Faith's sister in New York City. With access to the Internet.
Francesca Rossi had worked for Faith in New York before returning home to marry Gianni and open her own cooking school. Jean-Luc, a Frenchman, is the Rossis' neighbor who's been doing up the villa next door—and it's gorgeous! Alberto is the assistant who has disappeared. Mario is the new assistant. Sandro and Maurizio are the frantoii, olive oil pressers.
Fellow guests for the Rossis' maiden class include:
Len and Terry Russo from Livingston, New Jersey; Harriet and Sally Culver; Sky Hayes and Jack Sawyer are from Beverly Hills; Olivia is Goth Girl and very unfriendly; and, Roderick and Constance Nashe are the insufferable Brits from Surrey.
Frederick "Freddy" L. Ives, an Englishman who writes travel guides, is a genial, fellow guest at the hotel and offers all sorts of useful advice, including that they dump any guidebooks.
Sam and Pix Miller are their longtime neighbors and friends who have volunteered to take on sitting the house AND the kids. Their son, Dan, is now in IT while Sam works at the Gardner Museum. Niki Constantine is still Faith's assistant at Have Faith and quite capable of taking care of business—she'll be bringing her new baby, Sofia, to work—while the Fairchilds are in Italy. Trisha Phelan is a part-time worker.
Paolo is a neighbor of Francesca's from the village and runs the hotel in Roma. François Dumond is the French minister of culture. Fronte de Liberazione Naziunale Corsu is a terrorist group.
The Cover
The cover is clever with its straight-up shot from within the courtyard of an Italian building, making a very nice frame.
The title is to the point, The Body in the Piazza is most unexpected.
February 17, 2016
The Faith Fairchild Mystery series centers on the detecting skills of Faith Fairchild. Faith, a minister’s daughter, did what she swore never to do, and married a minister herself. Uprooted from her beloved Manhattan, she now lives in Aleford, a small New England town, where she raises her two children and runs her own catering business. Faith is a snob – a food snob and a clothing snob – but her devotion to her husband Tom (who orders his clothes from L.L. Bean and thinks cooking is opening a can of Campbell’s), her children, and her myriad of down-to-earth friends in Aleford make her likable. Of course she does have that propensity for stumbling over dead bodies and getting involved in finding the killer!
In this latest installment, Body in the Piazza, Faith and Tom are on an anniversary trip to Italy to see the sites and spend a week at their friend’s new cooking school. Their peaceful vacation is disrupted when they stumble across a stabbed man dying in the piazza in Rome. When they leave Rome for the cooking school, the mystery follows them, many of the guests at the school are not who they seem, and Faith will need to use her skills to determine the truth and find the culprit.
This was a fresh addition to a series which I thought was faltering. The descriptions of Italy and the food (I always leave these books hungry and wanting to cook!) were enticing, and the new cast of characters was a welcome break from Aleford.
See more on my blog at www.watchingthewords.com
In this latest installment, Body in the Piazza, Faith and Tom are on an anniversary trip to Italy to see the sites and spend a week at their friend’s new cooking school. Their peaceful vacation is disrupted when they stumble across a stabbed man dying in the piazza in Rome. When they leave Rome for the cooking school, the mystery follows them, many of the guests at the school are not who they seem, and Faith will need to use her skills to determine the truth and find the culprit.
This was a fresh addition to a series which I thought was faltering. The descriptions of Italy and the food (I always leave these books hungry and wanting to cook!) were enticing, and the new cast of characters was a welcome break from Aleford.
See more on my blog at www.watchingthewords.com
April 4, 2014
If you are Italian or have been to Italy you may really love this book. I could not get into it and there was too many Italian words, food words,etc. that were hard to pronounce or understand for me.
Faith and her spouse Tom are off to Italy for a celebration of their wedding anniversary, They are with a group most of the time and many parts are quite interesting, however, it was not a quick read for me. I was disappointed this time.
I have read all of her other books and really loved them. You may want to begin-- with her first books when their kids were small. They were really a great read, if you have not read any of K.H.Page's books. I hope she does write more and I will try again to see if I enjoy.
Faith and her spouse Tom are off to Italy for a celebration of their wedding anniversary, They are with a group most of the time and many parts are quite interesting, however, it was not a quick read for me. I was disappointed this time.
I have read all of her other books and really loved them. You may want to begin-- with her first books when their kids were small. They were really a great read, if you have not read any of K.H.Page's books. I hope she does write more and I will try again to see if I enjoy.
December 14, 2018
Faith and her husband are on an anniversary trip to Italy and will be spending a week at a new cooking school run by an old friend and assistant of Faith's. While there, they come across 2 men fighting/arguing and one of them later dies. Who was the other man? At the cooking school, it seems someone is out to sabotage the new school. With a cast of interesting characters, who is the best suspect? I did like the murder part of the story, but did not enjoy the tour of Italy - on most every page.
February 23, 2014
This was my first read in the Faith Fairchild series and I found it enjoyable. The story was neatly resolved in the last chapter, so I was surprised at the concluding section that the author called the "coda". In the coda, the Fairchilds reflect on the events of the book from a time that I understand to be 15-20 (or more) years in the future. I hope another reader. will let me know if this device is used in other books in the series and if you also found it odd.
July 13, 2016
I picked up this book again after trying it a few years ago. I did not get into it at the time. There were "a lot" (from my perspective) of words in Italian intermixed at the beginning of the book. But I did enjoy it this time around. I always enjoy this author's style of writing and character development and wittiness.
June 20, 2013
I couldn't get through this one (life's too short and there are too many good books to force myself) Too much like a travelogue with the murder being in the background. I read almost half. I have enjoyed her previous books and will look forward to the next one.
July 11, 2013
Good book, but the mystery really took a backseat to the food and scenery of Rome and Tuscany. I guess readers of Faith Fairchild mysteries would have been shocked if there'd been no mystery, but I would have been fine without it!
August 19, 2013
This book was okay. Travelogue and cooking info were interesting but the mystery was incidental. I'd rather get the info from books for which that is the primary purpose, and have a real mystery. I enjoyed earlier books in this series more.
October 1, 2025
Tom and Faith Fairchild jet off to Italy for their wedding anniversary, but the book quickly spirals into a slog. In Rome, they befriend a travel writer—until someone murders him. Faith’s melodramatic sobbing over the death feels forced, almost theatrical. Honestly, much of the book reads like a tedious travelogue. Page sprinkles in excerpts from Faith’s travel journal, but they land flat. Nobody’s here for that.
Faith drags Tom to a cooking school run by her former employee, Francesca. Sabotage plagues the place—someone contaminates ingredients and, in a creepy twist, slips decapitated snakes into guest bathtubs. Francesca and Faith sneak around, cleaning up the mess while guests sleep. Faith takes it upon herself to unmask the culprit behind the snakes and spoiled supplies, but the mystery feels like an afterthought.
I always saw Faith as a relatable, practical woman, despite her cushy upbringing. Here, she comes off as an elitist snob, flaunting her still-stunning looks after two decades of marriage. Her insecurities flare when Tom, a minister, counsels a young woman. For a moment, Faith worries he’s straying, which feels like unnecessary drama.
The book isn’t without its thrills. A tense scene traps Faith in an ancient underground tunnel, and later, thugs kidnap Tom, demanding something other than cash. These moments spark some excitement, but they’re too rare. Page dwells on food descriptions and historic ruins, sidelining the mystery. Long stretches of boredom dominate.
I didn’t hate the book, but it’s a two-star read at best. Life’s too short for this kind of letdown in the Faith Fairchild series.
Faith drags Tom to a cooking school run by her former employee, Francesca. Sabotage plagues the place—someone contaminates ingredients and, in a creepy twist, slips decapitated snakes into guest bathtubs. Francesca and Faith sneak around, cleaning up the mess while guests sleep. Faith takes it upon herself to unmask the culprit behind the snakes and spoiled supplies, but the mystery feels like an afterthought.
I always saw Faith as a relatable, practical woman, despite her cushy upbringing. Here, she comes off as an elitist snob, flaunting her still-stunning looks after two decades of marriage. Her insecurities flare when Tom, a minister, counsels a young woman. For a moment, Faith worries he’s straying, which feels like unnecessary drama.
The book isn’t without its thrills. A tense scene traps Faith in an ancient underground tunnel, and later, thugs kidnap Tom, demanding something other than cash. These moments spark some excitement, but they’re too rare. Page dwells on food descriptions and historic ruins, sidelining the mystery. Long stretches of boredom dominate.
I didn’t hate the book, but it’s a two-star read at best. Life’s too short for this kind of letdown in the Faith Fairchild series.
September 1, 2019
This is a Tour of Italy, both food-wise and sightseeing-wise, oh, and with just a touch of murder thrown in so it can be classified as a mystery! Truly an arm-chair traveler's guide to the foods, wines and sights of Italy, the "mystery" is clearly an afterthought and somewhat of an irritant. However, if it is on your bucket list to attend an upscale cooking class in Tuscany, then this read is for you. Not only are the dishes explained in gourmet detail, but several of them feature in the appendix of recipes at the back of the book. I myself found the foodie-rapture tedious and boring. I preferred the forays into the local history much more, but even that in no way compensated for such a flat plot.
Although there is a foul death, no one else is ever really in jeopardy and everything is tied up neatly in one pristine package just in time for the end of the culinary arts class which doubles as the end of the story!
Word to the wise: if you expect someone like Freddy to pop up on your vacation, full of travel wisdom and kindly impulses to treat complete strangers to dinner, don't hold your breath. Of all the coincidences, mistaken identities and general confusion (all of which were mild) peppered through-out the book, this was the only really jarring note that sent up a red-flag for me!
Although there is a foul death, no one else is ever really in jeopardy and everything is tied up neatly in one pristine package just in time for the end of the culinary arts class which doubles as the end of the story!
Word to the wise: if you expect someone like Freddy to pop up on your vacation, full of travel wisdom and kindly impulses to treat complete strangers to dinner, don't hold your breath. Of all the coincidences, mistaken identities and general confusion (all of which were mild) peppered through-out the book, this was the only really jarring note that sent up a red-flag for me!
February 7, 2017
The Body in the Piazza by Katherine Hall Paige is an exciting adventure that took me traveling to one of my most favorite cities...Rome. A woman and her husband get the chance to travel to Italy for their anniversary. While there, a friend of theirs will be teaching classes on cooking. What should have been just a peaceful yet busy fun-filled romantic time for the couple soon turns into a deadly intense situation from nowhere... Inside this brilliantly told novel, readers will find murder, assassination, kidnapping and a mystery full of suspense. Can Faith Fairchild save her husband from a situation that will require the utmost courage and planning or will Faith loose her husband and let the assassin get away with it all? Food, adventure, and a great way to travel from home. Katherine Hall Paige writes superb mystery novels that will keep readers turning the pages and on the edge of their seats. I found myself intrigued and completely plunged within the dangerous journey ahead. Overall, I highly recommend this well-written and well-developed novel to readers everywhere. The Body in the Piazza is definitely a must read for all.
October 31, 2019
This is the first Faith Fairchild Book I’ve read, and I really enjoyed it. The characters were interesting, the descriptions of the food and the markets were alluring, and the plot was solid. Faith and Tom are in Italy for their anniversary, and they are signed up for a week’s cooking class at the farm/vineyard of Faith’s old assistant, Francesca. But first, in Rome they meet a wonderful old English gentleman, take in the sites, and witness a murder. In Florence, Faith is puzzled by her fellow classmates, all of whom appear to have secrets. The various strands of the plot are cleverly pulled together with a minimum of events that are likely to trigger my anxieties, which is always a plus for me. I will definitely seek out more books in the Faith Fairchild series.
May 18, 2017
Katherine Hall Page is a fairly local (to me,) quite prodigious mystery author I had not read before my local library recently featured this book. Set in Florence and Tuscany, the author provides wonderful details of the art, architecture and food, enough details about the food prep and wine tastings that I took notes! Faith Fairchild, the protagonist, has been featured in over twenty books by the author; a caterer, married to a minister, mother of two, she seems to fall into mysteries and take many risks to solve them despite her family's dismay. The mystery might have been a reach, but the setting was worth reading about.
February 13, 2018
#21 and still as engaging, fresh, new, filled with believable characters, in gorgeous settings and filled with scrumptious food, ingredients, history and detailed facts that make the settings so real: this time, Rome, Florence and Tuscany and a cooking school set up by former NYC student assistant at Have Faith, Francesca and her husband, Gianni.
The only negative would be the time jumps Page drops in at the end, here reminiscing in Maine years later, or warping back to Tom and Faith’s meeting and wedding in Body in the Boudoir, as they fly to Europe on another anniversary.
Love the series, characters and traveling with Katherine and her Faith! Keep ‘em coming, please.
The only negative would be the time jumps Page drops in at the end, here reminiscing in Maine years later, or warping back to Tom and Faith’s meeting and wedding in Body in the Boudoir, as they fly to Europe on another anniversary.
Love the series, characters and traveling with Katherine and her Faith! Keep ‘em coming, please.
May 11, 2017
I love to read book about other places I have visited or hope to one day. My mom handed me this book during a road trip together and told me I would enjoy it. She was right; I was instantly captivated by Katherine's descriptions of Rome and went so far as to try to locate the real settings of her fictitious hotel and restaurants. The story wove in the wonderful history and food of Italy, and made my heart yearn for another visit. It was a quick read, and I'm looking forward to reading her other books.
April 26, 2020
This series is consistently mildly entertaining. This adventure is set in Italy, with Tom and Faith on an anniversary trip, but oddly framed as a book-long flashback? Bonus points for adding to my wine knowledge and for some lovely Italian descriptions, but dinged points for some unearned trust issues and lack of communication- neither felt logical at all. Also included some journal entries, which felt a bit like padding. I did like the touristy scenes and the cooking scenes, so all in all it averaged out to a three-star ranking, as does the series as a whole.
August 23, 2019
An Italian Travelogue
Faith Fairchild and her minister husband Tom travel to Italy for a culinary anniversary trip, but murder awaits. A very pleasant book, made all the more so due to a trip to Italy this spring with my pastor/hubby. The mystery was so-so, but the food and location descriptions were very enjoyable. Add in an appendix of Italian recipes and the book becomes terrific!
Faith Fairchild and her minister husband Tom travel to Italy for a culinary anniversary trip, but murder awaits. A very pleasant book, made all the more so due to a trip to Italy this spring with my pastor/hubby. The mystery was so-so, but the food and location descriptions were very enjoyable. Add in an appendix of Italian recipes and the book becomes terrific!
August 26, 2019
I listened to the audiobook from the library in preparation for a trip to Italy. Faith and her husband travel to Italy for an anniversary celebration, and their tour guide is murdered right in front of them. After meeting with the police, they meet their new tour group for several days of Italian cooking classes. Faith not only solves the mystery, but she also prevents an assassination. Recommended
October 24, 2020
This is my first (and probably last) Faith Fairchild mystery. It was super-easy reading, very light. The reason I read it was simply because it took place in Rome and the Tuscany region of Italy, where I lived for over 5 years. It was fun to reminisce with her descriptions of Rome and Florence, but I could take or leave the "mystery" aspect. And Faith's relationship with her husband was a little too cutesy for my taste.
August 26, 2022
This 21st book in the series was not one of Faith Fairchild’s strongest entries. If it wasn’t for the fact it was set in Italy I would have probably given it 3 stars. But I love Italy and anything set there. Since Faith is a caterer and a foodie,I of course expect a lot of food conversation, and since this took place at a cooking school even more so, but really I felt there was more food than mystery.
December 18, 2022
I picked up this book at a Little Free Library. I was not familiar with this author, but I feel this was probably not a good choice if I had any intention of reading more. The "non-mystery" details seemed to go on and on. I am not a foodie nor am I a traveler, so the details about food, scenery, and hotel room decor was too much and I found myself skimming many pages. The actual mystery was very sparsely referred to and solved much too neatly.
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