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Faith Fairchild #4
The Body in the Vestibule
Another thrilling Faith Fairchild adventure from the Agatha Award-winning author of The Body in the Belfry. The Fairchild family is blissfully on sabbatical in Lyon, France, when their peace is interrupted by Faith's discovery of a body in the dumpster. Local author signings.
226 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1992
About the author
Katherine Hall Page
53 books467 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 76 reviews
December 9, 2020
This was my favorite of the series so far, possibly even a 3.5, though still not quite at the level where I'd round up to that 4th star. I found Faith less cloying in this novel, probably because she was happy in Lyon and therefore less apt to compare everything unfavorably to Manhattan. We'll see how the next book is when she's back in Aleford.
I did find the random French vocabulary scattered throughout to be pretentious and distracting, and I LOVE languages. There just didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to which words were in French or why.
I did find the random French vocabulary scattered throughout to be pretentious and distracting, and I LOVE languages. There just didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to which words were in French or why.
July 28, 2022
Faith Fairchild--clergyman's wife, caterer in a small New England town, and sometime amateur sleuth, is off to France. Her husband has the chance to do research for his doctoral dissertation at the Université de Lyon and she will be able to learn about French cuisine first hand for a cookbook she is writing. And she will be able to turn sleuth if the occasion calls for it, which, of course, it soon does.
After accepting dinner invitations from several of their new friends, Faith that it's time she and Tom throw a dinner party of their own. The party is a big hit and so is the bouillabaisse prepared with as many varieties of seafood as she can find. Long after the party, Faith is having difficulty sleeping (as many an expectant mother does during pregnancy) and realizes that the smell from the remains of the lobster and shrimp shells is affecting her adversely. She decides to get the garbage out of the house right then and there. She drags the garbage bags down to the vestibule and the rubbish bins, only to find the body of a clochard (beggar) in the large bin. She awakens Tom and by the time the police arrive the body has disappeared.
The police are rather condescending to the "poor little pregnant American lady" and think she must have mistaken a sleeping man for a dead one. But Faith has run into death several times and knows a dead body when she finds one. Now she has two mysteries on her hands. Who killed the clochard--and why? And where is the body now? One of the Fairchilds new friends is also friends with a more intelligent policeman, but he is unavailable when Faith discovers the biggest clues and then promptly disappears herself. She may solve the mystery--but will she lose her own life in the process?
It has been a while since I've read any of the Faith Fairchild series and I have to say that I recall the others as being more interesting and a little less dark. The killer really is ruthless and only hesitates to kill Faith straight off because she's pregnant. [I honestly don't get why the killer has scruples about the unborn baby. As little conscience as s/he has, I can't imagine them being bothered about taking two lives rather than just one.] The initial plot line is solid and the motive behind the murder of the clochard makes sense. It's a little harder to see how the plot leads to the kidnapping of Faith....but if that didn't happen she wouldn't find out for sure who the killer was.
The setting was very nice, though it would have been even nicer if we'd gotten a bit more description of the city of Lyon and the surrounding area. Overall, a fairly decent mystery which could have used a bit of tightening up plotwise.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting portions of review. Thanks.
After accepting dinner invitations from several of their new friends, Faith that it's time she and Tom throw a dinner party of their own. The party is a big hit and so is the bouillabaisse prepared with as many varieties of seafood as she can find. Long after the party, Faith is having difficulty sleeping (as many an expectant mother does during pregnancy) and realizes that the smell from the remains of the lobster and shrimp shells is affecting her adversely. She decides to get the garbage out of the house right then and there. She drags the garbage bags down to the vestibule and the rubbish bins, only to find the body of a clochard (beggar) in the large bin. She awakens Tom and by the time the police arrive the body has disappeared.
The police are rather condescending to the "poor little pregnant American lady" and think she must have mistaken a sleeping man for a dead one. But Faith has run into death several times and knows a dead body when she finds one. Now she has two mysteries on her hands. Who killed the clochard--and why? And where is the body now? One of the Fairchilds new friends is also friends with a more intelligent policeman, but he is unavailable when Faith discovers the biggest clues and then promptly disappears herself. She may solve the mystery--but will she lose her own life in the process?
It has been a while since I've read any of the Faith Fairchild series and I have to say that I recall the others as being more interesting and a little less dark. The killer really is ruthless and only hesitates to kill Faith straight off because she's pregnant. [I honestly don't get why the killer has scruples about the unborn baby. As little conscience as s/he has, I can't imagine them being bothered about taking two lives rather than just one.] The initial plot line is solid and the motive behind the murder of the clochard makes sense. It's a little harder to see how the plot leads to the kidnapping of Faith....but if that didn't happen she wouldn't find out for sure who the killer was.
The setting was very nice, though it would have been even nicer if we'd gotten a bit more description of the city of Lyon and the surrounding area. Overall, a fairly decent mystery which could have used a bit of tightening up plotwise.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting portions of review. Thanks.
February 4, 2018
Faith Fairchild, her New England minister husband Tom and their toddler Benjamin get the opportunity to spend a glorious month in Lyon while Tom does research. Faith, once (and future) caterer, naturally adores the fresh, delicious Lyonnaise cuisine, and she soon befriends the local grocers, her neighbors — and even les filles de joie (prostitutes). Indeed, it is one of them who gives Faith a warning after a homeless man is found dead.
No. 4 in this smart cozy series proves as irresistible as the rest, and the European location was a nice change a pace and a look into what life is like in provincial France.
No. 4 in this smart cozy series proves as irresistible as the rest, and the European location was a nice change a pace and a look into what life is like in provincial France.
November 8, 2007
I love a good mystery, but this wasn't one. I picked it up because I love France where it is set. The premise is good - a clergyman's wife embroiled in a mystery while on a working sabbatical in France. The story moves very slowly, however, and I found myself skipping pages to get through. I hardly ever totally quit reading a book.
September 29, 2018
All of the French in this book took away from the storyline… But at other times it was kind of interesting to see how similar French words are to Spanish or English. I also didn’t realize I skipped book in the series… So now I’m gonna go back to book 3.
April 8, 2023
I loved this book!!!
September 17, 2017
I continue to be charmed by these rather unusual books that seems to me to be a perfect cross between a cozy and a rather gritty murder mystery series. This entry has Faith, a gourmet chef and former successful NY caterer and her minister husband Tom in Lyon, France with their 3 year old son. Tom (a charming and vastly underused character, in my opinion), is in France to continue research for a theological degree. Faith, as has become de rigueur in this series, discovers a dead body-- this time in the apartment dumpster. The usual adventure follows with the complication that the body, a local street dweller, has disappeared by the time the police arrive, and it's up to Faith to convince herself, her husband, and the authorities that her discovery was not just the result of hormone caused hallucinations of a pregnant woman. The author manages to include numerous gatherings of friends and neighbors and the succulent and beautifully described culinary feasts which this high-end bunch seem to consume regularly. Also included in the plot, and another reason I like this series so much, were some detailed and researched descriptions of the traboules in Lyon, which are popular tourist destinations and have been preserved and restored by French historians. Touring and dining aside, her investigation is not without genuine risk to Faith and her unborn child. In her efforts to find out what happened to the beggar, as well as the truth about the death of a local prostitute who tries to warn Faith off, a ring of criminals who turn out to be behind the murders realize Faith is about to blow their cover. I enjoyed this book a lot. I'm curious to see how being the mother of two little ones will or won't cramp her style in the next one, AND, to see if she reopens her catering business. This series is not only fun for mystery lovers, but it's a foodie delight.
February 10, 2017
Excellent. Faith can be quite the snob, however, especially when it comes to food. I will read the next one, recommend!
April 28, 2018
This one was harder for me to get into. For some reason, I couldn't keep the auxiliary characters straight at all. Always love the descriptions of food, though I wish Faith weren't QUITE so self-righteous about it.
December 13, 2017
I might have enjoyed this book more if I had any knowledge about France or the French language.
This author often has so many characters in her books that I have trouble remembering who is who.
This author often has so many characters in her books that I have trouble remembering who is who.
February 17, 2024
This is the 4th in a series and I just didn't care for it as much as usual. It's a bit of a departure: Faith isn't in her home village with the usual characters; rather, she and Tom are with young Ben in Lyon, France where he's doing some scholarly research and she's picking absorbing French culture and cuisine.
The murder mystery is reasonably solid -- 4 months pregnant, she can't sleep one night following a dinner party as she keeps smelling the trash so she decides to take the bags down to the dumpster and finds a dead tramp. She races back upstairs to wake her husband and call the police but by the time they get there the body is gone and they regard her as a slightly nuts pregnant lady. But she knows what she saw and, despite her condition and the fact that she's in a foreign country and doesn't speak much more than high school French, she decides to do some investigating on her own.
Mostly, I think my problem was that the book was longer than it needed to be by a good 50 or more pages. There's a LOT of description of the countryside and historical explanations, etc. With this series, she's a cook -- a chef, even -- so you expect some descriptions of meals but there was so much more. Clearly the author had been to Lyon and had to write down everything she saw. I ended up skimming quite a bit, while trying not to miss anything important. Undecided on whether to continue the series.
The murder mystery is reasonably solid -- 4 months pregnant, she can't sleep one night following a dinner party as she keeps smelling the trash so she decides to take the bags down to the dumpster and finds a dead tramp. She races back upstairs to wake her husband and call the police but by the time they get there the body is gone and they regard her as a slightly nuts pregnant lady. But she knows what she saw and, despite her condition and the fact that she's in a foreign country and doesn't speak much more than high school French, she decides to do some investigating on her own.
Mostly, I think my problem was that the book was longer than it needed to be by a good 50 or more pages. There's a LOT of description of the countryside and historical explanations, etc. With this series, she's a cook -- a chef, even -- so you expect some descriptions of meals but there was so much more. Clearly the author had been to Lyon and had to write down everything she saw. I ended up skimming quite a bit, while trying not to miss anything important. Undecided on whether to continue the series.
September 24, 2021
Creme de la Crime
"Amateur sleuth Faith Fairchild, who gave up big-time New York catering for small-town New England family life, is satisfying her hunger for epicurean adventure in the French provinces, writing a cookbook and reveling in the abundance of incredible edibles. What better place to throw the perfect dinner party ... or, as it turn out, to solve a not-so-perfect murder?
"The party is a social and gastronomical triumph, with no hint of foul play. Only after the last guest has departed and Faith begins her late night cleanup does she discover the body in he vestibule. When the body mysteriously disappears before the local gendarmes arrive, they conclude that la belle americanine has taken leave of her senses. But at least one person is taking Faith very seriously ... and planning to dish up a final course that could make this French dinner party her last."
~~back cover
The first 3/4 of the book was fairly boring -- an epicurean ode to the various French dishes, and very minimal action about the dead body, or lack thereof. The last quarter will have you hanging on your seat, biting your nails. I suppose I would have liked a more even plot structure, and it was exciting.
"Amateur sleuth Faith Fairchild, who gave up big-time New York catering for small-town New England family life, is satisfying her hunger for epicurean adventure in the French provinces, writing a cookbook and reveling in the abundance of incredible edibles. What better place to throw the perfect dinner party ... or, as it turn out, to solve a not-so-perfect murder?
"The party is a social and gastronomical triumph, with no hint of foul play. Only after the last guest has departed and Faith begins her late night cleanup does she discover the body in he vestibule. When the body mysteriously disappears before the local gendarmes arrive, they conclude that la belle americanine has taken leave of her senses. But at least one person is taking Faith very seriously ... and planning to dish up a final course that could make this French dinner party her last."
~~back cover
The first 3/4 of the book was fairly boring -- an epicurean ode to the various French dishes, and very minimal action about the dead body, or lack thereof. The last quarter will have you hanging on your seat, biting your nails. I suppose I would have liked a more even plot structure, and it was exciting.
June 28, 2023
The Fairchild family takes advantage of an opportunity to live in Lyon, France while Tom works on his doctoral thesis research at the University and Faith learns the finer points of French cooking. Ben is three-years-old and Faith is in the middle of her pregnancy with Amy, so it's a good time to go. One night Faith cannot sleep. She blames the problem on some garbage sitting in the kitchen. She takes the offending bag downstairs to the recepticle where she discovers the body of a local homeless man who spends his days begging for coins and drinking wine outside their building. But when the police respond to her call, the body has vanished. They dismiss her claims as hysteria coming from a pregnant American woman. Even Tom has his doubts. Faith investigates on her own which puts her into a dire position.
This was an early installment in a series which continues to get better over the years. There was way too much French language used in the book for my liking because I don't speak French. I didn't really care for the characters either. Probably my least favorite of all the Faith Fairchild books.
This was an early installment in a series which continues to get better over the years. There was way too much French language used in the book for my liking because I don't speak French. I didn't really care for the characters either. Probably my least favorite of all the Faith Fairchild books.
October 13, 2019
Faith and Tom have the opportunity to spend a month in Lyon, France while Tom finishes his dissertation. Tom's college friend finds an apartment for them, with ready-made friends and street people living on the sidewalk outside. One night after the pregnant Faith and Tom give a dinner party, Faith can't sleep. She decides it's the smell of the garbage left from the party, and gets up in the wee hours of the morning to carry the odoriferous sack down to the dumpster. When she opens the dumpster lid, she finds the dead body of one of the homeless men from her neighborhood inside. When the police are called a few minutes later, the body has disappeared, and the officers just assume that the dead man was just sleeping, and Faith is a little crazy. Needless to say, Faith can't let it go, and begins her own investigation, leading to the death of a local prostitute and a kidnapping that puts herself and unborn child in grave danger.
May 31, 2020
(See "Voices" review for context--clearing out.) This is the fourth entry in a mystery series with another caterer in a small town (see "The Last Suppers"), but Faith Fairchild is solidly married to a New England clergyman throughout the series, births two children, and has a privileged past in New York City. The "vestibule" is in an apartment building in Lyon, France, where Tom is working for a month on his dissertation. Benjamin, their son is in preschool in the mornings, and Faith, past early days of pregnancy, is reveling in the food markets and cooking. I read the first books of the series with great interest until the early 2000s, then moved on. It is up to 25 books now (2019). A skim of the opening suggests that I kept this as one of two favorites because of its lovely opening description of Lyon which I visited for two days in September 2002.
September 25, 2018
This takes place in Lyons where pregnant Faith and her minister husband are on vacation with son Ben. Tom is doing research for his dissertation. One night after a very successful dinner party, a body is discovered in the vestibule of the building. But after Faith summons the authorities, when they arrive, the body is gone from the dumpster. After being warned to go back to America, and a prostitute's body is found in the river, Faith is kidnapped . A lot of Lyons descriptions and French phrases in the book. Annoying as I do not speak French. Faith continues to be pretentious. Why would a pregnant woman even consider jumping from a moving car, why would a foreigner insert themselves into a police investigation? Hopefully, the series will get better.
July 7, 2025
Unlike other reviewers, for me the French and the number of characters gave me no pause but the fixation on food was over the top. Even in scenes that ought to have been focused on the mystery action and threats to life and limb we hear endlessly, gushingly about the French food. It made the main character Faith, the minister's wife, seemed like she was possessed of the sin of gluttony
I did enjoy the depiction of French camaraderie. The murder mystery scenario too was different and at times intriguing. When mention was made of Faith's having been involved in some other murder cases, it seemed to clunky way to advertise this is one entry in a series.
I did enjoy the depiction of French camaraderie. The murder mystery scenario too was different and at times intriguing. When mention was made of Faith's having been involved in some other murder cases, it seemed to clunky way to advertise this is one entry in a series.
December 31, 2017
Faith Fairchild Mystery #4 is set in Lyon Fr. where Tom is doing research to finish his doctoral dissertation, while four month pregnant Faith cares for three year old Be, shops daily for fresh foods form the open air markets and while taking out a he smelly remains of bouillabaisse at two in the morning, discovers a clochard (tramp) in the garbage bins in their apartment building’s vestibule. Again a well hidden mystery with many angles to solve it. Thank goodness for inspector Michel Ravier and Faith’s resourcefulness.
November 21, 2016
While this series is cute and entertaining and usually gets at least 3 stars from me I was beyond disgusted with little Miss Faith this go round because she is pregnant and yet she blithely risks her life and hence the life of her unborn baby chasing murderers. You know what, Faith? Your primary responsibility is to the baby in your womb. Let les gendarmes handle the murders this time around. Okay? Got it? Good.
July 20, 2025
Faith Fairchild, wife of a Church of England minister, is pregnant and caring for her young son in the city of Lyon, France when she finds a body in a dumpster, one that disappears before the police come. She gets to know some clochard or beggars, and prostitutes. With limited French and facing dismissive police officers, she struggles to make her fears known.
The view of French street life is rather rosy. Heavy with food descriptions.
The view of French street life is rather rosy. Heavy with food descriptions.
August 30, 2019
I do like the Faith Fairchild series but this one had too much writing about French food. It seemed to take a long time before the mystery started. Sometimes I got confused as to who was who in the book. I guess I like a little more structure. Maybe the French language through me off. It did get good near the end and I never would have guessed how it nearly ended.
June 24, 2023
Faith Fairchild book 4
I paid attention while reading this book but still was surprised. I really like Faith, she has real depth by this book. I enjoyed the food described throughout the book. Of course it made me hungry more than once. The book takes place in France and now I want to go and eat.
I paid attention while reading this book but still was surprised. I really like Faith, she has real depth by this book. I enjoyed the food described throughout the book. Of course it made me hungry more than once. The book takes place in France and now I want to go and eat.
June 30, 2025
The Fairchild family, Faith, Tom, and toddler Ben, head to France for a month or so. I normally can't provide enough plaudits to describe my appreciation for the series and these characters. this just felt pretentious (peppered with way too much French), and the mystery element is entirely forgettable. So, it's onto the next book in the series, which will be better!
July 21, 2017
not as good as the others in this series; Faith needs her usual cast of characters around her to bring out her best; this one is set in France which leads to a lot of descriptions of the food but the characters are very one dimensional
April 25, 2019
France is a long way from small-town Massachusetts but Faith continues her mystery solving ways. This time she is settling into living in Lyon for a month and finds a body in the vesitbule of her apartment building. The suspense rises as she is kidnapped.
July 12, 2020
Bah. You can't place a book in France and then write the exact same story as if it took place in the US. There are cultural differences to account for.
And talking about the main character's iffy French is problematic when she gets kidnapped and can suddenly follow every nuanced discussion.
And talking about the main character's iffy French is problematic when she gets kidnapped and can suddenly follow every nuanced discussion.
February 21, 2018
Absolutely wonderful, except for two completely incongruous moments (the f-bomb and a totally unnecessary masturbation scene).
March 22, 2018
The French setting doesn’t work quite as well, except for the foodie bits
August 6, 2018
It made me want to go to France... and then it didn't make me want to go to France. A little hard to get into at first but overall enjoyable.
January 13, 2019
Set in France, it was fun to learn about another culture. Good series!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews