A Christmas Grace

by Anne Perry

With Christmas just around the corner, Thomas Pitt’s sister-in-law, Emily Radley, is suddenly called from London to be with her dying aunt. Leaving her husband and two children behind, Emily makes the long journey to an all-but-forgotten town in the county of Connemara, on the western coast of Ireland. She soon discovers that a tragic legacy haunts the once closeknit community.

Violent storms ravage the coast and keep alive painful memories of an unsolved murder and unsettling fears that a killer may still live among the residents of the lonely Irish town. Determined to lighten her aunt’s heart and help the troubled community, Emily sets out to unmask the culprit. When a lone shipwreck survivor washes up onshore, he brings with him not only the key to solving the terrible crime but the opportunity for the townspeople to make peace with the past–and with one another.

Genres: Mystery, Christmas, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Ireland, Historical Mystery, Audiobook

210 pages, Hardcover

First published January 4, 2008

About the author

Anne Perry, born Juliet Hulme in England, lived in Scotland most of her life after serving five years in prison for murder (in New Zealand). A beloved mystery authoress, she is best known for her Thomas Pitt and William Monk series.

Her first novel, "The Cater Street Hangman", was published in 1979. Her works extend to several categories of genre fiction, including historical mysteries. Many of them feature recurring characters, most importantly Thomas Pitt and amnesiac private investigator William Monk, who first appeared in 1990, "The Face Of A Stranger".

Her story "Heroes," from the 1999 anthology Murder And Obsession, won the 2001 Edgar Award For Best Short Story. She was included as an entry in Ben Peek's Twenty-Six Lies / One Truth, a novel exploring the nature of truth in literature.

Series contributed to:
. Crime Through Time
. Perfectly Criminal
. Malice Domestic
. The World's Finest Mystery And Crime Stories
. Transgressions
. The Year's Finest Crime And Mystery Stories

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read; a mystery about a long-ago murder that’s destroyed a village with suspicions and secrets. Very clean expect for the dark, blustery atmosphere. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions that made me able to see the surroundings and feel the storm so well.

[Manju · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the description which created a strong sense of place. I also loved the emotional questioning and growth of Emily. The mystery wasn’t compelling. and the story somehow felt unresolved on the last page. But still I liked the book - the descriptions are very vivid and it is interesting to see how the incidents and the place both compel Emily to question herself.

[Avid Series Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

A Christmas Grace by Anne Perry is book 6 of the Christmas mystery novel series, set in Victorian England. While the majority of the series is set in London, in this book Charlotte Pitt’s sister Emily Radley travels to the rugged west Ireland coastal town of Connemara. Charlotte and Emily’s Aunt Susannah has asked for a family member to be with her in her last days, and Charlotte is too ill to travel. Emily is very reluctant to leave her comfortable home and family at Christmastime. Her aunt has been estranged from the family since she decided to marry an Irishman and move to Connemara, and Charlotte and Emily have not kept in contact with Susannah.

Emily’s husband Jack convinces her it’s the right thing to do, so she goes. Soon after Emily arrives, a terrible storm hits the coast. Only one sailor is rescued from a shipwreck. He remembers his name is Daniel, nothing more. Emily notices the townsfolk are extremely frightened, both of the storm and of the survivor. Through questioning townsfolk and Susannah, Emily learns that 7 years ago there was another storm, with a single survivor who had a devastating effect on the town. What Susannah really wants is for an old murder mystery to be solved, for closure before she dies.

While I enjoyed the wild and beautiful coastal setting, I found the mystery less interesting than others in the Christmas novel series, the motive for murder thin, and the story far too drenched in melodrama.

The next book in the series is A Christmas Promise.

[Cortney · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story had great potential, but the pacing was off. Investigation into the mystery did not start until halfway in to the book. The first one-hundred pages consisted mostly of the village's fears and tension that Emily Radley could sense, but could not quite put her finger on. It was frustrating. So many characters were introduced that at times it was confusing- is this a person to care about or not? Also, as Emily was trying to solve the mystery, she would work through her assumptions and possible scenarios in her head- that became frustrating too.
Not a horrible book, but not great either.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I always enjoy Anne Perry's Christmas stories. They always have a wonderful sense of atmosphere and a nice, short little mystery featuring one of the supporting cast members in her regular mystery series. This story has all the right elements but unfortunately never comes together.
The book features Emily Radley, the sister of Charlotte Pitt (of the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt mystery stories). It's just a few weeks before Christmas when Emily receives word that her estranged aunt is close to death at her home in Connemara, on the western coast of Ireland. No one has spoken to the aunt since she disobeyed her father and married a Roman Catholic Irishman.
Emily does not want to go, but once there she becomes enthralled by the storm swept coast and the people of this small village, which turns out to be the almost stereotypical "village with a secret" where everyone is always casting furtive glances at one another and speaking in phrases dripping with foreboding. You can almost hear the low organ notes.
Seven years before, a storm wrecked a ship off the coast, but a lone survivor made it to shore. This young man, Connor, had a profound effect on the people of the village -- until he was murdered. His death has been hanging over the town ever since, poisoning everything. It would be true to say that Emily becomes determined to find the murderer, but it would be even truer to say that this appears to be why her dying aunt summoned her in the first place. She didn't want to die without ending the fear and distrust in the village she had come to love and call home.
And that's where the story begins to fall apart. "Hi, I know no one in the family has had anything to do with me for many years, but I'm dying and could you come solve my murder mystery for me before I go?"
These books are short, easily read in a day, but this story would have been so much better with just a few more details. We never find out how anyone knew Connor was really murdered. (He drowned, so it could have happened any number of ways.) The interplay between some of the characters and how they factor into the mystery is very hard to follow. A second storm and the arrival of another lone survivor who acts exactly like the last one all seems just a bit foolish. And the final reveal still leaves a lot of unanswered questions and one very frustrated reader.

[CMG (Mac) · Rating 1 out of 5]

words words words. I think this book is just terrible. The mystery is extremely contrived so much that it can't really be a mystery. I could barely finish it. And then my jaw dropped at the end on how this could be published.
When the author continued to describe the fear and horror on her various characters faces, I fully expected a Dracula or other monster story.
Seems the so called mystery could've been easily solved without Emily.
Events were unbelievable. Parts made no sense - like when she wanted to leave town secretly (as if) and the priest couldn't leave because her Aunt was sick but she could.
I picked this because I am loosely trying to do the IncREADible challenge and it challenges you to read a Christmas book. I didn't realize until I started that this was 6th in a series. Or that it was a mystery. I imagine that the 1st and 2nd and maybe 3, 4 and 5 were probably pretty good and all have a good cast of characters with Pitt, Charlotte and Emily teaming up to solve mysteries. (I "read" in audio so I maybe misspelled the names.) Not much about Christmas actually.
But this 6th one seems entirely forced like the author had a deadline and just came up with something, anything. Or she's run out of ideas and inspiration.
I do relate somewhat to the storyline as I have a very elderly Aunt on the West Coast of Scotland so the sea, landscape descriptions and imagery spoke to me as did the family ties. (I'm not estranged and have visited fairly often but understand the frailness that comes with illness and the family like community that run throughout this book.)

Synopsis: A British socialite is called to the deathbed of her estranged Aunt in the West Coast of Ireland at Christmas time mid 1800s. Horse and buggy and lantern days. While she tends to her Aunty, she uses her amateur detective skills to unravel a 7 year old village secret.

[Loraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would not call this a true Christmas story, but rather a murder mystery that takes place at Christmas time. I loved the setting in Ireland and Anne Perry's descriptions of the landscape etc were excellent. It had a somewhat dark theme but the light at the end definitely gave it "A Christmas Grace".

[Correen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple little tale for the holiday with Emily, sister-in-law of Pitt, as the detective. The murder occurred in the past and no human violence happens during the story. It has a feel-good ending.

[El baúl de las certezas · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 / 5 ⭐

[Randi Annie Framnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emily Radley, Thomas Pitt’s sister-in-law and a known character from other of Perry's works, leaves her family just before Christmas to go to Ireland because her aunt is terminally ill. On arrival she discovers that there is something sinister and strange going on in the village and people are too afraid to talk about it.

Perry’s writing is magnificent as always. I feel drawn in like I am actually in Ireland 1895.
The beginning and ending as well as reference to weather conditions in December I think add to the Christmas feel of the story. I quite enjoyed the surprise ending. Didn’t see that coming at all.
As this is a novella, the plot progresses quite quickly with just enough information along the way. It’s a good companion on a little break in the Christmas preparations
A Christmas Grace (Christmas stories #6) is recommended for fans of Anne Perry’s other work as well as for readers of historical crime fiction in general.

My Rating: 3 /5 stars
(All opinions in this review are my own)

[Rayni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have tried not to read any of the Thomas & Charlotte Pitt novels because I'm afraid in my obsessiveness, I'll have to read them all at once. I've been there, done that.

However, that being said, I really enjoyed this "between the numbers" book from the Pitt novels. I've enjoyed Perry's other Christmas novels too. I like the fact that she takes someone who is not a main character & weaves a story around them. I also enjoy the descriptions of the scenery & the inner musings of her characters.

[Randy Tramp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emily Radley, reluctantly goes to a relative who is dying. Emily would much rather stay home, but does the right thing.

Soon Emily discovers why her Aunt Suzanna wanted her to come. To solve a seven-year-old murder mystery.

Anne does capture the scene, time and season. It's 1890's, and I feel there.

Years ago my ship docked in a small Carribean Island. I walked around the beach. Reading A Christmas Grace brought me back to that day so long ago, when Emily took her daily walks on the beach. I loved the descriptions.

I look forward to the next book in this series.

[Kav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not very Christmasy at all but still compelling. Anne Perry's ability to write a scene to life is amazing. I felt every raindrop, each gust of wind, the chill right down to my bones. While there is a mystery, it's much gentler than your typical whodunit. This is more a study on character and piecing together the complicated lives of the people in a small, close-knit community. And I loved the Irish setting!

[JJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not sure what this book is.

It's not a Christmas story as the title implies since it merely takes place in December but has nothing to do with Christmas.

It's not a heartwarming story of forgiveness (i.e., grace).

It's not a mystery, although it tried to be.

Mostly it's just a bad story that tries to be a lot but ends but being nothing but disjointed and not interesting.

[Nancy Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another enjoyable Christmas novel from Anne Perry! Emily Radley has to travel to Connemara to visit a dying aunt over Christmas. Needless to say, there's a mystery involved with lessons learned by Emily along the way. Always a pleasure to read these Christmas specials from this wonderful author!

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dire. No real mystery, no real story, not Christmassy at all, forced. I usally can find something good to say about most books - but failing with this one!

[Pat Rhoad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really stupid

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as much holiday spirit in this one as there is in other books that I have read in this series but enjoyable nonetheless. Emily is called to be with her sick, dying aunt in Ireland at Christmastime. Suzannah has not had much contact with her family since she broke with their wishes and married Hugo, an Irish Catholic, and moved to a remote village in Ireland. Emily is taken aback when she sees her aunt who, still relatively young in her 50's, looks wan and ill. She soon learns that besides the illness and the heartache from losing her beloved husband, Suzannah is also suffering from the same malaise as others in the village. They fear winter storms that might cause ships to wreck and sailors to wash up on their shores, dead or alive. In reality, it is the ones who survive that they fear the most. Seven years ago, a storm brough one such man, Connor, to the village. They nursed him back to health only to have someone from the village drown him. Why would someone do that and who? And now history is repeating itself when Danial is the only survivor of a recent shipwreck and the entire village is suspicious of him. Emily believes that Hugo knew what happened to Connor and that the guilt and fear contributed to his one untimely death so she is determined to find out the truth of Connor's death. Was it Maggie's husband, jealous of her attention toward Connor? Or Brendan who obviously loves Maggie from afar who let the jealously get the better of him? Or did Hugo himself have a falling out with the young man? The only way to find out is to retrace Hugo's footsteps so she goes to Galway and finds the people with whom Hugo spoke all those years ago. It turns out that the village historian, Padric Yorke, was from Galway but the story that he tells the villagers about his ancestry isn't true. In fact, he isn't even Irish having been the product of his English mother's rape at the hands of the lord of the manor where she was a maid. Connor, being from Galway, knew Padric's mother and knew the truth so Padric had to stop him from telling the whole village. A sad story but an enjoyable cozy mystery set in the Victorian era.

[Valerie Campbell Ackroyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

If it weren't that this book so masterfully describes the wild beauty of the Irish coast, I would have given it a 2. The plot is, well, ridiculous. After having no contact with her aunt Susannah for decades, Emily Radley agrees to leave her London home and family at Christmas to go and be with her in her last days in the west coast of Ireland. Why did Susannah ask her to come? That's really never made very clear although there is mention that Susannah was somehow--again, after not having contact with her for so many years?--aware of Emily's ability to solve crimes. An unsolved murder was committed in Susannah's village many years ago, a crime that hangs over the village like a poison as suspicion falls on several. And Emily soon comes to believe/understand that Susannah needs to know the solution to the crime before she dies.

This solution is made all the more urgent because, just as happened before the murder of several years past, a stranger is shipwrecked on the beach, a mysterious young man, attractive to a few in the village but with the annoying (to me as well!) habit of asking awkward questions, instilling fanciful notions. Emily becomes convinced that unless she solves the previous murder, another murder will happen. And, in the last 20 pages of the 210-page book, she does indeed solve it. I am still scratching my head about how she did it, too many things fell neatly into place. All in all, I loved the descriptions of the Wild Atlantic Way, of Ireland, but the rest of it was probably her weakest story yet of the six Christmas books I have read this season. On to my final one before the New Year....

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in Ireland. 210 pp (default edition). This was just OK for me. This is book 6 of a series of Christmas mysteries, which I didn't pick up on by reading the synopsis. The mystery didn't start until well into the book (I didn't even realize it was a mystery for quite some time!). The setting of the Irish coastline was lovely, but the story itself wasn't incredibly strong. From what I've read, this is one of the weaker of this series, so I'll give at least one other a go.

A Christmas Grace (Christmas Stories, #6) by Anne Perry

[Carole Jarvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've now read six of Anne Perry's Christmas novellas, and all have been 5-stars or very close. Some readers might not care for A Christmas Grace as much as I did. Although set on Ireland's rugged coast during the Christmas season, there's not a lot of Christmas feel to it. The murder mystery only comes into focus about halfway through and doesn't carry a high level of suspense. But these are only surface-level elements. The narrative is quite complex, with a meaning that goes much deeper, and this story was an engrossing read for me.

Anne Perry is highly skilled in bring a scene to life, blending all the senses into the reading experience. Connemara's village characters, deeply affected by a previous murder, have rich depth. No cardboard characters here! I was fascinated by how a stranger - first Connor, later Daniel - thrust into the community for a period of time, could clearly see what others could not, or tried to hide. And Emily's questions gradually reveal backstory and history, like peeling back the layers of an onion.

The conclusion brings light into the darkness, beautifully voiced by these words... Dedicated to all those who long for a second chance

And that, in Emily's words, is a gift of Christmas.

[Cookie M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emily Radley is called to Ireland to care for her aunt, who is dying and has no one to care for her, so she leaves her family at Christmas and travels to another country. Only in fiction, right? Except that is exactly what my son has done this year. It is Canada, not Ireland, and a friend from childhood, not an aunt.


Emily has to solve a seven year old murder while she is there. I pray my son has nothing like that happen to him.

I cannot get over the fact that my husband and I raised a saint.

[Mary Ellen Barringer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely Christmas story featuring Charlotte Pitt's sister Emily. I enjoyed listening to Emily struggle with daily chores and watching as she put others before herself.

You don't need to be familiar with the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series to enjoy this cozy Christmas mystery.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agréable de retrouver Emily loin des salons londoniens. La tempête fait rage sur les rivages du Connemara et ni Pitt ni Charlotte ne lui viendront en aide pour résoudre cette énigme...

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read novella. It's not really a Christmas book, although it takes place around Christmas.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emily goes to stay with a dying aunt over Christmas. While she's there, she solves a cold case. It was rather confusing and my least favorite so far.

[Sherry Scheline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full confession I listened to this version today and the reader tries an Irish accent. He should have stuck to English

[Niki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Christmas and I love romance so this is one of the many books I read this Christmas that was quick and full Christmas romance with added suspense.

[Joanne Kauffmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novel that shows how in the 1800's, family background, religion and education can affect a person's future life

[Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A quick Christmas mystery.