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Faith Fairchild #1
The Body in the Belfry
There was no question that the body in the church belfry was Cindy Shepherd and that she was dead. The kitchen knife sticking out of her curvaceous young body left no doubt. As Faith Sibley Fairchild, the minister's wife who made the grisly find soon realises, there is no shortage of suspects who might have wanted Cindy dead: childhood enemies, jilted lovers and angry victims of her vicious tongue. But ex-New Yorker Faith has a lot to learn about murder in Massachusetts. Digging up seedy little secrets in a quiet New England village can make the natives a bit nervous...and turn the lady from the big city into just another small town statistic.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 15, 1990
128 people are currently reading
2194 people want to read
About the author
Katherine Hall Page
54 books462 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 213 reviews
February 16, 2020
Rating: 2.5* of five
The Publisher Says: During her years spent in New York City. Faith Fairchild was convinced she had seen pretty much everything. But the transplanted caterer/minister's wife was unprepared for the surprises awaiting her in the sleepy Massachusetts village of Aleford. And she is especially taken aback by the dead body of a pretty young thing she discovers stashed in the church's belfry. The victim, Cindy Shepherd. was well-known locally for her acid tongue and her jilted beaux, which created a lot of bad blood and more than a few possible perpetrators—including her luckless fiancé, who had neither an alibi nor a better way to break off the engagement. Faith thinks it's terribly unfair that the police have zeroed in on the hapless boyfriend, and so she sets out to uncover the truth. But digging too deeply into the sordid secrets of a small New England village tends to make the natives nervous. And an overly curious big city lady can become just another small town death statistic in very short order.
My Review: BAD First Mystery Novel Syndrome: Introduce characters that Central Casting would find rich and nuanced, but the Experienced Mysterian finds barely three-dimensional.
Then kill people that have blindingly obvious connections to each other, and to a cast of interchangeable Cozy Village Populators. Extra points (off) for including ancestor worshiping elders in a New England setting as major plot movers. Throw in a white cop from the Bronx as a detective with a Noo Yawk attitude. Ugh.
Describe your sleuth and her family with phrases so stock as to cause the Experienced Mysterian to make a mental police-artist drawing with attendant level of accuracy.
Set your story in a small New England stereotype of a town during the fall and have the transplanted New Yorker sleuth comment on the scenery and the weather without the slightest hint of fresh observation or even any believable motivation for her to so much as notice them.
Reveal the killer in such a way as to cause maximum snorts of derision and impatient huffing. The killer's identity was, I admit, not a standard choice, and so this first novel got an extra half star.
It's the first novel of NINETEEN in the series to date. If my very, very, very favorite porn star slipped into bed next to me, whispered disgusting and salacious suggestions of what he'd like me to do to him, and then said I had to read the second in the series before I was allowed to, I'd read the next one.
Otherwise, no. I have Ambien for sleeplessness, and while not as effective as this book in conkin' me out, it hurts less.
The Publisher Says: During her years spent in New York City. Faith Fairchild was convinced she had seen pretty much everything. But the transplanted caterer/minister's wife was unprepared for the surprises awaiting her in the sleepy Massachusetts village of Aleford. And she is especially taken aback by the dead body of a pretty young thing she discovers stashed in the church's belfry. The victim, Cindy Shepherd. was well-known locally for her acid tongue and her jilted beaux, which created a lot of bad blood and more than a few possible perpetrators—including her luckless fiancé, who had neither an alibi nor a better way to break off the engagement. Faith thinks it's terribly unfair that the police have zeroed in on the hapless boyfriend, and so she sets out to uncover the truth. But digging too deeply into the sordid secrets of a small New England village tends to make the natives nervous. And an overly curious big city lady can become just another small town death statistic in very short order.
My Review: BAD First Mystery Novel Syndrome: Introduce characters that Central Casting would find rich and nuanced, but the Experienced Mysterian finds barely three-dimensional.
Then kill people that have blindingly obvious connections to each other, and to a cast of interchangeable Cozy Village Populators. Extra points (off) for including ancestor worshiping elders in a New England setting as major plot movers. Throw in a white cop from the Bronx as a detective with a Noo Yawk attitude. Ugh.
Describe your sleuth and her family with phrases so stock as to cause the Experienced Mysterian to make a mental police-artist drawing with attendant level of accuracy.
Set your story in a small New England stereotype of a town during the fall and have the transplanted New Yorker sleuth comment on the scenery and the weather without the slightest hint of fresh observation or even any believable motivation for her to so much as notice them.
Reveal the killer in such a way as to cause maximum snorts of derision and impatient huffing. The killer's identity was, I admit, not a standard choice, and so this first novel got an extra half star.
It's the first novel of NINETEEN in the series to date. If my very, very, very favorite porn star slipped into bed next to me, whispered disgusting and salacious suggestions of what he'd like me to do to him, and then said I had to read the second in the series before I was allowed to, I'd read the next one.
Otherwise, no. I have Ambien for sleeplessness, and while not as effective as this book in conkin' me out, it hurts less.
August 27, 2017
Faith Fairchild, a trust-fund baby-turned-caterer born and bred in New York City’s West Side, has relocated to New England to follow her pastor husband Tom to his parish in Aleford, Massachusetts. With a new baby and no job but preacher’s wife, Faith greatly misses her go-go life in the Big Apple where she literally catered to the City’s High Society. Nothing exciting happens in Aleford! Until it does.
Faith finds raven-haired siren Cindy Shepherd, a girl as scheming as she was beautiful, stabbed to death in the town’s belfry. Cindy’s slow-witted boyfriend Dave is accused, but both Faith and Tom know that’s not the case. Thus does author Katherine Hall Page usher in a most delightful cozy series. I never suspected the murderer, although the ending was a bit unlikely. Still, I loved aspiring, kind Faith so much that I’ve already ordered the next in the series, The Body in the Kelp.
Faith finds raven-haired siren Cindy Shepherd, a girl as scheming as she was beautiful, stabbed to death in the town’s belfry. Cindy’s slow-witted boyfriend Dave is accused, but both Faith and Tom know that’s not the case. Thus does author Katherine Hall Page usher in a most delightful cozy series. I never suspected the murderer, although the ending was a bit unlikely. Still, I loved aspiring, kind Faith so much that I’ve already ordered the next in the series, The Body in the Kelp.
December 28, 2016
Excellent, simply excellent. This book greatly exceeded my expectations and was wonderfully engrossing from start to finish. Great characters, great setting, great mystery, overall wonderful.
April 6, 2012
This is a fun series. I have read the more recent books, but it's always interesting to read the first book in a mystery series. What I like about this series is that, while it's light reading, it's not stupid reading. There has been a lot of stupid writing in the mystery genre lately. I can tell pretty quickly after reading a few pages. When I have the urge to throw the book in the trash, it's time to return it to the library! In this case, I got this copy from Paperback Book Swap, a site I recommend highly.
This book introduces Faith Fairchild, daughter of a New York city minister and his wife, a professional in her own right. She comes from a privileged background and, until she fell in love with her husband,Tom, ran a very successful catering business in New York. She has taken some time off from business to get married and have a baby. Now she lives in a small Massachusetts town and is till feeling her way as a minister's wife, new person in town, and new mother. She has learned already that the town desperately needs a caterer!
In the meantime, she decides to take a walk. So with baby Benjamin in his Snugli, she takes a tuna and egg sandwich on her own home made bread, and decides to have a personal picnic at the top of a hill near the town's historic bell. Now this bell NEVER gets rung except on very special occasions. However, when Faith finds a dead body, she sees this as an emergency and rings the bell. When one of her husband's parishioners if initially arrested for the murder, Faith and Tom decide to help. Soon Faith is asking too many questions.....
This book introduces Faith Fairchild, daughter of a New York city minister and his wife, a professional in her own right. She comes from a privileged background and, until she fell in love with her husband,Tom, ran a very successful catering business in New York. She has taken some time off from business to get married and have a baby. Now she lives in a small Massachusetts town and is till feeling her way as a minister's wife, new person in town, and new mother. She has learned already that the town desperately needs a caterer!
In the meantime, she decides to take a walk. So with baby Benjamin in his Snugli, she takes a tuna and egg sandwich on her own home made bread, and decides to have a personal picnic at the top of a hill near the town's historic bell. Now this bell NEVER gets rung except on very special occasions. However, when Faith finds a dead body, she sees this as an emergency and rings the bell. When one of her husband's parishioners if initially arrested for the murder, Faith and Tom decide to help. Soon Faith is asking too many questions.....
March 22, 2016
I read this book as part of a book challenge...the task was to read a book where the main character was either in the clergy or a spouse of a clergy.
This book fits the bill as Faith Fairchild is the spouse of a clergyman in a small New England town. Faith is not the usual "stereotype" of a clergyman's wife, even though she is the daughter of a clergyman. Faith was born and raised in New York City and is used to the excitement of city life. Faith is happily married with a newborn son. However, she is bored without the excitement of running her catering business that was so successful in NYC. Faith hopes to bring this business to Aleford when the baby is a bit older.
One day, while taking a walk and picnic lunch with her newborn son, Faith encounters the body of a local resident who is not well liked in the town. The prospect of adventure is very exciting for Faith who hopes to assist in solving this mystery.
I look forward to reading further in this series.
This book fits the bill as Faith Fairchild is the spouse of a clergyman in a small New England town. Faith is not the usual "stereotype" of a clergyman's wife, even though she is the daughter of a clergyman. Faith was born and raised in New York City and is used to the excitement of city life. Faith is happily married with a newborn son. However, she is bored without the excitement of running her catering business that was so successful in NYC. Faith hopes to bring this business to Aleford when the baby is a bit older.
One day, while taking a walk and picnic lunch with her newborn son, Faith encounters the body of a local resident who is not well liked in the town. The prospect of adventure is very exciting for Faith who hopes to assist in solving this mystery.
I look forward to reading further in this series.
January 20, 2011
This is a "cozy mystery," the first in a series. This book didn't exactly suck me in and point of view issues didn't help. Most of the first chapter was skimmable backstory told in narrative summary, and Faith Sibley, our sleuth, didn't come alive to me as a person.
Faith is a caterer and minister's wife in the small Massachusetts town of Aleford. She's heaving "Victorian sighs" because she's homesick for New York City and bewailing nothing has happened in Aleford since 1775. (I found Faith rather whiny in general.) Then, of course, she finds the body of bad girl Cindy Shepherd near the historical belfry--and the scandal over whether Faith should have rung the bell "almost eclipses" the murder in the town.
Even after we get into the meat of the story though, something about the style (like lots of infodump) and the main character made this a slog--the further I got in, the harder I found it to keep going until I crawled to a stop halfway.
Faith is a caterer and minister's wife in the small Massachusetts town of Aleford. She's heaving "Victorian sighs" because she's homesick for New York City and bewailing nothing has happened in Aleford since 1775. (I found Faith rather whiny in general.) Then, of course, she finds the body of bad girl Cindy Shepherd near the historical belfry--and the scandal over whether Faith should have rung the bell "almost eclipses" the murder in the town.
Even after we get into the meat of the story though, something about the style (like lots of infodump) and the main character made this a slog--the further I got in, the harder I found it to keep going until I crawled to a stop halfway.
May 11, 2011
This book was disappointing. I had high hopes for it, since I'm always excited to start a mystery series I hadn't tried before. This one is about a minister's wife, Faith, who moves with her husband from NYC to a small New England town. And there, surprise, surprise, she discovers a body in the belfry.
I found that I didn't care about Faith, her husband, or any of the other characters. The writing was very slow, and I had to force myself to keep reading it. Supposedly the people in the town were Faith's friends, but she didn't seem to have a connection with any of them, and so therefore, neither did I.
I'll have to try to find another series to read...
I found that I didn't care about Faith, her husband, or any of the other characters. The writing was very slow, and I had to force myself to keep reading it. Supposedly the people in the town were Faith's friends, but she didn't seem to have a connection with any of them, and so therefore, neither did I.
I'll have to try to find another series to read...
June 2, 2010
I thought there was too much "life in a small town" and not enough action around the mystery itself. Nice if you like small-town gossip.
October 18, 2015
This is a tidy, well-written little cozy. This isn't a type of mystery I'm usually interested in...the darker, gritty, more twisted ones are more appealing to me. But this one had a lot going for it and I will definitely continue with the series. The setting (small town New England in the fall) was beautifully described and created the perfect atmosphere for the story about a quaint town hiding some dark secrets. Most of them involve a nasty young villain whose murdered body is discovered in the first pages by the main character--a young mother, relatively new to the community, who happens or be a minister's wife. She's a New York bred city girl who owned an upscale catering business before meeting the charming young clergyman who wins her heart and prompts her to give up her high end career and apartment and move to rural Massachusetts with him. They're a charming and winning couple with a small baby, and Faith is settling in to her new role--even though she feels a bit restless and bored...and is definitely frustrated by her haute cuisine-challenged new home. (She's obviously a stunning chef, and I suspect she will resume her successful catering business in future books.) but in the meantime, she discovers the murdered body--in a belfry of course...and her restlessness comes to an end when she believes the wrong person is the suspect and she feels the need to "assist" the police and investigate further. Even though the police are no slouches in this one, it turns out Faith's a pretty good detective, too. Although her inexperience nearly leads her to disaster, this ends well, as all good cozies should.
July 24, 2018
Katherine Page takes the small New England town setting and shakes it, dislodging dirty secret after dirty secret. Great setting, fun characters. I only wish the sleuth needed a little less help to survive the final gauntlet.
Then again, maybe I'm biased by writing women detective who hit people with
mailboxes.
Then again, maybe I'm biased by writing women detective who hit people with
mailboxes.
February 3, 2023
Not bad for a first book in a series. Not too unbelievable like a lot of cozies. I was afraid that the "preacher's wife" was going to be either too sweet or too bitchy, but she's neither. I think I'm going to enjoy these.
March 22, 2020
Why would an author create a whole series around this abominable woman? Faith Fairchild is a gleefully rude snob, utterly offensive, and more deserving of s smack in the head than anyone in any other book I've read recently. She's heinous. Why have I been reading these books all these years?
February 14, 2018
I liked this book! I started the series from book #1, so it’s an older book. The story reminds me of a Miss Marple mystery. Small town mystery where everyone knows everyone’s business. I look forward to more Faith Fairchild.
February 25, 2022
3.5 stars. A lighted cozy mystery is just the thing for a cold winter day. I enjoyed the wit of Faith. Katherine Hall Page has written quite a number of adventures with Faith; so I look forward to reading more. And the audio was wel done, too
March 31, 2020
The first Faith Fairchild mystery, this book is really intriguing and is a page-turner as the reader sifts through the many suspects to find out who caused the murder of the body in the belfry.
January 28, 2025
This was a solid start to the series. I liked Faith and the mystery was good. I'd love to see her get her catering business back up and running and have to juggle that with solving mysteries.
October 2, 2020
Well, I finished this, and it seemed a lot longer than its actual 240 pages. I usually get to three stars when I finish a book, but this one irritated me. Like Faith Fairchild, I am a New Yorker who lives in New England, and while Page gets New York pretty right, there is nothing very recognizable about New England here. If you like small town Nassachusetts, Harry Kemelman does it a lot better and even in Marquand's "Point of No Return," a book I did not particularly like, the town part worked better than i does here.
So what did I not like? First, Faith Fairchild is hard to warm up to as a character. She really has not left New York in spirit, and name-drops brands and such way too much for someone living where she now does. The detail on her cooking was an intrusion and generally not impressive. And she has no personal characteristics besides being the protagonist. Well, maybe I should take that back.
She strikes me as niave and ditzy. I also thought her baby son was also extraneous to the story. Actually, I agree with the other reader who failed to respond to any of the characters.
I actually like cozies, but Page has messed with the genre in a way which felt more like marketing than creativity. There are too many sexual allusions -- adultery, blackmail, dirty pictures of male parts and more -- with which I am mostly fine in other genres, but here it was jarring.
Lots of the relationships do not make sense. What's a nice guy like Dave Swenson doing by courting Cindy, one of the most unlikable characters in all of fiction? Why is John Dunne from the Bronx? Why do all the characters for whom the information is provided attend prestigious colleges (and why is this information relevant?).
Don't waste mental energy trying to figure out the culprit. There are eight or nine possibilities, but no clues are given which would let the reader deduce where the story is going. So, of course, there is a big reveal in the end, and, oddly, the story meanders on for a pretty meaningless and surprisingly lengthy post mortem (pun intended) when I had hoped I had reached the end.
I think there are twenty more books in this series, but I will not be reading them.
So what did I not like? First, Faith Fairchild is hard to warm up to as a character. She really has not left New York in spirit, and name-drops brands and such way too much for someone living where she now does. The detail on her cooking was an intrusion and generally not impressive. And she has no personal characteristics besides being the protagonist. Well, maybe I should take that back.
She strikes me as niave and ditzy. I also thought her baby son was also extraneous to the story. Actually, I agree with the other reader who failed to respond to any of the characters.
I actually like cozies, but Page has messed with the genre in a way which felt more like marketing than creativity. There are too many sexual allusions -- adultery, blackmail, dirty pictures of male parts and more -- with which I am mostly fine in other genres, but here it was jarring.
Lots of the relationships do not make sense. What's a nice guy like Dave Swenson doing by courting Cindy, one of the most unlikable characters in all of fiction? Why is John Dunne from the Bronx? Why do all the characters for whom the information is provided attend prestigious colleges (and why is this information relevant?).
Don't waste mental energy trying to figure out the culprit. There are eight or nine possibilities, but no clues are given which would let the reader deduce where the story is going. So, of course, there is a big reveal in the end, and, oddly, the story meanders on for a pretty meaningless and surprisingly lengthy post mortem (pun intended) when I had hoped I had reached the end.
I think there are twenty more books in this series, but I will not be reading them.
October 21, 2016
Although this is an unabashed formulaic cozy mystery, like any tried and true recipe, it’s quality depends on what the “cook” does to embellish it. Consider, for example that there are as many variations on chicken soup as there are people who cook it. Even a formulaic cozy mystery can be fun, as this one definitely is, and, as it is first in series, it encourages me to dip into this series from time to time, just for a relaxing read.
Faith is a Manhattan girl who fell in love with a Minister and left the big city for a tiny village in Massachusetts. She adores her husband and dotes on her baby, but she is also getting more than a little bored with small town life, until …she discovers a body. You can predict what happens next.
What makes this book is that it has a lot of charm. The setting is lovingly described, making it vivid and interesting, and the characters are drawn with care and even some depth. We come to know them, and they are all believable and enjoyable to observe. There is a surprise ending that I didn’t see coming, and, while this is definitely a cozy, it is never banal.
This is the kind of book to curl up with when one wants to just relax and be carried, fairly gently, along a story line. Although there is some excitement, it isn’t the kind that makes the heart pound, or makes you forget to breathe, and while there is violence, it is kept off stage, so there is little to disturb. It won’t challenge you, or make you think deep and profound thoughts, but when the book is done, you may, as I did, feel that you have been on a rather nice mental jaunt, and sometimes, a mental jaunt is exactly what is needed.
Faith is a Manhattan girl who fell in love with a Minister and left the big city for a tiny village in Massachusetts. She adores her husband and dotes on her baby, but she is also getting more than a little bored with small town life, until …she discovers a body. You can predict what happens next.
What makes this book is that it has a lot of charm. The setting is lovingly described, making it vivid and interesting, and the characters are drawn with care and even some depth. We come to know them, and they are all believable and enjoyable to observe. There is a surprise ending that I didn’t see coming, and, while this is definitely a cozy, it is never banal.
This is the kind of book to curl up with when one wants to just relax and be carried, fairly gently, along a story line. Although there is some excitement, it isn’t the kind that makes the heart pound, or makes you forget to breathe, and while there is violence, it is kept off stage, so there is little to disturb. It won’t challenge you, or make you think deep and profound thoughts, but when the book is done, you may, as I did, feel that you have been on a rather nice mental jaunt, and sometimes, a mental jaunt is exactly what is needed.
Read
October 7, 2013This cozy-style mystery is readable enough in its way, but I really don't understand how it managed to win an Agatha Award for Best First Mystery. As other readers have pointed out, it's set in a ridiculously cliche New England village full of ancestor-worshippers (please, why couldn't they have been PAGAN ancestor-worshippers just for variety?) and in general the characters are unusually one-dimensional even by genre fiction standards. The heroine is a New York City gourmet caterer whose love for a minister met at a wedding-reception gig has taken her from her home environment, and while I know that real live people actually do strange things like that, in fiction more care must be taken to make me believe it. Likewise, while I could soon easily recognize the motive for the murder, pinning it on a minor character at the last minute was rather lame.
On the plus side, the narration can be lively and humorous. Yet given the extremely traditional nature of the tale, plus the heroine's role as minister's wife, I found the frequent injections of bawdy humor a bit jarring. Yes, they were funny, and they certainly didn't offend me, but the rest of the book didn't depart from cliche often enough for them to work for me. I'll take more raunch and less cozy next time around, please.
On the plus side, the narration can be lively and humorous. Yet given the extremely traditional nature of the tale, plus the heroine's role as minister's wife, I found the frequent injections of bawdy humor a bit jarring. Yes, they were funny, and they certainly didn't offend me, but the rest of the book didn't depart from cliche often enough for them to work for me. I'll take more raunch and less cozy next time around, please.
July 5, 2013
A pleasant, cozy mystery read that wasn't spectacular but enjoyable nonetheless.
Faith was a likeable character with tons of curiousity and feistiness, who was trying hard to fit into the quiet, sleepy small town of Aleford and assume the role of a minister's wife after spending years in New York City. It was a bit of a culture shock for her, to say the least, but her love for her husband, Tom, and his mission in life made the transition a little easier. I liked the easygoing, loving relationship between them.
Ms. Page captured the sordid secrets, narrow-mindedness and colourful characters of a small town quite well. While the mystery itself was not exactly scintillating, there were plenty of red herrings and twists to make it interesting. The motive was certainly different, and not one that struck me as obvious for most of the book.
I'm always in the market for a new cozy mystery series, and I believe I will continue on with this one for a while.
Faith was a likeable character with tons of curiousity and feistiness, who was trying hard to fit into the quiet, sleepy small town of Aleford and assume the role of a minister's wife after spending years in New York City. It was a bit of a culture shock for her, to say the least, but her love for her husband, Tom, and his mission in life made the transition a little easier. I liked the easygoing, loving relationship between them.
Ms. Page captured the sordid secrets, narrow-mindedness and colourful characters of a small town quite well. While the mystery itself was not exactly scintillating, there were plenty of red herrings and twists to make it interesting. The motive was certainly different, and not one that struck me as obvious for most of the book.
I'm always in the market for a new cozy mystery series, and I believe I will continue on with this one for a while.
June 24, 2014
The Body in the Belfry is the first in the Faith Fairchild series. I have read one other, number 4 out of order, and decided to go back to this one. This is a series that surprised me in that I am not religious and I usually do not like religious themed books at all. In this series, Faith is a minister’s wife, and yet the books manage to not be preachy or full of morality lessons, etc. I liked the mystery and the characters, Faith and her husband Tom manage to be fully fleshed out characters, not defined by their faith. I did find the ending a little odd in the resolution. but it was still okay. The book is a product of its time, written in 1990 and may feel a little dated, especially to younger readers, who didn’t live through it.
September 28, 2010
I so enjoyed reading this. Such a perfect partnership between Faith and her minister husband--love, patience, enthusiasm, consideration. Page has drawn a lovely range of characters. I look forward to getting to know them all better.
The Have Faith part reminds me of Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Bear series while the New England village setting bears a vague feeling of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. And the whole creates a very homey feeling.
The Have Faith part reminds me of Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Bear series while the New England village setting bears a vague feeling of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. And the whole creates a very homey feeling.
July 26, 2016
This is the start of the series of Faith Fairchild. We have ordered the entire series so I will be commenting on all of them before long. Good introduction to the characters and an excellent plot which keeps you reading because you don't know what is going to happen and how the mystery will be solved.
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the Isms" "Wesley's Wars" "To Whom It May Concern" and "Tell Me About the United Methodist Church"
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the Isms" "Wesley's Wars" "To Whom It May Concern" and "Tell Me About the United Methodist Church"
August 22, 2015
I enjoyed it, but not as much as the previous book I read by the author. It was the very first in the series and the actual book was a paperback that looked like it had been through the wringer. It shouldn't have, but I think that affected how I liked the book.
July 24, 2025
When I started this book, I found myself enjoying several aspects. I appreciated the fact that the main character was already married, so no "insta-love" or "enemies-to-lovers" type subplot. I also liked the interactions between the married couple. They were sweet with each other and supportive. The baby was well written--obviously loved by his parents, but with the normal frustrations and icky diaper moments. While there was obviously religious aspects of the story with a minister's wife as protagonist, both Faith and her husband came across as very down to earth and reminded me of several of my friends who are either ministers or related/married to ministers.
As the book went on, though, there were some irritants that started to feel like a piece of sand in my shoe. Faith was a serious food snob. Okay, she had run a catering business and wanted to get back to that work in her future, but it seemed like everything food related was "these people are cretins and I must lift them up into the world of 5-star cuisine." I mean, I've seen some serious recipe atrocities by people who overuse Cheez Whiz and Jell-O, and underuse herbs. But there are decent cooks in the world who do not need to make food with French names to create solidly good meals for their family. But Faith pretty much scorned every food offering in town, with the exception of one person's soups.
Likewise, Faith brought serious NYC snobbery about clothing and culture to her new home. I began to wonder how she had any friends when she so obviously thought they lacked any kind of fashion sense, etc.
The book also seriously dragged in several places and some parts could have easily been cut. At one point Faith flies to NYC for a few days and we are forced to read through practically hour by hour what she is doing while there--none of which was related to the overall mystery and a lot of which was related to her shopping in relief at all the stores that she knows will keep her fashionably clothed so she doesn't turn into a country bumpkin. I listened to the audiobook, so I couldn't say what page the murderer was revealed on, but it was about an hour and a half before the book ended, which meant that the dramatic "the murderer is going to kill me too" bit lost a lot of its impact because it was just too damn long. And after the rescue, there was still half an hour of wrap up--most of which was spent saying why the other suspects had been ruled out. By the time I finished, I was relieved to be done.
I'm still giving 3 stars because compared to a lot of other cozy mysteries, this was decent. I suspect I will read the second book simply because I know first books are sometimes a bit raw as the setting and characters are all introduced, but I don't have super high hopes for the series.
As the book went on, though, there were some irritants that started to feel like a piece of sand in my shoe. Faith was a serious food snob. Okay, she had run a catering business and wanted to get back to that work in her future, but it seemed like everything food related was "these people are cretins and I must lift them up into the world of 5-star cuisine." I mean, I've seen some serious recipe atrocities by people who overuse Cheez Whiz and Jell-O, and underuse herbs. But there are decent cooks in the world who do not need to make food with French names to create solidly good meals for their family. But Faith pretty much scorned every food offering in town, with the exception of one person's soups.
Likewise, Faith brought serious NYC snobbery about clothing and culture to her new home. I began to wonder how she had any friends when she so obviously thought they lacked any kind of fashion sense, etc.
The book also seriously dragged in several places and some parts could have easily been cut. At one point Faith flies to NYC for a few days and we are forced to read through practically hour by hour what she is doing while there--none of which was related to the overall mystery and a lot of which was related to her shopping in relief at all the stores that she knows will keep her fashionably clothed so she doesn't turn into a country bumpkin. I listened to the audiobook, so I couldn't say what page the murderer was revealed on, but it was about an hour and a half before the book ended, which meant that the dramatic "the murderer is going to kill me too" bit lost a lot of its impact because it was just too damn long. And after the rescue, there was still half an hour of wrap up--most of which was spent saying why the other suspects had been ruled out. By the time I finished, I was relieved to be done.
I'm still giving 3 stars because compared to a lot of other cozy mysteries, this was decent. I suspect I will read the second book simply because I know first books are sometimes a bit raw as the setting and characters are all introduced, but I don't have super high hopes for the series.
March 4, 2025
The Body in the Belfry
by Katherine Hall Page
1990
.
I recently finished reading “The Body in the Belfry” by Katherine Hall Page.
This is the first entry in the Faith Fairchild series which is now up to 25 volumes!
Page has won three Agatha Awards and she was named a Grand Master by the Edgar awards, so she is a very successful mystery writer indeed.
.
This is a “cozy mystery” which contrasts it with police procedurals, or “hard-boiled” stories, or stories that focus excessively on violence and blood.
Cozy mysteries often have female detectives who love cats or love to cook….
Faith Fairchild is a cook so there are nice descriptions of food in this story.
I have read that later volumes even include recipes.
.
Faith was raised by a well-off family in glamorous Manhattan where she started a successful catering service.
When “The Body in the Belfry” starts she is living in a small New England town near Boston with her new husband Tom, the local minister, and her new baby Benjamin.
.
Faith is starting to feel bored and restless being away from the big city, but then she finds the body of Cindy Shepherd and decides that she should figure out who the murderer is.
Cindy was a 20-year-old man chaser who dabbled in black mail so there are going to be lots of suspects!
.
Page writes in a very easy prose style that is enjoyable to read.
.
Several people in the town think Faith should not have rung the church bell when she found the body because that bell is reserved for special events three times per year.
The most officious resident is especially upset about the ringing of the bell.
“It was her belief that Faith could have run down the hill as quickly as possible and then screamed loudly.
Millicent did grudgingly admit that screaming from the top of the hill, however therapeutic, would have been useless.”
.
I was hoping this would be a “fair-play” mystery where all the clues are given to the reader.
I don’t think it was unless the clues went right over my head.
Nevertheless, it is an excellent mystery story with a likeable hero.
I’m sure I will read more books in this series.
by Katherine Hall Page
1990
.
I recently finished reading “The Body in the Belfry” by Katherine Hall Page.
This is the first entry in the Faith Fairchild series which is now up to 25 volumes!
Page has won three Agatha Awards and she was named a Grand Master by the Edgar awards, so she is a very successful mystery writer indeed.
.
This is a “cozy mystery” which contrasts it with police procedurals, or “hard-boiled” stories, or stories that focus excessively on violence and blood.
Cozy mysteries often have female detectives who love cats or love to cook….
Faith Fairchild is a cook so there are nice descriptions of food in this story.
I have read that later volumes even include recipes.
.
Faith was raised by a well-off family in glamorous Manhattan where she started a successful catering service.
When “The Body in the Belfry” starts she is living in a small New England town near Boston with her new husband Tom, the local minister, and her new baby Benjamin.
.
Faith is starting to feel bored and restless being away from the big city, but then she finds the body of Cindy Shepherd and decides that she should figure out who the murderer is.
Cindy was a 20-year-old man chaser who dabbled in black mail so there are going to be lots of suspects!
.
Page writes in a very easy prose style that is enjoyable to read.
.
Several people in the town think Faith should not have rung the church bell when she found the body because that bell is reserved for special events three times per year.
The most officious resident is especially upset about the ringing of the bell.
“It was her belief that Faith could have run down the hill as quickly as possible and then screamed loudly.
Millicent did grudgingly admit that screaming from the top of the hill, however therapeutic, would have been useless.”
.
I was hoping this would be a “fair-play” mystery where all the clues are given to the reader.
I don’t think it was unless the clues went right over my head.
Nevertheless, it is an excellent mystery story with a likeable hero.
I’m sure I will read more books in this series.
October 10, 2024
I’ve dipped in and out of this series for years, and I’ve enjoyed every experience with the big-city caterer turned small-town pastor’s wife.
Faith had created her catering company, Have Faith, in New York City before she met Tom Fairchild. She recognized that her love for the pastor at a small-town Massachusetts church was significant enough to ditch life in the city. As the book begins, Faith and Tom are married with their oldest son, Ben, mostly still up in arms, so to speak. She walks one fall day carrying Ben, and they go to the church belfry to enjoy the fall weather and allow Faith to eat one of her home-made sandwiches. That’s when she notices Cindy Shepherd. The sharp-tongued, hateful young woman slouches on a bench in what Faith believes to be an unnatural pose. It would be unnatural if Cindy were alive.
Shepherd had few friends. Her inclination to spew hateful things about others was a town legend. A naturally curious Faith digs into the woman’s life a bit and learns that Shepherd was a blackmailer in addition to her nasty disposition.
One of the chief suspects turns out to be Sam Miller, the husband of Faith’s close friend, Pix. Sadly, Sam had an affair with Cindy Shepherd, and she managed to take photos of the sexual encounters. When things didn’t go her way, she threatened to send them to Pix and everywhere else that could damage Sam’s life and reputation. Shepherd’s fiancé had lots of reasons for wanting her dead, too. Naturally, he becomes a suspect.
I enjoy the Faith character most of all. She’s not particularly pious, substituting piety with a practical, can-do spirit that stands her in good stead as a pastor’s wife. Hers is the kind of quiet Christian service that is far superior to the pious lip service of far too many in her position. It is she who brings me back to the series periodically.
I didn’t suspect how this would end, and the section that involved someone endangering Faith’s life was gripping reading.
Faith had created her catering company, Have Faith, in New York City before she met Tom Fairchild. She recognized that her love for the pastor at a small-town Massachusetts church was significant enough to ditch life in the city. As the book begins, Faith and Tom are married with their oldest son, Ben, mostly still up in arms, so to speak. She walks one fall day carrying Ben, and they go to the church belfry to enjoy the fall weather and allow Faith to eat one of her home-made sandwiches. That’s when she notices Cindy Shepherd. The sharp-tongued, hateful young woman slouches on a bench in what Faith believes to be an unnatural pose. It would be unnatural if Cindy were alive.
Shepherd had few friends. Her inclination to spew hateful things about others was a town legend. A naturally curious Faith digs into the woman’s life a bit and learns that Shepherd was a blackmailer in addition to her nasty disposition.
One of the chief suspects turns out to be Sam Miller, the husband of Faith’s close friend, Pix. Sadly, Sam had an affair with Cindy Shepherd, and she managed to take photos of the sexual encounters. When things didn’t go her way, she threatened to send them to Pix and everywhere else that could damage Sam’s life and reputation. Shepherd’s fiancé had lots of reasons for wanting her dead, too. Naturally, he becomes a suspect.
I enjoy the Faith character most of all. She’s not particularly pious, substituting piety with a practical, can-do spirit that stands her in good stead as a pastor’s wife. Hers is the kind of quiet Christian service that is far superior to the pious lip service of far too many in her position. It is she who brings me back to the series periodically.
I didn’t suspect how this would end, and the section that involved someone endangering Faith’s life was gripping reading.
July 22, 2019
Faith Fairchild is the minister's wife in the village of Aleford, Massachusetts. She had been married for a few years and she and her husband Thomas have a beautiful son named Benjamin. Faith grew up in New York City and is a city girl at heart so it is very hard for her to live in this small village where you know the names of everyone. However, one doesn't always know what your neighbor is doing as many would think, The story starts with Faith and Benjamin heading to the Belfry tower to have a little picnic. When she entered the Belfry she saw someone, a dead person by the name of Cindy Shepherd, the village mean and bad girl. The question of who wanted her dead leaves so many suspects that it is hard to find someone to charge. Cindy has insulted just about everyone, slept with just about every man in and around Massachusetts, New York and probably most of New England. This tells one what kind of person she really is and why everyone wanted to kill her. Faith tries to find out who killed Cindy since she was the one to find her body, She is even more determined to find out when one of the parishioners is finally accused of the crime and one of her friends is killed. Faith finds herself in danger and may end up dead herself if she keeps snooping around. As is typical, Faith will continue to ask questions, and gets entangled with the wrong people. I enjoyed the book but one thing that really annoyed me was the fact that Faith is a food snob. She looks down her nose at pizza and other normal foods in favor of gourmet foods. It is funny at times but can still be annoying. It seems she had a catering business in NYC and was very good at her job.
August 11, 2023
This was the first in a fairly extensive series -- looks like 26 books. This first is set in 1990 which practically qualifies it as a historical! But they continue right up to 2023 for the latest so I guess not really.
Faith is a young mother, wife of a local minister, in a small village in Massachusetts. She's definitely the newcomer, having been raised in New York City. Vaguely dissatisfied, but not really, Faith is climbing a local hill to sit and have lunch in the belfry tower -- a town landmark. As she's getting herself and her baby situated, she sees she's not alone. And almost immediately she realizes the other person is dead. Freaked out -- she rings the bell (which is normally only for important occasions) and heads back down the hill to the parsonage.
Turns out the victim wasn't particularly well liked in the town which tends to hamper the investigation as first one, then another of the locals are suspected. And Faith can't help taking an interest since they're all her friends, neighbors, and/or parishioners of her husband Tom.
From there it follows all the rules of a good cozy mystery. The clues are there. The police are a bit stumped, but not at all keen on her 'meddling'. She goes asking questions anyway, and occasionally finds herself getting a talking to about putting herself in danger. But there's certainly not as much doing really foolish things as one often finds in such books. At the end, of course, she promises not to get involved in any such thing again but -- did I mention? There are 26 books (so far).
Faith is a young mother, wife of a local minister, in a small village in Massachusetts. She's definitely the newcomer, having been raised in New York City. Vaguely dissatisfied, but not really, Faith is climbing a local hill to sit and have lunch in the belfry tower -- a town landmark. As she's getting herself and her baby situated, she sees she's not alone. And almost immediately she realizes the other person is dead. Freaked out -- she rings the bell (which is normally only for important occasions) and heads back down the hill to the parsonage.
Turns out the victim wasn't particularly well liked in the town which tends to hamper the investigation as first one, then another of the locals are suspected. And Faith can't help taking an interest since they're all her friends, neighbors, and/or parishioners of her husband Tom.
From there it follows all the rules of a good cozy mystery. The clues are there. The police are a bit stumped, but not at all keen on her 'meddling'. She goes asking questions anyway, and occasionally finds herself getting a talking to about putting herself in danger. But there's certainly not as much doing really foolish things as one often finds in such books. At the end, of course, she promises not to get involved in any such thing again but -- did I mention? There are 26 books (so far).
August 31, 2021
I have had volumes in this series on my shelves for a while and decided it was time to give it a shot. Sorry to say it did not grab me. Faith, a NYC resident and caterer, is transplanted to a small MA town after her whirlwind romance and marriage to a minister. The story takes place a year and a half later when her baby is 5 months old and she is bemoaning the fact that nothing ever happens there. So, of course, she stumbles across the body of a very disliked young woman. She shortly is sticking her nose in everywhere and the baby is always accommodating or has a convenient sitter. Characters came across as cliches. A couple of problem areas for me were the fact that Faith knew minuscule background information on a lot of people in the town for someone who has been there a year and has claimed she is new to the helpmate job and doesn't seem that involved in parish work (maybe one reason she is bored). Secondly, her husband, immediately after talking to police and being informed that they don't appreciate amateur detectives, tells Faith that she needs to stay out of it. This is book one, why would he assume that is what she would do? Since I have several more volumes I will probably give the series another chance. Hopefully it improves.
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