Book Review - The Body in the Gallery by Katherine Hall Page

I wrote about this author recently. I enjoyed The Body in the Gallery and feel that it is a small departure from her previous books. Much is the same - Faith Fairchild is still catering, still married to her New England bred clerical husband, still living in small town New England. I found many allusions to popular culture, which I do not remember noticing before. Allusions to many TV shows (esp. Mork and Mindy's Robin Williams), and one to Harry Potter's invisibility cloak were threaded throughout. Current high-end fashion and art also weaved another layer in Page's book.

I found many good aspects of this book. These include addressing current concerns that parents are facing - particularly the role of the Intranet on school aged children. Her middle school aged son, Ben, gets tangled in a web of being bullied into cyberbullying. Page is to be applauded for bringing this to the forefront as a important social issue that needs to be addressed by parents with school age children. Also the role of mother/wife/adult woman continues to be examined as Faith continues to grow with her children. This growth is facilitated by her husband's wishing to solve their family problems by having Faith be more of a stay-at-home mom /wife. She comes up with what can be termed a meaningful compromise at the end of the book, but the issue is not fully resolved.

I greatly appreciate Page's commitment to family and marriage that is clear without it being a deliberate nod to a political persuasion or party. She embodies what I sense is the New England commitment to traditional values with the flavour of New York City near by. Even more appreciated is that Page does not fully resolve the complexities of living in our time period.

It is not easy to be a parent in today's society. It is not easy to be a woman and understand what role she needs and wants to play (it seems that one of feminism's greatest triumphs is the giving woman with enough money the choice to work / stay at home). To deal with this complexity while solving a murder or two is no small feat. I look forward to reading her next book, The Body in the Sleigh. Meanwhile, I look foreword to reading her 2006 Body in the Ivy which, by happenstance, I have yet to read.

Mystery Books

I read my first mystery book since Lent - Pick Your Poison by Leann Sweeney. I bought it at Prime Crime Mystery Store in Ottawa. I love the bookstore, but am careful not to go there too often. Especially since I don't have a job at this precise moment.

However it was used and I enjoyed it.

Mystery books today are an interesting part of the publishing industry. This one was published by Penguin in softcover, which is a bit of a coup, if I understand the publishing world. It is possible that it is now inversed, paperback publishing not meaning it went past the hardcover printing; I am not sure.

Anyway. There were a few editorial glitches. Picky - maybe. In the paragraph the line where the character introduces her mother as dying when she and twin were 3 is repeated almost word-for-word. It appears that the author failed to introduce a name of a key character properly and I was left wondering where this name came from. (I looked pages and pages back trying to find it). And there was a typo towards the end of the book, with a word misspelled.

SIGH. Sometimes I wish I was a book editor. Perhaps I missed part of my calling in life. I really love editing and analyzing books.

There were some great parts in the book - really funny cohesively written themes that kept the characterization of Abby Rose, the main character of the book, more dynamic. However, I felt though that it was a bit too full of stock characters. Trying to be a mix of an English mystery novel of a rich woman set in Texas with the hot detective with an Evil-Ex scenario. So Agatha Christie in current times (but not as clever) with a mix of Diane Mott Davidson (but without her strength of outlaying description and characterization). The main character's past in computer science could of been a bit more defined. A strength of DM Davidson books is that Goldie has a career that helps carry her character and Abby Rose, L Sweeney's character did not.

I could see the plot coming by page two, other than a few complications, which is why I say it is not as cleverly written as Agatha Christie's. That said, it had good dialogue, humour; I especially enjoyed her characterization of some side characters who were on the poor side of the money tracks.

I am glad I read it, especially as reading in the 17th Century can be a bit heavy. I would like to see this author deepen, however.

Have you read any good books lately? Would love to hear! :)