The Body in the Web by Katherine Hall Page Book Review

About the book:

Faith Fairchild joins the rest of the world in lockdown mode when reality flips in March 2020. As the pandemic spreads, Faith and her family readjust to life together in Aleford, Massachusetts. Her husband, Tom, continues his sermons from Zoom; their children, Ben, who's in college, and Amy, a high school senior, are doing remote learning at home .

Faith is happy to have her family under the same roof and grateful for her resilient community, friends, and neighbors in Aleford. Town halls remain lively and well-attended, despite residents joining from their living rooms. It is at one of these town halls that scandal breaks out. In the midst of a Zoom meeting, damaging images suddenly flash upon everyone’s screens. Claudia, local art teacher and Faith’s dear friend, is immediately recognized as the woman who has been targeted.

When Claudia is later discovered dead, Faith, with the help of her friends, journeys deep into the dark web to unravel the threads of Claudia’s mysterious history and shocking passing.

You can read a sample here.

My Review:

This novel is way down the line in the mystery series featuring amateur sleuth and pastor's wife Faith Fairchild. I have read several in the series and like them. This one reads quite well on its own.

The plot is one with a long build up. The murder does not happen until the second half of the book. Faith has to go against the views of officials when she is convinced the death is murder. She enlists her friends and family to unravel the complex history of the dead woman and find her murderer.

My favorite part of this mystery is that it takes place just as the covid vaccines are becoming available. The whole novel is a walk down covid memory lane. I liked being reminded of items missing from store shelves, the attempts to have human interaction with technology and the long lines for that initial shot. I always like to learn something when I read a novel and in this case it was about zoom bombing.

This is a good novel for readers who like a low key mystery. The revelation of the villain was a bit unrealistic but other than that, an enjoyable novel and trip down memory lane.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

About the author:

Katherine 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. Photo by Jean Fogelberg.

HarperCollins, 272 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)