A Christmas Message

September 12, 2016
Metaphysical concerns weigh down bestseller Perry’s unsatisfying 14th Christmas-themed mystery (after 2015’s A Christmas Escape). In 1900, Victor Narraway, the former head of London’s Special Branch, gives his wife, Vespasia, a trip to Jerusalem, a present whose “spiritual resonance” surprises her. On a stopover in Jaffa, the pair encounter a kind old man at their hotel, but when they return to their lodging on the following evening, Victor finds the man with his throat slit and his room ransacked. Meanwhile, Victor discovers a piece of parchment in his jacket pocket evidently from the dead man. Folded within the parchment is an unsigned note beseeching Victor to deliver it to “House of Bread on the Via Dolorosa” by Christmas Eve. The Narraways feel morally obliged to fulfill the request, a choice that places their lives in danger from a shadowy menace. The heavy-handed spiritual struggle the couple subsequently endures leaves the reader with the sense that the important themes Perry explores would have been better suited to a longer work. Agent: Donald Maass, Donald Maass Literary.

September 15, 2016
Perry's 14th helping of seasonal warmth and crime (Revenge in a Cold River, 2016, etc.) is more stripped-down and elemental than ever, maybe because its Holy Land setting casts such a spell.Now that he's retired from Special Branch, Lord Victor Narraway can do what he likes, and what he likes at Christmas 1900 is to bring Lady Vespasia, his wife of nearly two years, on a trip to Jerusalem. Even before they reach the Holy City, their journey seems suffused by a portentous note struck by an elderly man with whom they happen to dine in Jaffa. Although he never tells them his name, they are struck by his gravity and humility in discussing his travels and his attachment to Jerusalem and horrified when his throat is cut the following night--not just because his hotel room is quite close to theirs, not even because he had been quick to second Vespasia's uncanny suspicion that someone had been watching their meeting. When Victor finds in his pocket a note their companion has left them warning that "the Watcher draws near" and asking them to deliver the accompanying parchment, written in a language they cannot read, to the House of Bread on Jerusalem's Via Dolorosa by Christmas Eve, they set out with new purpose and a new sense of danger. The Watcher, of course, is on their trail, and they'll need all the help they can get from Benedict, a fellow passenger who escapes with them from the train to Jerusalem, and Haroun, whose followers rescue them from the desert to which they've surrendered themselves. The parchment that's been so contested, along with two others equally sought, turns out to be something priceless, inspiring, and not at all likely to disturb any readers of this extended greeting card who keep Christmas.

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June 1, 2016

In this latest Christmas mystery from the formidable Perry, Victor Narraway and his new wife, Lady Vespasia, are celebrating the holidays in Jerusalem (appropriately) when an old man drops off a mysterious envelope for Victor--and is then found murdered. When Victor and Vespasia are themselves ambushed, they pay close attention to the contents of the envelope as they tear through the Holy Land, trying to solve this latest puzzle.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2016

Perry's latest holiday novella (after A Christmas Escape) takes place in Victorian-era Jerusalem and features Victor Narraway, who is Thomas Pitt's former boss, and his new wife, Lady Vespasia. The Narraways are enjoying their retreat in the Holy Land until a new acquaintance is murdered and a torn piece of parchment is bequeathed to them. They honor the request to deliver it to Jerusalem by Christmas, but their journey is fraught with danger as they narrowly escape an attack by a man known as the Watcher. Victor and Vespasia finally manage to reach their destination along with two other message bearers, but they have not outrun the Watcher. VERDICT Perry's 14th Christmas story offers a strangely intriguing mystery handled neatly by the wonderfully capable Victor and Vespasia. [See Prepub Alert, 5/9/16.]

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.