A Christmas Guest

Fearing another Christmas Journey mess and hoping for a book along the lines of Christmas Visitor, I had no idea what I'd find in A Christmas Guest. What I found was a great story excellently written. To be honest, I could not imagine Grandmother as a sympathetic character. I do not want to give away much of the surprise for anyone who hasn't read this, but we see another side of the cranky old lady and we come to understand her better. After seeing her in a different light, I'm curious as to how Perry portrays her in the upcoming Pitt novels. I hope she will allow Grandmother's character to grow- it would be a waste of great character if she doesn't. A Christmas Guest is one of Perry's best efforts. There's a seemingly unsolvable mystery, a full cast of suspects, humor, a moral, and a great feeling of satisfaction after you've turned the last page. A lovely book.

In Victorian England, Grandmama Mariah Ellison, chronically cranky and miserable, must stay with the mother of Charlotte Pitt (of the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mystery series), Caroline Fielding, and her younger actor-husband, Joshua, for the holidays. Since Grandmama's daughter and son-in-law are off to France, she is disgruntled at being shuffled off to chilly, windswept, and rustic Romney Marshes. How dare her daughter treat her this way! She prepares to be bored out of her mind. Grandmama's boredom lasts only a few days. A new visitor, Maude Barrington, arrives; she is a distant relative of Joshua's, and her family inexplicably does not wish for her to stay with them for Christmas. Vibrant Maude has spent 40 years away from England, traveling the world's exotic desert destinations by herself. She regales them with tales of the marvelous sites she's experienced --- Persian gardens, African cities, and the scent of moonlit jasmine blossoms. Grandmama is not charmed. She is jealous of the attention Caroline and Joshua bestow on the interloper, and appalled at the very idea of a lone Englishwoman traipsing through foreign countries. However, deep down, she feels a certain interest as she unwillingly spends time with the fascinating Maude. Early one morning, a maid bursts into Grandmama's room with horrendous news --- Maude is dead. Grandmama is quite put out: now they will have to spend Christmas in mourning! Her dreary holidays will become even worse, with everyone wearing black, the mirrors covered, and all of them eating cold meats. But Grandmama also feels sorrow. After all, like Grandmama herself, Maude was a visitor at Romney Marshes because her family didn't want her with them. She wishes she had let Maude know how much she admired her. In retrospect, she feels great pangs at the loss of someone who could have been a true friend. She wonders how the almost obnoxiously healthy younger woman could have died. Soon Grandmama focuses on the peppermint water Maude had mentioned she would take that night for indigestion. Who gave Maude the herbal tincture? Grandmama becomes determined to discover the truth surrounding Maude's death. In fact, she feels she owes it to Maude and even offers to travel to notify Maude's family of her demise. Grandmama wonders if their rejection of Maude isn't related somehow to her death. Grandmama is soon a guest at Maude's family's home. As Grandmama attempts to elicit information from Maude's relatives, she discovers how difficult effective sleuthing can be. Is she asking the right questions? Will she find herself in danger? Even more importantly, she delves into the mysteries of her own life that explain her cantankerous personality. Her introspection leads her to wonder if a life led without joy can be redeemed. Is she set in her ways, or can she change at this late date? The complex layers beneath Grandmama's waspish character deepen the murder mystery plot, which more than compensates for a resolution tha

I love these little Christmas novellas that Ms. Perry writes. I am a very huge fan of all her writing but these little books are little gems. It is nice to see Ms. Perry feature some of her minor characters in these little books. In this one we get a particularly revealing look at Mariah Ellison, the tart Grandmama from the Pitt series. Certainly not one of Ms. Perry's nicer characters, but in this book we see the very human and vulnerable side of Mariah, and we also get a close glimpse of an epiphany that she receives when she has a murder happen in the house that she is staying at for Christmas. Ms. Perry's sense of time and place are just as prevalent in these little books, but there is something else here. She gives us a truly insightful look into human foibles and feelings. In this book Mrs. Ellison meets a woman who comes to stay in the same house that she is in, and just when a friendship is beginning to form, she finds Maude Barrington dead in her bed. She knows it's murder and she feels an obligation to find out who killed this remarkable woman and why. As she is finding this out she uncovers old jealousies, lies and rivalries that have been buried for forty years. You must read this book. I can certainly not do it justice in a review.

Of the three Christmas novellas, I like "A Christmas Guest" best -- the other two were enjoyable but weren't quite as compelling or as absorbing as this one. And to take an almost completely unlikable character like Mariah Ellison (Charlotte Pitt's acid-tongued grandmother) and not only make her the chief protagonist of this short story, but also to make her likable and more accessible -- now, that takes some doing and a lot of talent. And fortunately, Anne Perry not only possesses the talent but also the necessary storytelling skills. Mariah Ellison usually spends Christmas with her fashionable and rich granddaughter, Emily. But this year, Emily and her family are going to France for the season; and much to her dismay, Mariah finds herself forced to spend the holiday with her daughter-in-law, Caroline and Caroline's despised new husband, Joshua, in of all places, the Romney Marshes. A further insult is heaped on this injury when Caroline and Joshua soon find themselves playing hosts to another unwanted relative of Joshua's, his aunt, Maude Barrington. For the past forty years, Maude has been living in the Middle East; now, she has returned to be with her family. Except that they have elected to parcel her off to Joshua's, claiming not to have room for her right now. Mariah is angry about having to share Caroline's and Joshua's attentions. But cheerful and outspoken Maude with her fascinating tales of life in the Middle East soon has them all enthralled. And when Maude unexpectedly dies in her sleep one night, and Mariah suspects that there is more to Maude's death than meets the eye, Mariah feels that she owes it to the cheerful and indomitable Maude to investigate her death. After all if the unspeakable Thomas Pitt can solve mysteries, so too could the undoubtedly superior Mariah Ellison! And while Mariah hopes that she will be able to do Maude justice, the last thing she expected was to also rediscover her long hidden self after all these years... "A Christmas Journey" may be a very short and fast read, but it is also an immensely satisfying and absorbing one too. I never expected to feel anything but impatience and disdain for Mariah Ellison, but found myself admiring the old lady's spirit and hoping that this rediscovered sense of self stays with her from now on. Because this is a short story, shocking plot twists are in short supply, but Anne Perry, nevertheless, manages to inject some unexpectedness into the whole thing via the motive for the crime. "A Christmas Guest" was a treat to read -- absorbing and riveting, and full of (much appreciated) period atmosphere. All in all, an unputdownable.

If there is one character in Anne Perry's Pitt & Charlotte books whom no one likes, it's Grandmama Ellison. She has a brutal tongue and a mean streak a yard wide. However, deep inside she is suffering from years of hidden abuse at the hands of her husband; widowhood brought her blessed relief, but she could share this with no one because of her obsession with keeping up appearances. And now, as her granddaughter Emily, husband Jack, and the children, along with all their servants, are going to the Loire Valley for the holidays, and she refuses to stay with her other granddaughter Charlotte and "that policeman" she lowered herself to marry, she must undertake a journey to stay near the sea with her late son's widow Caroline and her charming younger husband Joshua, who is an actor (horrors!) and a Jew (horrors!). When she arrives after an arduous all-day journey, she learns that Maude, a relative of Joshua's, will also be staying, as her family has a "very important" guest and cannot let her stay there. Although she is put off by Maude, who has spent over forty years traveling and living in less civilized parts of the world, she cannot help but be impressed by the woman's joie de vivre. One morning Maude is dead in her bed, suddenly and seemingly of natural causes. But Mrs. Ellison suspects foul play and is surprised to realize how much she had liked Maude in spite of herself. So, on pretext of informing the family personally, she sets out to solve the crime. This book, like Anne Perry's other Christmas novels, is a gem. It brilliantly illustrates the customs and mores of the time while delving into the mind and heart of the protagonist and the very logical if reprehensible motive for the murder. By the time Grandmama has unmasked the killer, who cannot be prosecuted but will be ostracized for life, she has changed a great deal and learned that life can be enjoyed to the fullest if one allows herself to be. It took Scrooge Marley and three other ghosts to realize this; solving a crime did it for Granmama. I came to like and even admire her through the course of the novel, which I found impossible to put down. Enjoy this book; it is one of Perry's small masterpieces.