This is the second Christmas novella that I have read by Anne Perry. As with the previous one, I really enjoyed the story even though I had not read many of the books in the series it was derived from. In this case, it is an off-shoot of her Thomas Pitt mysteries.
Lady Vespasia and her husband, Victor Narraway, have been married for a few years and are visiting the country house of casual friends for the Christmas season.
Calling the hosts friends might be a bit of a stretch but Victor is there for a more important reason. He is retired from his place as head of Britain’s Special Branch but has been called in to help with a mission and to hopefully, find a traitor.
The entire scenario mimics that of something that happened to Victor twenty years previously. It keeps preying on his mind and then something happens that really causes Victor to start investigating both what is going on as well as how he feels about what he calls his previous failure.
Lady Vespasia knows that something is bothering her husband but does not know about his past. As they are both more mature (Lady Vespasia is quite a bit older than Victor), they both have pasts that they have kept apart from their newer relationship.
As things start to come apart, Lady Vespasia steps in with blind faith to help her husband. That is even though she has begun to wonder if their relationship is starting to have problems.
The beginning of the book was mostly about manners (or lack thereof) and looks into the past and into the feelings that these two individuals have for one another. About halfway through, the action starts to pick up and the two begin to interact as a team as they carry on to solve the mystery.
I enjoyed the book and look forward to hearing more about this pair. There were references to Jerusalem from the previous year that made me want to find the book which discusses that time period.
I was provided a digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley.
