Dear Fellow Readers,

I know, I know… A Christmas book? Why am I reviewing a Christmas book? It just so happens that this book comes out today so you can blame the gods of publishing for having a Christmas book out so early.

I took this book for a reason. I have never read Anne Perry before. She was a prolific writer. She has two series to her credit that were set in Victorian England, plus two other series, 5 World War I novels, and 21 holiday novels. She even has a historical novel set in the Byzantine Empire. She was born in 1938 and died this year at the age of 84.

How could I have missed her books?

I had heard of her. I think that I always confused her with Ellis Peters, who I have not read either. But while I had somehow not read Anne Perry, I had heard her story, which is unusual. Anne Perry is not the author’s real name. Her name is Juliet Hulme. At the age of 16, Juliet Hulme was convicted with her close friend, Pauline Parker, of murdering Pauline’s mother. They were jailed for five years. It is believed that they never spoke after the trial and were released separately. Anne Perry then went on to be a flight attendant and an author. She published her first novel in 1979.

In 1994, the film, Heavenly Creatures, came out. The film was the story of the murder. Kate Winslet played Juliet Hulme. It is said that Anne Perry had no idea about the film. Her identity was discovered by journalists several months after the movie came out.

It seemed so unfair. Everything I had worked to achieve as a decent member of society was threatened. And once again my life was being interpreted by someone else. It had happened in court when, as a minor, I wasn’t allowed to speak and I heard all these lies being told. And now there was a film, but nobody had bothered to talk to me. I knew nothing about it until the day before release. All I could think of was that my life would fall apart and that it might kill my mother.

The Guardian 12 November 2023

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/nov/12/crimebooks.features11

Pretty intriguing life for a mystery author, right? So, while I had meant to read her for years, I finally have. I read her latest (and perhaps last?) book. I was given this book in exchange for my honest review.

A Christmas Vanishing is the story of Mariah Ellison going to visit her friend Sadie Alsop and her husband Barton Alsop for the holidays. We are told Mariah is in her 80s. She had known Sadie for a very long time, but they had a falling out and she has not seen her for years. When Mariah gets to Sadie’s home in St. Helens in Dorset, she is nearly frozen and is looking forward to warming up. After several rings of the bell, Barton Alsop opens the door and tells Mariah, in not the friendliest of tones, that Sadie is not home, he doesn’t know when she will be home, and that she will have to leave. With that, he closes the door. Mariah has not been to St. Helens for years but asks the driver to take her to another old friend’s house, Annabel Spears, and her husband John. While they welcomed her to the house and provided warmth and afternoon tea, they also told her that she could not stay with them but arranged for her to stay with Annabel’s maiden sister, Gwendolyn. Mariah is very upset about where Sadie could be. Annabel tells Maraih that she saw Sadie the previous day and that Sadie was getting ready for Maraih’s visit.

Where could Sadie be? Had she forgotten Mariah was coming? Is she having memory issues? Is she outside in this terrible weather? Had her husband done something to her?

Mariah and Gwendolyn decide that they must find her, and they start talking to people in town. The talk turns into just gossip and Mariah can’t stand it. She goes into a bookstore and starts talking to the owner, Oliver. Mariah tells Oliver all about Sadie’s disappearance. Oliver shares with Mariah an experience that he had with Sadie that gives Mariah her first clue as to what could be wrong.

  After putting together pieces of the puzzle, they feel confident that they know why Sadie has disappeared, but they feel that they need to rush to find her before she dies from exposure. If, in fact, she is still alive.

So, I would say that it is not a Christmas book in that it brings in a lot of Christmas elements. It is a mystery that happens to take place at Christmastime. It could be read any time of the year and the Christmas element would not make any difference as it is not central to the theme.

It is a short book. I enjoyed it. Mariah is a flawed character who is looking for redemption. She was trying to better herself. I wondered if she was in other stories just because her backstory was referred to so often. It could just be the style.

I think it is worth a read – and not necessarily at Christmas.

Thanks for reading.