
A Christmas Gathering
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Jenny Sterlin
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By:
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Anne Perry
A cold case adds an extra chill to the holiday season as best-selling author Anne Perry whisks listeners to an elegant home in the English countryside for a Christmas of secrets, soul-searching, and forgiveness.
As beautiful as it may be, their friends’ country house is not where Lady Vespasia wishes to spend Christmas with her new husband, Victor Narraway. She’d have preferred a relaxing holiday at home with him - especially as Victor, former head of the London Special Branch, seems to be hiding undercover dealings with the other guests who have gathered at the spacious estate.
As tensions grow, the young and beautiful Iris Watson-Watt becomes the center of several men’s focus. Unbeknownst to Vespasia, Iris carries a sensitive package that she must pass to Victor in the hope of unmasking a British traitor. While Victor plots his moves, he is reminded of a similar case from 20 years before, when a young Frenchwoman also carried a clandestine message - one that resulted in her murder, unsolved to this day. Victor has always been tormented by his failure to protect her, and now, with all eyes on Iris, Victor must act fast before history repeats itself.
With the joy of Christmas at risk of being forgotten and Vespasia feeling alone with a distracted husband, Victor must ultimately learn to forgive himself in order to save both his country and the spirit of the holiday.
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Great use of. Voice
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Anne Perry is always great.
Loved it.
Wonderful Story
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Nothing beats an Anne Perry Christmas story!
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So why are they there? Lady Vespasia is fairly sure Victor has another Special Branch assignment, though he isn't saying that. Victor, meanwhile, is troubled not only by the assignment at Christmas when he and Vespasia would rather be home, but by echoes of a similar assignment many years ago, relatively early in his career.
This assignment, like the earlier one, is aimed at passing along secret military documents--that have been subtly altered to ensure the Germans won't get the good information they're after, and the Special Branch will also be able to identify the real leaker. In this assignment, Victor's role is to receive the documents from someone better able to receive them from their source, and then later pass them on to someone who can pass them to the next link in the chain. In the previous one, his role was to protect the young woman who was to pass the papers to the person playing what is now Victor's role. In that earlier assignment, he failed, and the young woman was killed. He's haunted by guilt over that.
When the young woman he is to received documents from in this new assignment is attacked and badly, perhaps fatally, wounded, his guilt explodes, and he absolutely must find the attacker and successfully complete this last assignment.
It's an emotionally challenging time for Vespasia, Victor, and others among the little company of guests. In particular, Victor and Vespasia are still comparatively new to their marriage, and each remains astonished that the other chose to enter the marriage. (Vespasia is a good deal older than Victor; Victor is of a much lower social background.) The young lady who is carrying the documents this time, Iris Watson-Watts, is beautiful, and her husband, again of slightly lower social standing, is worried and a bit jealous of the apparent fascination the other men at the gathering regard her with. And so on through the group; everyone has reasons for insecurity.
And of course, there's the small matter of the attack on Iris and who the attacker was, as well as what his real purpose is.
Like all of Perry's Christmas stories, this is fairly short, and very contained in location and participants. It is also, like the others, an opportunity for the series regulars in it to grow emotionally and move forward in their lives. Very well done!
Recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
Another enjoyable shorter mystery from Anne Perry
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Upper crust angst, intrigue, and a December-May romance
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Revenge and Redemption
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A Christmas Gathering
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Very well done
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a gracious narrator, but also Christmas frosting on top. Just a lovely way to spend a morning...
Another little gem from Anne Perry
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What happened to Narraway??
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