A Christmas Message
A Novel
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2.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
In the spirit of the season, New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry presents readers with the gift of another holiday mystery, taking them to the Holy Land for an intriguing and miraculous journey of discovery.
The year is 1900, and Victor Narraway is giving his wife, Vespasia, an unforgettable Christmas present—a trip to Jerusalem. Vespasia is enchanted by the exotic landscape of Palestine, and charmed by a fellow traveler the Narraways meet at their hotel in Jaffa. But when the man is murdered over a torn piece of ancient parchment he was taking to Jerusalem, Victor and Vespasia risk their lives to finish his mission and deliver the puzzling document to its home. Pursued by a shadowy figure with evil intent, they embark on a dangerous yet ultimately enlightening pilgrimage to the holy city, where the mysterious message on the parchment may finally be revealed.
Rich in suspense and wonder, A Christmas Message is at once a breathtaking adventure story and a poignant meditation on faith and spirituality.
Praise for A Christmas Message
“A strangely intriguing mystery handled neatly by the wonderfully capable Victor [Narraway] and [his new wife, Lady] Vespasia.”—Library Journal
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
