A Christmas Secret, Anne Perry
A Christmas Secret, Anne Perry
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

A Christmas Secret

Author: Anne Perry

Narrator: Terrence Hardiman

Unabridged: 4 hr 1 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/15/2008


Synopsis

Dominic and Clarice Corde, who met and fell in love in Brunswick Gardens, journey to a quaint hamlet to replace the local vicar who is away on holiday. The holiday takes a nasty turn when the vicar is discovered not to be away at all, but brutally murdered and stashed in the cellar. So instead of fulfilling the vicar's duties, the Cordes are charged with solving his murder. All the while, the picturesque village is becoming increasingly and dangerously snowbound, its residents trapped as a killer remains at large. The crime's surprising solution reveals not only the killer, but the true meaning of the Christmas message.

About Anne Perry

Sometimes the personal story of a particular author seems almost as intriguing as the books they write. Such is the life of British author Anne Perry (aka Juliet Marion Hulme). As a child Hulme was very ill with tuberculosis and ended up being fostered out by a family in the Caribbean. She did get better, and the family moved to a private island in New Zealand, where she describes her life as a Swiss family Robinson type existence. She became ill again and during her bouts of illness through her teen years, she missed most of her childhood education. However, her mother had prepared her by teaching her how to read and write by the time she was four. Her heart always seemed to be in writing.

At the age of 15, Juliet and her best friend plotted and killed her friend's mother. The three went for a walk in the park and Hulme dropped a stone, causing the mother to bend over to pick it up, and her friend hit her own mother on the head with a half brick. They had planned on the strike killing her, but they had to strike her 20 times before she was dead. The girls were put on trial and each served five years in prison. It is said that they never saw each other again after being released. For many years, nobody connected author Anne Perry as the teen murderer, Juliet Hulme. In 1994, the film Heavenly Creatures, portrayed Hulme and her friend Pauline Parker with characters being played by Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey respectively.

Perry's genre of writing covers Victorian Era Detective fiction for the most part. Her novels have been centered around two main characters, Thomas Pitt and William Monk. She has published 47 novels and several collections of stories.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jaline on December 29, 2018

Dominic Corde and his wife Clarice are related to Charlotte and Thomas Pitt through marriage. Both Dominic and Clarice came from privileged families, but when Dominic felt called to become a priest, Clarice happily gave him his full support. The Bishop requests that Dominic attend a parish in a small......more

Goodreads review by Dorothy on November 29, 2008

This is the book selected for reading by my library mystery book group. It's probably not one I would have chosen on my own, although I am a fan of Anne Perry. I have long loved and followed the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt and the William Monk series. This is a story of another couple in the tradition......more

Goodreads review by Karen on June 26, 2023

Always fun to read a holiday treat, especially by this wonderful author! A Christmas Secret by Anne Perry brings "a yarn full of light celebration and dark mischief."......more

Goodreads review by Kav on November 29, 2021

A delightful holiday escape into Victorian England. I've only read two other Anne Perry books, both Christmas novellas, but I am definitely a fan of her descriptive writing style and the heart and depth she brings to her stories. This one is a lovely tribute to the true meaning of Christmas...only w......more

Goodreads review by Nonsense.and.Sensibility on December 13, 2021

Anne Perry’s Christmas mysteries are the perfect books to curl up with on a lazy Sunday afternoon when it’s dark and gloomy outside – at least that’s what I did yesterday and found it very enjoyable indeed!  A CHRISTMAS SECRET is set eleven days before Christmas, in the ice-cold winter of 1890. The s......more


Quotes

“Anne Perry’s prim Victorian mysteries, steeped in a world of antimacassars, proper high teas, and elderflower wine, have a certain antique charm.” Entertainment Weekly

“Well-written…Perry does a nice job of weaving in themes of forgiveness and redemption without being heavy-handed.” Publishers Weekly

“The splendid Terrence Hardiman seems to get even better and better as a narrator…Setting, especially weather, plays an important part in Perry’s atmospheric novels, and Hardiman aptly delivers the author’s portrait of an English village in the late nineteenth century. This is perfect for Perry fans and those who simply want to enjoy an exceptional performance.” AudioFile

“Engaging characters, a vivid sense of time and place, and a cozy setting add enjoyment to this Victorian mystery.” Booklist

“In Perry’s enthralling page-turner, a quiet Christmas holiday becomes riddled with mystery and murder…A nineteenth-century English vicar and his wife, are intelligent, believable characters whose amateur-sleuthing efforts grow increasingly intriguing as they find themselves in harm’s way.” RT Book Reviews