It was find but I was hoping for my little murder for Christmas novel. The only thing Christmas about this really was that it took place a little before Christmas. The historical and local part of the book were very good. ( )

Nicely plotted. Pleasant read. Well narrated. A favorite. Think I read this episode in series … most I listened to. ( )

This one is dark. I enjoy Anne Perry's series of Christmas Stories and until this point, I have read the ones with the sweet English couple and their adventures. Though this is still very good it has only a small piece of Christmas in it and if you blink you may miss it. ( )

Thomas Pitt's Special Branch boss, Victor Narraway, wasn't always the head of Special Branch. Long ago and far away, he was a twenty-year-old British Army lieutenant in India during the Mutiny. As the youngest officer, and new to the unit he's now in, Lt. Narraway gets assigned a fairly nasty task: defending an Army medic charged with a horrible murder.

The medic was well-liked, but so was the guard who was killed. And this killing took place as part of the escape of a prisoner, who after escaping also slaughtered an Army patrol. Also, there's no evidence against the medic except that everyone else's location is positively accounted for at the time of the murder. He's the only one who could have done it.

It's an altogether nasty situation, and Lt. Narraway knows he's expected to not make too much trouble as the defense, and let the situation be resolved with no more pain than is absolutely unavoidable.

But it bothers him that there is no actual evidence against his client, and that his client is very, very convincing when he says he didn't do it. With less than two days to work with, Narraway starts investigating.

It's a clever mystery with an unexpected but convincing resolution.

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. ( )

Lt. Narraway is ordered to defend a medical orderly accused of being an accomplice in the killing of a guard and the escape of a prisoner. The escape of this prisoner resulted in the horrific slaughter of British citizens, many of which were women and children. John Tallis appears to be the only person in the vincity at the time who could have helped in this escape. But he says he is innocent. Narraway is chosen to defend him, but not too vigorously, for the case cries out for revenge, and Tallis is the scapegoat. Author Anne Perry has penned an intricate and thoughtful mystery, with a twist at the end that is keeping with the spirit of Christmas: There is always hope, even in the darkest of days. ( )