Dear Readers,
This is a letter I look forward to writing all year. It means that my new book is going on sale and I hope will soon be in your hands whether your own copy or from the library. And now electronic versions of all the books are available plus The Body in the Boudoir as an audio book, so Faith Fairchild is coming to you from many directions! I applaud all the technology we have, even as I regret the fact that we won’t have the kind of manuscripts to view that I saw this winter at the Morgan Library in New York City during the Charles Dickens 200th birthday exhibition.

The Body in the Boudoir, much to my astonishment, is the 20th book in the Faith Fairchild series, and with the YA and juveniles, my 25th book overall. Having been married for thirty-five years, I know once you hit your 20th anniversary, you’ve moved away from the early years of paper, wood and copper to the good stuff. The traditional anniversary gift for the 20th is china, (the modern is platinum) and 25th is of course silver. Much as I like china, and the overflowing china cabinet attests to my inability to pass up a find like a Royal Copenhagen vase in a yard sale, and precious metals are, well precious, the gift for this anniversary is the 255 page book with a fantastic cover designed by Emin Mancheril and my smiling picture on the back flap taken by the talented photographer, Jean Fogelberg. There are a few more lines on my face and a very different hairstyle from the first photo for The Body in the Belfry taken in 1988, but I’m not complaining. I’m happy to be doing what I love.

Love! This book is all about love. It’s a prequel that follows The Body in the Big Apple, my other prequel in which we meet the young Faith Sibley starting her career in Manhattan as a caterer and at the book’s end, unlucky in love. That book closes in December 1989 and this one starts in January,1990 when she meets the Reverend Thomas Fairchild at a wedding she’s catering. This time love comes her way. I had a wonderful time researching wedding lore and customs, putting much of it in an Author’s Note. I’ll end with a quote from that section to give you a taste (oh, and there are some good recipes in Boudoir too):

I love weddings. I love hearing about them, looking at wedding albums and most of all attending them. And yes, I always get choked up when the couple exchanges their vows. I’ve been to weddings in churches, synagogues, chapels, homes, museums, hotels, restaurants, in city halls, in tents, on beaches, in fields, in backyards, and I’m sure I’m forgetting some. The brides and grooms have ranged in age from eighteen to ninety. The music has been as simple as a single guitar to the full New Orleans Children’s Chorus (and after the ceremony a streetcar took guests to the reception in the Garden District!). The ceremonies have included several civil ones and most religions… However, my own wedding thirty-six years ago was the best of all. We were married in Holmes, New York at Beulahland, the home of dear friends on the first Saturday in December, holding our collective breaths about the weather. As it happened, it was so warm, guests sat out on the large terraces. A week later the area was hit by a blizzard. I still have my beautiful white dress, and it still fits, although I do have to hold my breath. My father gave me away, tears in his eyes. Everyone danced. I’m told the food was delicious, but somehow neither my groom nor I sat down long enough to eat—common for wedding couples. One of my parents’ oldest friends told my mother, “If they always look at each other the way they’re looking at each other today, they’ll be a very happy couple.” Prescient words.With best wishes,

Katherine

It's 1990, and Faith Sibley is a single young woman leading a glamorous life in New York City. She has good friends, a cozy apartment, and her own flourishing catering business, Have Faith. Then, at a catering event, she meets the handsome, charming Reverend Thomas Fairchild. A daughter and granddaughter of clergymen, Faith has sworn to avoid a parish's fishbowl existence. But it's love at first sight, and before she knows it her life is changing drastically.

To begin with, she's beckoned north to chilly New England to visit her future residence and prospective in-laws, not all of whom welcome her with open arms. Thankfully, back home she has her adoring great-uncle Sky to rely on, even if his much younger wife has always struck Faith as slightly odd. For the ceremony Uncle Sky has offered up the use of his mansion on Long Island, which would be the perfect location if only the brickwork wasn't suspiciously falling off the roof.

Her path to the altar is made even rockier when Faith faces two other baffling mysteries. Her new assistant, Francesca, appears to be hiding a family secret with roots in Italy. Then Faith's sister, Hope, becomes a target. Who could be plotting to derail her high-stakes financial career?

In spite of being overwhelmed by her decision to leave her home in the Big Apple and the multitude of tasks involved in getting married, Faith has no doubts about being married to her beloved Tom. But someone out there is dead set on making sure that she doesn't reach the altar. Before it's too late, she needs to figure out who is trying to sabotage the wedding—by eliminating the bride!