By Anne Perry

This novella redeems Charlotte’s venomous, spiteful, and thoroughly unlikable grandmother. In Half Moon Street we learned her terrible secret of abuse by her late husband which has colored her relationships through the years. Unfortunately, to my memory, she does not make an appearance in later books after the metamorphosis she experiences here. I hope that in future books we do see some more of her and how her change of heart affects those around her.

Anne Perry has keen insight into dark psychology, but some times she makes too great leaps in cause and effect. Her sentences and paragraphs are sometimes convoluted and hard to decipher. Luckily this is sporadic, and usually with a few rereadings one can usually follow what she was trying to convey. Now on to the next Christmas story! % stars out of 5**

May26, 2016