I have read several of Anne Perry’s Christmas novels. In this one, Lady Vespasia wishes to spend Christmas with her new husband, Victor Narraway. She’d have preferred a relaxing holiday at home with him—especially as Victor, former head of the London Special Branch, seems to be hiding undercover dealings with the other guests who have gathered at the spacious estate.
But while Victor plots his moves, he is reminded of a similar case from twenty years before, when a young Frenchwoman also carried a clandestine message—one that resulted in her murder, unsolved to this day.

I enjoyed this book because Victor and Vespasia are two of my favorite characters. With Victor having been such an important person in Special Branch, we find that even he is vulnerable. And Vespasia is by his side all the time until everything is solved. The only thing I didn’t like was the end. After determining who attacked Iris, they did not go back to her to reassure her that she was no longer in danger. They just took off for home.

Thanks to the author and Netgalley for this book. Review is my own.

What could be more Christmasy than spending the holiday at an English country manor house? But it turns out it's a working vacation for Lady Vespasia's new husband, Lord Victor Narraway, former head of London's Special Branch. Secret plans have been made for the exchange of an important paper but Victor's contact is attacked and nearly killed shortly after the exchange. Is the attacker one of the other guests? Victor is painfully reminded of another such attack early in his career that has remained unsolved. Can he and/or Lady Vespasia solve both crimes before the holiday is over and the guests go their separate ways?

These Victorian Christmas mystery novellas by Anne Perry are a yearly pleasure for me. I was very pleased to be given an arc of this latest one by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks!

Another well-drawn mystery that juxtaposes the festive with the macabre. I will recommend this title to those who enjoy spy stories and historical mysteries.

This is not the typical Christmas book that I expected, it's more of a mystery. An attempted murder and the suspects are endless. This is a quick easy read. Everyone stays in character and it is easy to follow along with them. I found this to be an exciting adventure, that I couldn't put down. I highly enjoyed reading this.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House. I received a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

Sometimes the holidays are not so much fun, especially when there are spys and traitors in the mix. This book is a standalone mystery with some characters from previous books by the author. I found that there was some repetitive pages that took me out of the story at times but overall it is a good mystery. Vespasia is a a woman who notices details that others might miss and thus helps with the solving of the mystery. There is a surprise that makes sense but it is still very coincidental. For me this was a comfortable page turner on a chilly night.

Our annual holiday treat from Anne Perry features two of her more famous characters on a Christmas holiday that is anything but enjoyable. We are used to great historical romance/ mystery stories from Ms Perry and this one does not disappoint. Not only are they on the track of a traitor, there are similarities tied to a cold case that lead to a very enjoyable read.

Anne Perry imports spies, mayhem and secret packages to a Victorian Christmas party. Victor Narraway, former head of London Special Branch, and his wife Lady Vespasia have to find who attacked another guest who held the package handed to Victor. Happy holidays.

In "A Christmas Gathering," Anne Perry serves up a deliciously intriguing story that will delight readers who have enjoyed her past Christmas novels. Although on the surface, this might seem like a typical country house mystery, the book features an undercurrent of intrigue. Victor and Vespasia confront memories from the past as they seek to unmask the person who attempted to murder a young female house guest. The holiday setting and wintry mix add to the feeling of dark secrets and international intrigues swirling below the festive seasonal get together.

I received this book from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

British Country House Cozy Mystery
This is a novella-length cozy mystery. It takes place prior to WWI and has significant espionage that goes with the mystery. It is a wonderful story with a great plot and a satisfying ending. I would love to read more stories about this couple! I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

The English countryside at Christmas-sounds glorious to some, but not to Lady Vespasia and her new husband, Lord Victor Narraway. The invitation to Cavendish Hall is of obligatory nature, so no real cheer and anticipation are involved. Max Cavendish and wife, Amelia, have invited a select group of guests for Christmas Day. The events leading up to Christmas Eve will add quite a bit to the usual anxious excitement that surrounds the holiday. Anne Perry’s annual Christmas novella will be a treat to the Downton Abbey fans; butlers, footman, changing for dinner and the after dinner “withdrawing room”-are all here. Lady Vespasia and Victor, recently released from duty as the head of the Special Branch, will treat the reader to some Christmas secrets, strolls through the elaborate gardens, a meeting in the orangery, and even attempted murder. So for the mystery lovers and followers of Anne Perry, don your dinner duds, and ring the bell for the cognac to be served; add The Christmas Gathering to the silver tray. GR

Victor and Vespasia. Always a pleasure!

I love these two, Victor Narraway and Lady Vespasia. True love in their mature years. As Vespasia muses, "So late in life, she had found the man she truly loved with all the passion, intelligence, and trust in her nature." What a special couple!
Victor has retired as head of the London Special Branch, but unbeknownst to Vespasia he's acting as a contact for a young woman, Iris Watson-Watt, involved in a sting to unmask a traitor. So they are spending Christmas at Cavendish Hall the country house of Max and Lady Amelia Cavendish. Not really where they both wanted to be. For Victor this case is personal. It takes him back to a similar occassion in France which did not end well. And like that time twenty years ago, the young woman Iris is attacked. Recovery is uncertain. Will history repeat itself?
Vespasia of course knows most of the people at the house party, not that she'd had much to do with them for some time.
The guests seem an uneasy lot and when the claws come out, I applauded the way Vespasia held her own against cutting remarks made by the hostess. Such panache and style!
A taut mystery novella that showcases the strengths and misgivings of these two wonderful Perry personalities that I've always adored. Another Anne Perry Christmas treat!

A Random House ARC via NetGalley

If you are a fan of the Thomas Pitt series then you will have met Vespasia and Victor, who are somehow related to the Pitts. This is their Christmas story in A Christmas Gathering by Anne Perry. Short novel in length it is a book of political intrigue, mystery, personal agendas and marital misunderstanding.

While Vespasia and Victor seem to trust and love each other, work has caused a sense of secrecy along with a difference of opinion over where to spend Christmas. Sounds normal enough but past regrets along with current situations keep much in an uproar.

Always look forward to a Christmas story form Anne Perry. A Christmas Gathering is a delicious gathering of people who don’t necessarily want to be together.

The publisher through Net Galley provided a digital ARC. I have voluntarily decided to read and review, giving my personal opinions and thoughts.

This is the second Christmas novella that I have read by Anne Perry. As with the previous one, I really enjoyed the story even though I had not read many of the books in the series it was derived from. In this case, it is an off-shoot of her Thomas Pitt mysteries.

Lady Vespasia and her husband, Victor Narraway, have been married for a few years and are visiting the country house of casual friends for the Christmas season.

Calling the hosts friends might be a bit of a stretch but Victor is there for a more important reason. He is retired from his place as head of Britain’s Special Branch but has been called in to help with a mission and to hopefully, find a traitor.

The entire scenario mimics that of something that happened to Victor twenty years previously. It keeps preying on his mind and then something happens that really causes Victor to start investigating both what is going on as well as how he feels about what he calls his previous failure.

Lady Vespasia knows that something is bothering her husband but does not know about his past. As they are both more mature (Lady Vespasia is quite a bit older than Victor), they both have pasts that they have kept apart from their newer relationship.

As things start to come apart, Lady Vespasia steps in with blind faith to help her husband. That is even though she has begun to wonder if their relationship is starting to have problems.

The beginning of the book was mostly about manners (or lack thereof) and looks into the past and into the feelings that these two individuals have for one another. About halfway through, the action starts to pick up and the two begin to interact as a team as they carry on to solve the mystery.

I enjoyed the book and look forward to hearing more about this pair. There were references to Jerusalem from the previous year that made me want to find the book which discusses that time period.

I was provided a digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley.

I look forward to reading these Christmas novellas by Anne Perry every year. The details large and small make this book an absolute treasure, and the clues leading up to the unmasking of the person responsible for trying to kill guests are slowly revealed. By the end, everything is neatly wrapped up the way it should be in a mystery.

Perry brings together an interesting cast of characters in each new addition. In this book, Lady Vespasia takes center stage while spending the days leading up to Christmas at the home of Max and Lady Cavendish. She might be older than Amelia Cavendish, who likes to make snippy remarks about that fact at every turn, but Vespasia definitely is the leader at snappy comebacks. Lady Vespasia was definitely my favorite person in this book!

The story is a clean one—no cursing or sex scenes which makes it an extra enjoyable one to read for those who are tired of how so many authors seem to think things like that are important. This is definitely a five star book.

I’ve only read one other Anne Perry book, the second in the Daniel Pitt series, but it’s already easy for me to recognize her authorship in “A Christmas Gathering,” another cozy mystery with intelligent, witty (and often biting) dialogue and lush descriptions of period English settings and social scenes. In Perry’s latest, Lady Vespasia and her new husband, Lord Narraway, accept an invitation to pass the Christmas holidays at Cavendish Manor, the country estate of Lord Cavendish and his wife, Lady Amelia Cavendish. While Vespasia isn’t enamored of the idea of spending Christmas with an assortment of acquaintances and strangers—as well as, in Lady Amelia, a rival of sorts—she acquiesces because Lord Narraway, former head of Special Branch, seems to have some ulterior motive for attending. But when the secret mission he is there to complete suddenly takes a disastrous turn, and a woman lies near death as a result, it will take the special skills of both Vespasia and Narraway to bring the culprit to justice. This is a light (and short) book—the pace is leisurely, it’s not terribly difficult to solve the mystery, and the ending (like the one in the other Perry book I read) felt a bit rushed and abrupt, but really, the mystery and solution aren’t the point of these books. The real draw is the period setting—curl up under a blanket with a cup of tea (or a glass of sherry) this Christmas season and savor a quick trip into Perry’s beautifully depicted past.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

I was unable to finish this and thus will not be posting a full review on my blog. I had a hard time understanding the characters and their motivations. Thanks for the opportunity.

Although I enjoyed this story, it referenced some things between our main characters, Lady Vespasia and her husband Victor, with no explanation. Such as their age gap and what transpired the previous Christmas. These things may have happened in previous books in the series, but there should have been a more in-depth explanation regarding these references in order to make it a true stand-alone story.
Although semi-retired, Victor works with the Foreign Office and has been tasked with accepting documents from another operative at a house party in the country. Victor does not share this reason with Vespasia, although she is aware there is more involved than Victor has admitted. She trusts him and feels he will share it when he can.
A young, beautiful woman named Iris is tasked with the transfer of the documents to Victor.
This situation brings up memories and guilt from 20 years before for Victor where he was tasked with protecting another young woman in similar circumstances that resulted in her death. He is adamant that he will not let history repeat itself.
The story follows the house party through the Christmas holiday where Victor and Vespasia rush to solve a mystery while at the same time keeping themselves safe from danger.
All in all this was an enjoyable story, but would recommend reading the previous stories in the series in order to fully enjoy it.
Finally, I would like to thank Ann Perry, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books and NetGalley for gifting me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Anne Perry's annual Christmas novella is always a treat. And this time, you get Victor Narraway, Lady Vespasia, a country house, treason, a cold case murder, and lots of intrigue! Lady Vespasia is none too pleased to be at a house party in the country and none too happy at how distracted her husband Narraway is. What's the deal with Iris Watson-Watt? There's an attempted murder and it turns out that Lady Vespasia is not the only one who isn't happy to be at the Cavendish home. This is a quick read- it zips along- and don't worry if you haven't read other Perry novels. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of English country house mysteries. A good one.

"A cold case adds an extra chill to the holiday season as bestselling author Anne Perry whisks readers to an elegant home in the English countryside for a Christmas of secrets, soul-searching, and forgiveness.

As beautiful as it may be, their friends’ country house is not where Lady Vespasia wishes to spend Christmas with her new husband, Victor Narraway. She’d have preferred a relaxing holiday at home with him - especially as Victor, former head of the London Special Branch, seems to be hiding undercover dealings with the other guests who have gathered at the spacious estate.

As tensions grow, the young and beautiful Iris Watson-Watt becomes the center of several men’s focus. Unbeknownst to Vespasia, Iris carries a sensitive package that she must pass to Victor in the hope of unmasking a British traitor. While Victor plots his moves, he is reminded of a similar case from twenty years before, when a young Frenchwoman also carried a clandestine message - one that resulted in her murder, unsolved to this day. Victor has always been tormented by his failure to protect her, and now, with all eyes on Iris, Victor must act fast before history repeats itself.

With the joy of Christmas at risk of being forgotten and Vespasia feeling alone with a distracted husband, Victor must ultimately learn to forgive himself in order to save both his country and the spirit of the holiday."

English country house murders are my holiday catnip!

In her own easy to read style Anne Perry has you turning the pages and feeling at home in Victorian England. Life in an elegant home in the English countryside during the Christmas season.
Not everything is what it seems to be. The acquaintances invited could hardly be called friends. More like a mild acceptance of each other and a lot of snippy remarks between some of the guest and their host. Everybody seems to have a secret. How will it end and why is it happening? Get yourself comfortable and start reading.