This is the 26th in Katherine Hall Page's deservedly popular series starring Faith Fairchild (part-time sleuth, minister's wife, and caterer).

In 2021, during the pandemic, Faith and her family do their best to help community members, especially the more vulnerable.

Then damaging photos of Faith's close friend Claudia are Zoom bombed into a town hall meeting. When death follows, Faith digs down herself to find the perp.

I absolutely love the Faith Fairchild series. In this latest entry. Faith and her family are negotiating the COVID-19 pandemic, feeling the first flutters of optimism as Tom is vaccinated and the rest seek their first shots. Meanwhile, they're continuing in pandemic mode--attending school and worship by Zoom, with Faith having transitioned her catering business to meal delivery. The local art teacher, Claudia, has helped Faith design menus. But Claudia is humiliated when the town's meeting where she is featured is Zoom-bombed, with nude images of her.

When her body is discovered in her rented carriage house a few weeks later, local police are quick to dismiss it as suicide or accidental death, as it appears she mistook a liquid she used in her art for her vodka. However, Faith doesn't believe it. Assisted by Zach, her dear friend Pix's son-in-law, Faith delves into Claudia's former life, about which she was always close-mouthed.

Katherine Hall Page does an excellent job of capturing what 2020 and early 2021 were really like. Someday this book may be an important artifact of that time. For me, it's still a bit raw, so I was slightly traumatized to relive those early months of 2021, when we all thought vaccinations would make the virus disappear. The story is excellent, though the lead-up to Claudia's death was quite long. I was starting to think there wouldn't really be a murder! #TheBodyintheWeb #NetGalley

When the pandemic hit, readers wondered how that would be incorporated into their favorite long-running contemporary crime fiction series. And while it may seem slightly odd, some extremely devoted fans even found themselves wondering how their favorite characters themselves navigated the stresses of the pandemic, as though they were “real world” friends down the street. One of the series that attracts such a loyal fan base is Katherine Hall Page’s Faith Fairchild Mystery series—The Body in the Web is the twenty-sixth book in that series and the effects of the pandemic play a vital role in both Faith’s life and in the type of mystery she finds herself intwined in.


In a nod to just how realistic the Faith Fairchild series is, Katherine Hall Page instantly transports readers back to those moments in mid-March 2020 when the World changed forever. Faith and her family are isolated at their home in Aleford, Massachusetts. Like many families with school-aged children, the change in routine was seismic, but required her children—one in high school, the other in college—to adapt to the sudden change to online education. Even the local town hall meetings transferred to the Zoom platform, which is where the mystery begins. During one of these community “gatherings,” a Zoom bomber—an uninvited guest broadcasting unwanted content—interrupts the proceedings and throws Faith’s friend Claudia into the line of fire. When Claudia ends up dead soon afterward, Faith is on the case.

Many readers may still be reluctant to dive into a plot dealing with the still unfolding pandemic, but rest assured that Katherine Hall Page approached this with care and compassion, reminding us of what we all faced on the day-to-day level without venturing into the political side of things. Because fans of the series have followed Faith, her family, and her friends for years, there was no way to avoid discussing how the societal shifts brought about by the Covid pandemic affected this community. In many ways, this book does a service for future generations by documenting the conditions and methods by which ordinary people confronted such an extraordinary danger.

The quarantining requirements could easily have made the sleuthing clunky and boring, but Page does a good job of showing how Faith and her friends transitioned to digital sleuthing—with a deep dive into the dark web and the nefarious goings-on there. The availability of Covid vaccines also weave their way into the plot allowing for more—and necessary—personal interaction for the characters in the later stages of the investigation.

The Body in the Web is a streamlined novel—clocking in at just 272 pages. Katherine Hall Page unfurls the story in shifting timelines, using universal touchstones to show society’s evolution at various stages of the pandemic which helps to help orient the reader. Katherine Hall Page allows readers to get to know all the important characters so that when the culprit is revealed it’s ultimately a satisfying ending. All the hallmarks that signify a Katherine Hall Page Faith Fairchild Mystery are here, but it is really the depiction of everyday life during our recent pandemic that will resonate the longest with readers.

Enjoy a diverting read from a long-running cozy series: THE BODY IN THE WEB by Katherine Hall Page is the latest Faith Fairchild mystery. This one takes place during COVID with Faith needing to pivot her catering business to a service for delivering meals to locked down residents of Aleford, Massachusetts. Her children, Ben and Amy, are respectively now in college and finishing high school, so they able assistants, working around their remote schooling schedules. It does take a while for a body to appear, but readers will likely suspect which character will be the victim and may appreciate the anticipation. The author provides some surprises as to the murderer and also ensures that Faith's persistence in tracking down that person is much in evidence. THE BODY IN THE WEB received a starred review from Library Journal ("The reader and the victim are both trapped in a web in this skillful combination of mystery and pandemic story").

The Body in the Web by Katherine Hall Page is another in her long running Faith Fairchild series. Faith is a middle-aged, mother of two, wife to a minister. She is also a caterer and a cook par excellence. It is the start of the pandemic and Page handled it better than I have seen, telling the common person’s tale, no bitterness, no politics, but just the day-to-day. And it was not easy. Her minister husband was doing church services to an empty church, flowing out over social media. Thank goodness for their son, Ben. He knew about these things. The kids were both doing school online: Ben in college and Amy in her senior year in high school. Coffee with Pix, her neighbor, each on the other side of a gate, socially distant. Claudia was having to do art classes for elementary online, as well, packing up kits for delivery each week. It brought all the memories back, but also the strength of the people and how they coped. It was beyond touching. Then, during a ZOOM presentation to the town hall, someone hacked Claudia’s talk with a screen full of Claudia, naked. Some photos were photoshopped, using her head from the school website; sometimes it was real, although years in the past. Sebastian took it down, but not quickly enough. There was lots of support for her but there were unkind things said as well. Then there was murder. The police said it was an accident, possibly suicide, but Faith knew better. She went to work.

This is such a gently written book, yet so gritty, all at once. Claudia had a past. Faith’s sidekick, Zach, dove into the internet to get the whole story. But, still, who could hate her so much. She had been estranged from her father, really had been even before she had run from the church after seeing her maid-of-honor on her knees, her husband-to-be with his pants around his ankles. She never looked back. The only clue was that a man from the alarm company had been there several weeks ago to change the battery on the system. Because of the pandemic, Claudia sat in her car and the tech was in a hazmat suit. A friend of Zach’s came to help and found cameras. Could they trace the IP address of the person spying on her? Finally the inoculations were given and Faith could travel to see her parents, and to visit Claudia’s father. The phone call was met with, “He has no daughter,” as was the knock on the door. Then she was allowed in and met Claudia’s father, a man who missed his daughter. This was a well-thought-out crime placed in the midst of a national tragedy and was unbelievably well done, meeting all the confines, but still solving the crime.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of The Body in the Web by William Morrow, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #WilliamMorrow #KatherineHallPage #TheBodyInTheWeb

It's the beginning of COVID in Aleford, Massachusetts. Faith Fairchild, is talking with her sister Hope in New York, and Hope is telling her they will be in lockdown by March and she needs to shop quickly before everything is gone - masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, and lots of food which can be stored. By March 12, her son Ben is on his way home from Brown, where classes have gone to zoom. Daughter Amy is also stopping live classes at Aleford High School where her graduation and prom will probably be virtual. Faith gets a call from Ursula, Pix's mother, who says Faith needs to go check on her friend Millicent. Faith finds Millicent in bed with weak pulse and a cold house. Faith calls 911. Meanwhile, she finds the cupboards are bare. Millicent probably doesn't know how to order supplies online, hadn't been able to pick up her mail and didn't have automatic fuel delivery. Ben sets her up with autopay, and Tom, Faith's minister husband, convinces her to wear a Medi Alert bracelet.

Meanwhile, Claudia, a young art teacher at the middle school has moved to a home in Aleford as a house sitter. She and Faith quickly become friends and Claudia begins designing menus and other things for Faith while working on her own artwork as well. Claudia later moves into the Carriage House. She is very talented.

Zach and Pix have come back to Aleford, with Pix pregnant. The younger generation is very helpful to the elder ones. Faith sets up a meal delivery program with Nikki and Amy. Ben helps with the deliveries. Zach and Ben help all the others and their families to get scheduled for COVID vaccines.
The Fairchilds find out that Ben has a significant girlfriend from Brown - Catherine. It takes awhile, but finally both families meet each other and both sets of parents are pleased with their child's choice.

Claudia is making a presentation at a zoom town meeting, about her classes at the school. All of a sudden there is a Zoom Bombing with rows of nude women. And then not too long afterwards, Claudia is found dead. The police believe it is a suicide, but Faith and her friends search widely, and finally figure out Claudia's hidden secrets along with her hidden enemies.

This is a great series. I have read all 26 books, and I love watching the children grow up as well as seeing Faith's great ability to solve murders.

Finally was able to read one of this series. Sorry that I haven't started sooner. I am eager to change that. This was a terrific mystery. Interesting to revisit the pandemic. The murder kept me guessing. Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

The Body in the Web
Katherine Hall Page
Pub Date May 30
Harper Collins
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
This is the 26th book in the series.
Beloved amateur detective is hunkered down with her family during the pandemic when a dead body is discovered.
Page Turner!,
4 stars

I really wanted to like this one but it didn't work out. I am all for reading about books on the pandemic and how covid affected people, but this one was just not for me. I did not appreciate the writing style despite my best efforts.

I will not be posting to social media as I did not finish the book.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this e-arc.

When Faith finds the body of her friend dead, she is convinced that it was murder. Determined to find the truth, Faith uses all the resources that are available to her. The author did a great job in staging this well-written and evenly paced mystery with a bit of intrigue because the people who could have done the murder, didn’t appear to be likely candidates, but in the end, it all worked out with a few surprises thrown in to keep me engaged in all aspect of this book. I like that Faith was able to achieve what she needed, despite the pandemic atmosphere, to bring the person responsible to justice. Overall, this is a great read.

I’ve read many books in this series, but had a like/ hate relationship with this one.
I liked the murder in the middle of the book, the backstory on the victim, the plot itself. What drove me crazy, it was too hard to keep the people in the book sorted. Who they were, what relationship they had with each other and to Faith, where they lived, etc. No one should have to work that hard to keep characters sorted, and so many felt extraneous. There was so much minutiae on each page I found myself skimming needless conversations, and what was served for dinner.
We’ve just come through Covid. For me it’s much too soon to detail what we went through, washing the groceries, completely isolating, two week quarantines, and the hard time it was to line up the first shot. This is the first book I’ve read to detail covid life this way, and I think the author did a great job, I just don’t want to read it. 2.5

The Body in the Web by Katherine Hall Page, the 26th in the Faith Fairchild Mystery series, is a departure from the formulaic cozy in which the victim usually meets their demise within the first chapter or two and is generally someone who is not very likable. In this cozy, the reader comes to know and care about the victim who does not meet their end until well past the halfway point. Also unusual is the pandemic setting, taking place just as the vaccine has become available. The author masterfully, yet humanely captures the essence of life during the pandemic - the food shortages, the isolation, and the mental health toll.

As with every book in this series, the mystery is a page-turner leaving the reader guessing until the very end. The characters are appealing, their relationships warm and family-centric, and the narrative well-written. (I reviewed an advance reader copy and all opinions are my own.). The mystery memorializes an important period in our history and, is in my opinion, a must-read.

Faith with her family and friends are weathering the pandemic as best they can. Then a younger friend dies. The police say it was an accident, but Faith thinks otherwise. Possibly the best book yet in this series!

There’s an uneasy atmosphere throughout Katherine Hall Page’s 26th Faith Fairchild mystery, The Body in the Web. It isn’t the mystery itself that creates that tension. It’s the fact that we all lived through some of the experiences of this book. Fairchild does a remarkable job reminding us what it was like, day-to-day, to live through the events of the early stages of the pandemic.

Although the story begins in January 2021, when Faith’s husband, Tom, is one of the early recipients of the new vaccine, we’re reminded what brought us to that point. In early March 2020, Faith’s sister, Hope, called her to tell her to stock up on supplies, and prepare to isolate. Hope took in their parents, while Faith’s son, Ben, returned from college, and her daughter took her high school classes online. Seniors in the community of Aleford, Massachusetts, evacuated to summer homes or Florida. Faith found one friend on the floor, prepared to die, with no food stocked in the house. Her catering company, Have Faith, turned to deliveries with Have Faith Delivered. Tom’s sermons were delivered via Zoom to an empty church as Ben streamed them.

Zoom. Faith started to hate it because she often wanted to hug the people on the other end. But, it was a Zoom town meeting that upset everyone when z Zoom Bomb exploded with nude pictures of a new resident, a friend of Faith’s. Although the town rallied around her, she resigned from her job. Faith is the one who finds her dead. The police chief calls it suicide or accidental death. Faith calls it murder. Together with Pix’s son-in-law, Faith digs into the woman’s past, looking for someone who hated her.

Page plays fair with the reader in that we know the events of the past long before Faith does, and there are suspicions. But, there are other reasons to appreciate this mystery. First, Faith does call for backup at the appropriate time, something that bothers me when the amateur sleuth fails to do that. And, despite the pandemic aspects of the story, there are recipes included and discussion of food and daily life. Life did have to go on.

It’s Katherine Hall Page’s masterful handling of COVID, though, that I admire. She says in an author’s note that she kept a diary during COVID. And, she utilized those events to stir memory. The Body in the Web may be about one woman trapped by her past. It’s also about also of us who were trapped by COVID, a memory we won’t forget.