First in the series of short Christmas novels by Anne Perry and this book features a very young Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould, who is a character in the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series. At a Christmas house party, a young woman commits suicide and another young woman is blamed for the death and shunned by the rest of the company. She, along with Vespasia, set out for the Scottish Highlands to find the dead woman's mother, explain what happened, and bring her back for her daughter's funeral. Along the way, Vespasia uncovers the true meaning of friendship.

Wasn't what I expected. I expected a sweet, touchy, feely Christmas story. It's not. Victorian mystery about a girl that drowns herself. It just happens to take place at Christmastime.

It was predictable with no character depth.

I don't if this entirely counts as a mystery - we're not finding out so much whodunnit as discovering the backstory. Still, I love Lady Vespasia and enjoy these stories about her youth.

I've always been a fan of Anne Perry and this one didn't disappoint.

Anne Perry has created a series of novella mysteries set at Christmas. This is the first. I liked it for it's setting in Scotland, but I somehow couldn't figure out the ending. 4 stars for the setting.

A good message about forgiving.