This is my one hundredth review for Net Galley. May I have many more!
I read A Christmas Garland by Anne Perry primarily because I was intrigued by it being located in India, and I did enjoy it. A Christmas Revelation was scheduled for the December meeting of my F2F mystery group. So I thought I'd try that one too.
What stood out about this Christmas mystery is that it dealt with ordinary working class people. Perry has a tendency to focus on the perspectives of aristocrats and officialdom. I applaud her for thinking that there was a story worth telling in the lives of an accountant for a clinic catering to street prostitutes called Squeaky and a street urchin named Worm that he'd adopted. I'd be more interested in the women who were treated at the clinic. They actually are human beings. There could be an inspiring Christmas story dealing with them.
One thing that stuck in my craw was those character names. It seemed to me that people who allow others to call them Squeaky and Worm should have more self-respect. The name Squeaky reminds me of an accusation hurled at cowards. "What are you, a man or a mouse?" Squeaky turned out to be rather heroic. It made me think that he shouldn't put up with being called Squeaky.
The mystery itself seemed rather routine to me. It was okay. I'd give it three stars.
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