55 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Winter Less Bleak, March 5, 2003
This review is from: In the Bleak Midwinter (A Rev. Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)
I couldn't read this book in one sitting--I do have a day job! And I didn't want to, either--because I didn't want the experience of reading it to end. "In the Bleak Midwinter" is one of the most skillfully crafted mysteries I've ever read: the plot is focused, and moves rapidly through the various personalities enmeshed in it: the priest, the police chief, the congregation, the tragic love story. It's notable, too, for the characters we DON'T meet but who hover over the action: the chief's wife and the dead young mother. And of course there's the snow, the never ending snow that keeps falling on the rural New York town, trapping the residents into small and predictable movements, underwhich lies great human passion and ambition.
The winter was a little less bleak when I reluctantly finished this extraordinary reading experience. Read it.
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THANK GOD FOR JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING, August 11, 2006
This review is from: In the Bleak Midwinter (A Rev. Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)
This series is so great that I want everyone to know about it. There are 4 books in the series out now and another on the way in October. If you love Margaret Maron, Earlene Fowler, Elizabeth George, Elizabeth Peters or any great mystery, buy this.
The setting is small-town upstate New York in the Adirondacks somewhere between Albany and Saratoga. Everyone knows everyone and their business in a burg of only 8,000 souls. The heroine is an novice Episcopalian priest from Virginia and DC in her first posting, Clare Fergusson and our hero, Russ VanAlstyne, is the Chief of Police.
Don't be put off by the religious bent of Clare. She is devoutly liberal and free-thinking much to her Bishop's dismay and a champion of the downtrodden. Unfortunately, she is completely out of her element in Millers Kill, NY. (Kill is a Dutch derivative meaning a stream that runs into a river, in this case, Millers Kill runs into the Hudson.)
In Clare's capacity as priest, she is thrown into murder and mayhem and meets Russ VanAlstyne, the "older-by-14 years" Chief of Police and agnostic. Despite the philosophical differences, Clare and Russ find they are kindred spirits in having shared careers in the Army; Russ in Vietnam, Clare in Desert Storm and Africa and they fall passionately in love. There's only one catch - of course - he's married; and not even that unhappily.
This dynamic continues throughout the series and I'm dying to know how this will evolve. Clare is consumed with guilt and bound and determined to keep her vow of celibacy until she is married and Russ is just as determined to keep his vows of marriage. And then there is the religious angle - Clare is the eternal optimist who looks for the good in everyone and every situation and that just plays so well off Russ, the archetype of jaded, world-weary and cynical cop who can't imagine a god who would let such horrible things happen to his creation.
The topics are all meaty: homosexuality, illegitimacy and abandoned babies, loggers and timber "harvesting" and development vs. environmentalists all set agaist the backdrop of the general deshabile and poverty that befalls an former industrial boomtown struggling to find its way in today's economy by catering to tourists.
Add to the mix a clever, original plot that really MOVES, a cast of interesting characters that recur in all books in the series and you have a SUPERB night of reading curled up in your comfiest favorite place! I couldn't put any of these books down and I can't wait for the next one in October.
I won't go into the storyline because others have done. I urge you to buy this book and give yourself a GREAT treat - a mystery series as good as this is very rare and believe me: I've read 'em all!
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
In the Bleak Midwinter With the Bumbling Police Chief and the Savvy Woman Priest, May 9, 2010
I am always looking for a new mystery series, so I had high hopes for "In the Bleak Midwinter" because of all the great reviews. The writing is good and the book is fast-paced. Unfortunately, the characters and their actions (and therefore, the plot) are just plain silly! Claire, the brand new Epsicopal priest in Miller's Kill, finds a baby on the church steps and in the process meets Russ, the unchurched police chief. After that, all bets are off. Russ lets Claire ride around in the police cruiser one night and they find a dead body. Claire rushes hither and yon in a frenzied state, with no thought to consequences, and practically takes over the investigation from Russ. In the meantime, Russ casts lamely about, acting as if he has never run an actual homicide investigation and never met a "real" woman like Claire (he is married to one of those "silly" women who make frilly curtains and don't understand their men). In the meantime, Claire figures it all out. Really?
My questions are: How did bumbling Russ ever manage before Claire showed up? Why didn't competent Claire become a homicide detective instead of priest since she is so interested in solving mysteries? Why the creepy underlying sexual tension between the two of them? Why do Claire and Russ have dinner alone twice while Russ's wife is out of town? (This is a small town, you two. Get a grip!) Why does Russ let an unqualified person go with him on police rounds to begin with, and once there is an actual crime as serious as murder, why does he continue to let her go with him to interview witnesses and arrest perps? A married police chief and a woman priest as a crime fighting duo/possible couple just doesn't work for me.
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