To Darkness and to Death (A Rev. Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Author) "Cold. The cold awoke her, creeping underneath her blanket, spreading like an ache along her hip..." (more)
Key Phrases: Becky Castle, Millers Kill, Shaun Reid (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Set during a single day, Agatha-winner Spencer-Fleming's explosive fourth mystery (after 2004's Out of the Deep I Cry) takes Rev. Clare Fergusson and Millers Kill, N.Y., police chief Russ Van Alstyne far from the tranquility offered by the Anglican services of morning prayer, Order for Noonday and Evensong. A phone call at 5:15 on a cold November morning leads Clare—ex-army helicopter pilot and rector of St. Alban's Episcopal Church—to join the local search and rescue team to look for the missing sister of recluse Eugene van der Hoeven, head of the 250,000-acre Haudenosaunee estate. On a day when she should be at St. Alban's preparing for the bishop's annual visit, Clare finds herself involved with Russ in an investigation involving brutal beatings, kidnapping and murder. As the day unfolds, Clare and Russ are compelled to examine their own relationship when the diocesan deacon arrives early to discuss a "serious matter" with Clare. Given her seminary training and her army background, it's not surprising that Clare deals with all that comes her way with energy, expertise, sensitivity and humor. Spencer-Fleming has brought alive the people and environs of Millers Kill in another riveting mystery.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Episcopalian priest Clare Fergusson should be preparing for the bishop's annual visit, but she is called to join the Millers Kill, New York, Search and Rescue Squad to look for Millicent van der Hoeven, who disappeared in the woods the previous evening. Millicent and her siblings were about to sell their childhood home and the surrounding land to a company that, in turn, was planning to lease it to the Adirondack Conservancy Corporation. Did Millicent lose her way, or was she kidnapped to postpone the sale, which would adversely affect a local lumbering operation? Blackmail and possible ecoterrorism complicate matters as Clare works with Sheriff Russ Van Alstyne, with whom she enjoys an ambiguously platonic relationship. -Spencer-Fleming makes effective use of her vividly realized Adirondack setting, and she keeps the story moving at a good clip, although the connections between some events stretch credulity a bit. The fourth installment in a satisfying series. Sue O'Brien
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 370 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (May 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312988877
• ISBN-13: 978-0312988876
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #145,840 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 4 in The Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rich mystery tale full of dramatic irony, June 24, 2005

By	Bookreporter.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Darkness and to Death: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery (Hardcover)

Julia Spencer-Fleming's mystery series set in the town of Millers Kill, New York has already won rave reviews, awards, and legions of fans. TO DARKNESS AND TO DEATH, its fourth installment, should bring even more accolades to this deserving series.

Spencer-Fleming's main characters are Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne. As the two inevitably get drawn into solving mysteries in their small town, they also have developed an undeniable romantic attraction. The only problem? Clare is the town's Episcopal priest while Russ is Millers Kill's older, married police chief. The moral complexities of the pair's attraction to each other add a thought-provoking dimension to the series' excellent character development and exquisite plotting.

In TO DARKNESS AND TO DEATH, both Russ and Clare's relationship, and Spencer-Fleming's storytelling skills, are taken to the next level. The author takes the risky move of setting the novel's entire action in a single day, switching rapidly from character to character as she tells her story, often revealing events only through a series of overlapping perspectives. The result is a tale that is rich in dramatic irony, as the reader soon becomes aware of mistaken identities, lies, and misunderstandings that are unapparent to the characters, who do not have the benefit of these multiple perspectives. Despite making the reader feel all-knowing, though, Spencer-Fleming still has some tricks up her sleeves, and will almost certainly still manage to surprise most readers somewhere along the way.

Like other books in the series, this latest installment touches on environmental issues and on small-town politics. This time, a large estate occupied by a mysterious, reclusive burn victim is about to be sold to a large corporation and managed by the Adirondack Conservancy Corporation. The impact on the area's hunters, not to mention its logging companies and paper manufacturers, will be significant. It seems that every businessperson in town has a stake in the future of the land, and that some will go to great lengths to protect their own interests.

Spencer-Fleming has a good understanding of small-town life, and TO DARKNESS AND TO DEATH underscores many of her themes. All the characters seem related in multiple ways, connections that can provide support but also complications. Near the end of the novel, Russ Van Alstyne reflects, "It's true... We are all related. If not by blood, then by bonds we don't even realize. Until they're gone." In her mysteries, Spencer-Fleming offers not only good stories, but also reflections into the nature of human connections and the human heart.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Spenser-Fleming's fourth book a disappointment., September 8, 2005

By	W. Swartchild - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: To Darkness and to Death: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery (Hardcover)

Too much time and space devoted to minor characters and not enough focus on the two major ones. This crime novel suffers from a disproportionate emphasis on the timber industry.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite Tension Throughout, September 5, 2006

By	Teresa Bennett "Wordsmith" (Stanwood,, WA United States) - See all my reviews

Julia Spencer-Fleming treads a fine line between professional respect and deep passion in her wonderful series featuring Russ Van Alstyne and Clare Fergusson. Like all really accompished series writers, she keeps her readers initimately involved in the struggles of her characters while continuing to create plausible circumstances for an Episcopal priest and small town police chief to be working to solve crimes together. This series has a brilliant take on sense of place, almost as if it were a third character. Well worth recommending.