Hemlock Lake (Five Star Mystery Series) (Five Star First Edition Mystery) [Hardcover]

Carolyn J. Rose (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1594148848 | ISBN-13: 978-1594148842 | Publication Date: August 11, 2010 | Edition: large type edition

For generations only a few families held title to land in the isolated Catskill Mountain community of Hemlock Lake. But with the turning of the century one man, lured by easy money, sells his inheritance to a developer of luxury homes. As the contractor bulldozes farmland and forest, neighbors cry environmental rape, and someone threatens to burn what is built.

Hoping to stop the arsonist, but tormented by personal demons, Sergeant Dan Stone reluctantly returns to his family home on the shores of the lake. The previous autumn his wife died in its dark waters and his brother put a bullet in his brain. That tragedy sent Dan s father drifting toward death.

Isolated by his pain, Dan is thrust into the no man s land between newcomers and longtime residents who stonewall his investigation into threats, graffiti, theft, and a blaze that nearly kills the construction foreman. Townspeople blame outsiders, eco-terrorists, a ragged tramp haunting the woods and the mysterious creator of rock cairns that often mark the sites of crimes to come. But as summer sizzles on, the arsonist turns killer, and Dan suspects it s someone he knows well: a firefighter, a friend, or a woman with a killing in her past.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 314 pages
• Publisher: Five Star; large type edition edition (August 11, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594148848
• ISBN-13: 978-1594148842
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,205,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carolyn J. Rose grew up in New York's Catskill Mountains, graduated from the University of Arizona, logged two years in Arkansas with Volunteers in Service to America, and spent 25 years as a television news researcher, writer, producer, and assignment editor in Arkansas, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. She founded the Vancouver Writers' Mixers and is an active supporter of her local bookstore, Cover to Cover. Her hobbies are reading, gardening, and not cooking.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fighting Progress, September 4, 2010

By 

Ted Feit (Long Beach, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hemlock Lake (Five Star Mystery Series) (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (Hardcover)

There are few small towns left in the country, places where generations of families have occupied the same homes and known each other intimately, with few things, if any, changing. Fictional Hemlock Lake in the Catskill Mountains, a short distance from New York City, is one such community until one very elderly inhabitant dies, and a distant relative sells off the homestead to a developer who razes the house and apple orchard and begins to build several homes for "outsiders."

Locals, of course, resent the intrusion, which will upset the time-honored traditions of the community. Then threatening letters, graffiti and minor annoyances erupt to hinder the progress of the development. When that doesn't work, attempts to stall the builder escalate to arson and even murder. Dan Stone is a sergeant in the sheriff's department who grew up in Hemlock Lake. He left some months previously after his wife drowned on the lake and his brother committed suicide. The sheriff asks Dan to return to his family home and try to find the arsonist.

Ostensibly the novel is the mystery of who the perpetrator is and the difficulty Dan has in discovering his identity. But more importantly, this is the story about people, and especially Dan's relationship with those he grew up with and their attitudes about those who chose to leave Hemlock Lake instead of staying put. On another level, it is a deep look into the interconnections between the residents, as well as Dan's learning more about himself and his wants and needs. Written with a sharp eye on small town America and how the past infringes on the future, the book is highly recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strong regional police procedural, August 20, 2010

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hemlock Lake (Five Star Mystery Series) (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (Hardcover)

In the Catskill Mountains is isolated Hemlock Lake. The locals keep developers out, but recently a long time resident took the money. Now a developer and the natives are at war with vandalism occurring.

Sheriff North sends Police Sergeant Dan Stone to Hemlock Lake to investigate the crimes as he is from the area and has a better chance of obtaining information from the closed-mouth natives. He has doubts as he has been away since the tragedy of his wife Susanna drowning, his brother Nat committing suicide and his father mentally collapsing from the tragedies. As the vandal turns to arson and murder, Stone is pulled between the past and the future as he begins to believe someone he has known for years is behind the deadly felonies.

Aptly titled Hemlock Lake is a strong regional police procedural. Because he was away, Stone is considered a traitorous outsider by the locals. He does not disagree as he never wanted to come home but his wife persuaded him that his family needed them; after she died he never wanted to come home, but his boss persuaded him that the department needed him. Duty bound but filled with guilt, Dan increasingly believes he will bring in a friend once he solves the case. Though his flashbacks become intrusive and repetitive with too much detail, Carolyn J. Rose provides an entertaining character driven thriller.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OUTSTANDING MYSTERY, May 26, 2011

By 

Elizabeth Lyon "book editor, writing teacher ... (Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hemlock Lake (Five Star Mystery Series) (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (Hardcover)

Rich in characterization and atmosphere, Carolyn J Rose writes a page-turner that sweeps the reader into the life of Sergeant Dan Stone, who returns home to the Sleepy Hollow-like town in the Catskills, where his wife has drowned and where his brother killed himself after he tried but failed to save her.

Arson, murder, and the mysterious appearances of stone cairns lead Stone to a list of suspects that includes those he knows well and an outsider, a woman who helps him break the stranglehold of his past but who has also murdered a man.

Hemlock Lake is so well written, I can't wait to read it again, and I'm eager to read the next novel in the series. Rose captures the noir undercurrent of townspeople who lay claim to their land, deciding who goes, who stays, and who dies, based on the birthright of generations before them.

As a former teacher of a "Novel Writing Boot Camp," professional fiction book editor, and TV news producer who saw gritty real-life crimes and knows police procedure, Carolyn J. Rose is ideally suited for writing in the mystery genre. She is also the co-author of comic mystery Devil's Harbor series set on the Oregon coast, with a large cast of memorable characters in The Big Grabowski and Sometimes A Great Commotion.

For full disclosure, I know Carolyn J. Rose well--as a friend and as a colleague/editor I greatly admire.