I Shall Not Want (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Julia Spencer-Fleming (Author)

Book Description

Series: Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries | Publication Date: June 10, 2008

Millers Kill reaches the boiling point in this white-hot novel of love and suspense

People die. Marriages fail. In the small Adirondack town of Millers Kill, New York, however, life doesn’t stop for heartbreak. A brand-new officer in the police department, a breaking-and-entering, and trouble within his own family keep Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne busy enough to ignore the pain of losing his wife---and the woman he loves.

At St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, the Reverend Clare Fergusson is trying to keep her vestry, her bishop, and her National Guard superiors happy---all the while denying her own wounded soul.

When a Mexican farmhand stumbles over a Latino man killed with a single shot to the back of his head, Clare is sucked into the investigation through her involvement in the migrant community. The discovery of two more bodies executed in the same way ignites fears that a serial killer is loose in the close-knit community. While the sorrowful spring turns into a scorching summer, Russ is plagued by media hysteria, conflict within his department, and a series of baffling assaults.

As the violence strikes closer and closer to home, an untried officer is tested, a wary migrant worker is tempted, and two would-be lovers who thought they had lost everything must find a way to trust each other again---before it becomes forever, fatally, too late.

Julia Spencer-Fleming shows you can escape danger---but not desire---in her most suspenseful, passionate novel yet.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of Anthony-winner Spencer-Fleming's solid sixth mystery to feature Clare Fergusson, an Episcopal priest, and Russ Van Alstyne, her police chief admirer, Clare and Russ are still trying to recover from the death of Russ's wife, Linda, in All Mortal Flesh (2006). Clare and Russ do their best to steer clear of each other in the small town of Millers Kill, N.Y., but when a van carrying Mexican migrant workers en route to jobs at local farms is ambushed, the pair find themselves caught up in an investigation of drug smuggling and gang turf wars. After a number of Latino corpses turn up, Clare and Russ begin to question whether trouble followed the migrant workers or if it's the work of someone closer to home. While the plot takes some implausible turns, Clare and Russ's complex romantic dance is as compelling as ever. The cliffhanger ending will leave readers eagerly awaiting the next installment in this notable regional series. (June)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* A suspected serial killer in the town of Millers Kill in Upstate New York takes a backseat to the simmering relationship between Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne and Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson in the sixth entry in this tantalizing series. Emotions are raw between the two in the aftermath of a lethal hostage situation and the death of Russ’ wife, Linda, in All Mortal Flesh (2006), so they seek diversion (including Clare’s joining the National Guard) and try to avoid each other. But the priest, feisty almost to the point of being foolhardy, is always in the thick of things, as when bodies of Latino men start turning up. Spencer-Fleming poses the issue of immigration, showing how the hiring of undocumented migrant workers impacts the Van Alstyne family; and she introduces an appealing new character, single mother Hadley Knox, granddaughter of the Episcopal church sexton, who joins the police force and captivates fellow officer Kevin Flynn. Action rachets up in a deadly shoot-out with drug-dealing Latino gangbangers, and just when resolution seems within reach, there’s a final twist. Keenly moving and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, this is a tour de force in a series that seems to have jumped several levels in quality. --Michele Leber

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (June 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312334877
• ISBN-13: 978-0312334871
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #613,278 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bestselling author JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING is the winner of the Agatha, Anthony, Macavity, Dilys, Barry, Nero Wolfe, and Gumshoe Awards, and an Edgar and Romantic Times RC Award finalist. She was born at Plattsburgh Air Force Base, spending most of her childhood on the move as an army brat. She studied acting and history at Ithaca College, and received her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law. She lives in a 190-year-old farmhouse outside of Portland, Maine, with three children, two dogs, and one husband. Visit her on the Web at www.juliaspencerfleming.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "...and she shall not disappoint" *, June 10, 2008

By 

K. M. "literary devotee" (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: I Shall Not Want (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Julia Spencer-Fleming has never disappointed me. Six Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mysteries have passed from her agile, witty and plot-rich mind into our eager, hooked ones; and I wouldn't have missed a single one for the world.

Of course, Spencer-Fleming stranded her inimitable Episcopalian rector and police chief in a devastating quandary at the end of book five, ALL MORTAL FLESH. Although I saw various ways to continue their story, I wondered whether the tragic twist was too much for love to overcome.

So, I waited on pins and needles for this newest offering, I SHALL NOT WANT. In it, Spencer-Fleming lays out with confidence the aftermath, the repercussions, of the previous book's tragedy. Guilt. Withdrawal. Frustration. These haunt our protagonists. But since they both continue to live in Millers Kill, unpracticed face-to-face moments can't be avoided. How do Russ and Clare cope? Can the love settled in them when they first met, the love that would not fall away during other testings, revive and strengthen now? These are the vital questions...and they are fearlessly answered.

I SHALL NOT WANT begins with a bang as the reader follows rookie female officer Hadley Knox and the rest of the Millers Kill police force as they desperately attempt to bring a hostage standoff to a bloodless end...but cannot. Then, the story rolls back about six months to trace the causes of and players in that fatal shootout. These include an accident with an overturned van from which injured undocumented foreign agricultural workers flee, a series of execution-style murders, an identity switch, an influx of big city gang members, millions of dollars in illegal pot, and a family of redneck farmers.

But back to Hadley Knox for a second. She is a substantial and pleasing additional to the Miller's Kill cast of characters. As a single mother struggling to make ends meet, her doubts about being able to cut it as the first female sworn officer on Russ' team seem very genuine. Since the youngest member of the force, Kevin Flynn, thinks she is the most beautiful woman around, she, amusingly, also has her hands full with him.

Indeed, no Clare/Russ book would be whole without Spencer-Fleming's gentle sense of humor. I SHALL NOT WANT includes several lovely laugh-out-loud bits. The most hilarious follows a scene of danger and uproar. I won't spoil it, but it is a wonderful tension-breaker.

Does I SHALL NOT WANT adequately come to terms with the stark situation in which ALL MORTAL FLESH left Russ and Clare? I think so, although arguably it skittered over some of the hard work. However, Spencer-Fleming knows that as long as we live, there is no ending, happy or otherwise. We keep moving from one feeling and circumstance to another. So, if Russ and Clare don't hyper-analyze their every doubt, isn't that a touch of realism rather than a lack of penetrating drama? Deputy Chief Lyle MacAuley tells Clare at one point, " 'We don't have near enough time on this earth, and what we do have, we fritter away acting like damn fools.' " Yup. Clare and Russ can't afford to stay stuck forever in any one moment, not matter how fateful. They can't let any one thing define them. They are the sum of their lives. Lives which keep moving along, whether they like it or not.

Kevin takes his chance to giddily espouse his feelings for Hadley: "That was love....love, love, love." Spencer-Fleming makes sure love has its day in the sun in I SHALL NOT WANT, but again, I won't spoil whether Clare and Russ get the same opportunity as Kevin. Whatever happens, love -- in all its manifestations, including lovemaking -- can't make happy endings, only happiness along the way. In this truth lies the bittersweet residue of the novel's poignant fade out.

Now, here's hoping for a seventh addition to this adroit and distinguished mystery series!

__________________
* from publisher's comments on the back cover.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another All-Night Read, June 13, 2008

By 

Sarah - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Shall Not Want (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) (Hardcover)

When I read the first book in Julia Spencer-Fleming's series--"In the Bleak Midwinter"--I was overwhelmed by how quickly she created two interesting and multi-dimensional characters about whom I immediately cared. Clare Ferguson and Russ Van Alstyne continue to to be the focus of this wonderful installment: "I Shall Not Want." Their relationship is realistic and complicated, full of angst but also full of the joy of learning to love another human being. The mystery plot in this book does take a back seat to the more interesting mystery of how these two are ever going to settle into their complicated lives together. As previous reviewers have suggested, start with the first book and watch how Spencer-Fleming makes us love these characters.

Another good sign in this book is her introduction of new characters in the town of Miller's Kill. The community is becoming a little more fleshed out and less like a stereotype of the small town. Spencer-Fleming also continues to experiment with structure. Each book is a little different--different points of view, plot structure, etc.

It looked like Spencer-Fleming had painted herself into a corner with the last book, but she has deftly managed the crisis "All Mortal Flesh" left us with. Now, however, much more is at stake. The ending of this novel will delight her fans but once again leave them anticipating the next novel with some trepidation.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book in the series, June 12, 2008

By 

Carolyn Bright "Motor City Reader" (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Shall Not Want (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Julia Spencer-Fleming's sixth installment in the Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne mystery series is a return to top form. If you haven't read this series, now is an excellent time to start with book #1, "In the Bleak Midwinter", which introduces Clare Fergusson, the new Episcopal priest to her small town upstate New York church and the inhabitants of Miller's Kill. Russ Van Alstyne is the police chief of Miller's Kill Police Department. Living in a marriage gone dry, Clare is an irresistible attraction to Russ and that attraction is very much mutual.

I Shall Not want opens with a bang that will leave you wondering who lives and who dies in this story and will make you remember that JSF once said that this was a six-book story arc. Just when your adrenaline hits "high", there's a flashback where we join Clare and Russ to find them estranged from each other after the tragic occurrences in "All Mortal Flesh", the fifth book in the series. Russ is living with his mother and Clare has joined the NY National Guard. Soon enough, the two are riding together in Russ' truck, working on the murder of an unidentified Hispanic man and dealing with their deep mutual attraction. When a migrant worker that Clare has sheltered at the church goes missing, she and Russ have all the excuse they need to spend as much time together as possible. It's a mystery story, but it's a whole lot more - action, romance and a focus on small-town life with recurring characters and their families. With topical themes like urban drug runners in small town America, illegal migrant workers, and the Iraq War, there's a lot here to keep you turning the page as you discover (or do you?) how the relationship between Clare and Russ turns out.