Vanishing Point: A Claire Reynier Mystery (Claire Reynier Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Judith Van Gieson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Claire Reynier Mysteries | Publication Date: January 1, 2001

When talented young writer Jonathan Vail vanishes without a trace on a camping trip, he leaves behind a wilderness journal, and an acclaimed first novel. But questions abound. Has the twenty-three-year-old prodigy been dispatched by thieves? Does his girlfriend, whose version of Vail's disappearance in Utah's Slickrock Canyon satisfies no one, know more about Vail's fate than she is telling? And what of Vail's eagerly anticipated work-in-progress, a new canyonlands journal, apparently lost along with his body?

Flash forward more than thirty years, when a rock slide reveals a hidden cave near Slickrock Canyon. Vail's body isn't recovered, but the missing journal is. When it is presented for authentication to Claire Reynier, an archivist and rare-books expert at the University of New Mexico's Center for Southwest Research, danger and mayhem suddenly come to anyone who touches the faded spiral notebook or seeks to discover what happened to Jonathan.

Suspenseful twists of plot make this story a page-turner. Vanishing Point, the second in Judith Van Gieson's Claire Reynier mystery series, will please all mystery buffs who seek authentic Southwest settings, including ones in and around Albuquerque and the University of New Mexico, the town of Madrid, and the wide skies and long shadows of the Southwest's canyonlands. Lovers of the literary mystery, meanwhile, will delight in Reynier's detective work.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her second Claire Reynier Mystery (following The Stolen Blue), Van Gieson evokes the desert beauty of New Mexico with meticulous care but fails to draw her key amateur investigator, university archivist Claire Reynier, with emotional depth. Fifty-one-year-old Claire has spent years preserving the legend of Jonathan Vail, a controversial writer from the 1960s who vanished while hiking with his girlfriend, Jennie Dell, through Utah's Slickrock Canyon. Jonathan's mysterious but timely disappearance occurred shortly after he was drafted to serve in Vietnam, and his body, as well as the journal he was purportedly writing, never resurfaced. As an archivist, Claire must focus on the facts, and when a graduate student uncovers the 30-year-old journal while nosing around in Slickrock canyon, Claire senses that Jonathan's disappearance may not have been the result of a simple accident. Although Van Gieson manages to keep the reader guessing throughout, the main characters--Claire, her boss Harrison, the mysterious Lou, ranger Curt Devereux and the elusive Jennie Dell--never quite come to life.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Judith Van Gieson is the author of more than a dozen mystery novels, including the popular Neil Hamel series. She lives in Albuquerque. She was the winner of the Bravos Award for Literary Excellence from the Albuquerque Arts Alliance in April, 2002.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press; 1st edition (January 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826323839
• ISBN-13: 978-0826323835
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,979,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb storyteller, February 7, 2001

By 

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

This review is from: Vanishing Point (Mass Market Paperback)

The archivist assigned to "preserve the papers, the legend, and the memories" of the 1960s rebel Jonathan Vail is Clair Reynier. The Southwest Research of the University of New Mexico employs the fiftyish woman. Recovering from a divorce, Clair enjoys cataloging Vail's works including his letters, a journal, and a book the cult classic "A Blue Eyed Boy."

A student working on a dissertation on Vail excites Clair when he produces another journal from the cult icon. The journal highlights Vail's days in Slickrock Canyon, where he was camping with his girlfriend before vanishing. Clair and a police officer go to meet the graduate student near the cave where Jonathan's duffel bag containing the journal was found. Instead, the duo finds the dead body of the student, who appears to have fallen from a steep cliff. The inquisitive Clair begins making inquiries not realizing that someone close by wants to insure she learns nothing even if it means another death to accomplish that.

Judith VanGieson proves once again that she is a superb storyteller through her ability to vividly depict the Southwest desert so that readers feel they are there. Clair may seem like an ordinary person, but her values insist she fight for what she believes in regardless of the personal cost. The well-plotted mystery combines with realistic characters to turn VANISHING POINT into a pleasant reading affair.

Harriet Klausner

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vanishing Point, February 22, 2001

By 

Susan M. Wilkerson "SusanMcCW" (San Pedro, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vanishing Point: A Claire Reynier Mystery (Claire Reynier Mysteries) (Hardcover)

An enjoyable, light read. Van Gieson describes the New Mexico and Utah landscapes better than the central characters. But they're characters we're comfortable with, so maybe that works. I'd put it on my "Recommended" list, but not at the top.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Stiff and dull, October 1, 2007

By 

J. Rosenberg "reggieroy" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vanishing Point (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed Van Giesen's Neil Hammel series very much, but Claire leaves me cold. She is sooooo cold herself. And critical. She finds fault with every person she meets. The plot is not bad, but the denouement is an explanation, not something that I felt was revealed by bits of information gathered along the way.

I got really tired of the landscape and weather descriptions.

Why did Van Giesen set up the bookseller, John, as a potential boyfriend for Clarie and then make him so unappealing?

Claire is a stiff. I've read three of these -- can't imagine why -- and won't read anymore.