In the Bleak Midwinter (A Rev. Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Author) "It was one hell of a night to throw away a baby..." (more)
Key Phrases: bleak midwinter, dispatch room, snowmobile suit, Millers Kill, Chief Van Alstyne, Reverend Fergusson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In this debut novel, a riveting page-turner from start to finish, born-and-bred Virginian Clare Ferguson, newly ordained priest of St. Alban's Episcopal Church in the small upstate New York town of Millers Kill, is faced with not only an early December snowstorm and the bitter cold of her first Northern winter but also a conservative vestry, who apparently expended all their daring on hiring her, a female priest. When a baby is left on the church doorstep with a note designating that he be given to two of her parishioners, Clare calls in police chief Russ Van Alstyne. The foundling case quickly becomes an investigation into murder that will shatter the lives of members of her congregation, challenge her own feelings and faith and threaten her life. With her background as an army helicopter pilot, Clare is not a typical priest. Smart, courageous and tough, she is also caring, kindhearted and blessed with a refreshing personality. Likewise, the other characters are equally well developed and believable, except for the young pediatrician, who speaks more like a hip teenager than a professional. It is a cast readers will hope to meet again, while a fast-paced plot keeps the guess work going until the very end. Along the way, there is an exceptionally spine-chilling confrontation. The vivid setting descriptions will bring plenty of shivers, but the real strength of this stellar first is the focus on the mystery, which will delight traditional fans. (Mar. 25)Traditional Mystery contest.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal
This first novel, winner of St. Martin's Malice Domestic Award for 2001, introduces an unusual investigative partnership and a probable new series. Russ Van Alstyne, police chief of Millers Kill, and Clare Fergusson, new-to-town Episcopal priest, first meet when she reports a baby abandoned at the church. The two later discover the body of the baby's young mother. As the investigation progresses, Clare runs into opposition from staid church members, two of whom will do anything to adopt the child. With superb skill, exact detail, and precise diction, this highlights credible personal conflicts. For all collections.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (March 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312986769
• ISBN-13: 978-0312986766
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #28,968 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 1 in The Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Winter Less Bleak, March 5, 2003

By	Judith Lindenau "dulcie22" (Traverse City, MI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THANK GOD FOR JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING, August 11, 2006

By	L. Patterson "graphic designer and Mac wonk" (Rising Fawn, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Debut, September 2, 2002

By	sweetmolly (RICHMOND, VA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: In the Bleak Midwinter (Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) (Hardcover)

"It was one hell of a night to throw away a baby." This grabber of an opening line sets the scene. A newborn baby is left on the back steps of St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Millers Kill, New York on a bitter November night.

The tightly woven story features Clare Fergusson, a newly hatched, unorthodox Episcopal priest and Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne who have more in common than you would think. Murders take place that seem to be linked with the baby's abandonment and the upper class parishioners of St. Albans.

The omnipresent star of the book is the weather. In this Adirondack community right on the Vermont border, the oncoming winter is a living thing that is ignored at one's peril. Ms. Spencer-Fleming is deft in drawing both interiors and exteriors. She broadens the dimensions of her characters in describing how they live, what they like to have around them, and how they cope with the brutal winters that are part and parcel of their landscape. Some of the townspeople have a "winter rat," a beat up, barely serviceable car they use when the weather and roads are so tough, the road salt eats up the undercarriages and driving is one controlled skid after another.

"In the Bleak Midwinter" is just short of a "cozy" with its budding romance between the sheriff and the priest and its delightful warm interior scenes. Clare could use a crash course in detecting. There are a couple of times this otherwise sensible lady goes into the "absolutely stupid heroine routine" usually depicted by a young lady who hears suspicious noises in a gloomy mansion in the dead of night. Does she call the cops, scream her head off, or hide under the covers like any sane person would do? No, she creeps around in the dark in her bare feet and nightgown, and then (surprise! surprise!) something GRABS her. Clare is not this bad, but almost. She tears off to suspicious, lonely places all by herself, without informing anybody in a sports car lamentably unsuited to a blizzard and dressed as if she is going on errand in New York City on a temperate autumn day. Be that as it may, Clare is immensely likeable. The author handles her strong religious faith expertly; it works naturally without being cloying or moralistic.

The book is a page-turner, well plotted, and the issues are never silly or contrived. I am looking forward to Ms. Spencer-Fleming's next book.