Julia Spencer-Fleming
In the Bleak Midwinter (2002)
Author: Julia Spencer-Fleming
Genre: Mystery (Amateur)
Plot Summary:
Reverend Clare Fergusson is the new Episcopalian priest at St. Alban's in Miller's Kill, New York. She's unaccustomed to the cold, snowy weather and it shows with her inappropriate attire and car. The night of her reception, she finds a newborn baby on the doorstep with a note asking that he be given to the Burns, a couple in the congregation who have been trying to adopt for a long time. She and the chief of police, Russ Van Alstyne combine efforts to look for the mother, and find the teenage girl's body dumped by the river. Suspects include the unknown father of the baby, an old boyfriend, the Burns, and the girl's own father. The suspects grow when the father turns up dead as well. And as Clare gets closer and closer to the truth, she ends up finding herself lured out to the Adirondack Mountains by the killer. She escapes by the skin of her teeth, only to learn that the killer's next target is the baby. Clare reveals not only the killer, but a complex web of deceit running deep through the
congregation and the small town.
Geographical Setting: Miller's Kill and Adirondack Mountains, New York
Time Period: present day 21st century
Series: Reverend Clare Fergusson (book 1)
Appeal Characteristics:
As a first mystery novel, Spencer-Fleming spends the first part of the book fleshing out the characters and keeping the reader's interest with dialogue, multiple murders and murder suspects. Suspense and action are more prominent in the last third of the book when the main character herself is in danger. Witty dialogue between the act-first Reverend and the think-smart Chief cause the reader to often see the same crime from different angles. Secondary characters are very important at the police station and at the church, as well as the small town setting and the kill/river that it is named for in the Adirondack Mountains. Military undertones to several of the characters and a hard-edged female priest as the amateur detective will likely appeal to those looking for tough/strong but moral characters.
Read-alikes: For other female clergy amateur detectives, try the other four novels in the Reverend Clare Fergusson mysteries, the Mother Lavinia Grey mysteries by Kate Gallison, or Veronica Black's Sister Joan mysteries. Another amateur mystery set in the Adirondack Mountains is Ellen Edwards Kennedy's Irregardless of Murder. The Nikki Barnes mystery series by Joan Albarella may be another option for readers who like the small-town detective duo, although Albarella's books are more hard-boiled than Spencer-Fleming's.
Red Flags: mild descriptions of death and violence, some strong language, teenage promiscuity, moral strength but liberal religious interpretations, female priest
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