Very good complicated mystery with interesting characters. ( )

Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne 4

Julia Spenser-Fleming has created a mystery series about a young woman Priest/Detective who lives in a small town in the Adirondaks of New York. I like mysteries with a clergy person crime solver but Clare Ferguson of St. Alban's Church in Miller's Kill NY is not my favorite. She has much going for her as a character including being a former army helicopter pilot. Her relationship with the police chief, a married man, is a distraction to some otherwise good stories. I do like the setting of this fictional town. It is in the far north of New York not far from Saratoga and Lake George. While she solves mysteries, upsets Church members with her unconventional hobby she encounters men who are interested in her but she is too infactuated with the married police chief to develop a relationship with someone who could actually be with her. Not my favorite clergy/detective but fun to read. ( )

This book was totally gripping. IT was hard to stop reading, and most everything in it was totally unexpected. ( )

This book is dominated by a complex plot, pivoting around the independent but interlocking actions of three men, each of whom uses violence, mostly against women, to defend things that they see as central to their sense of self.

It also pushes the relationship between the Priest and the Sherrif beyond any pretence of being platonic.


If this hadn't been the fourth book in the series, I might have set it aside after the first chapter.

It opens with a woman awakening alone and finding herself bound and with no knowledge of where she is or how she got there. It was scenes like that that led to me abandoning "Criminal Minds". It's too close to turning horror into either banality or voyeurism.

The book righted itself quickly, coming back to characters and a writing style that I recognised but it left me wondering if this was going to be another book looking at the bad things that men do to women in a way that revels a little too much in the power the violence gives to the men.

I should have had more faith in Julia Spencer-Fleming. She delivered a book which is about men who commit acts of violence against women and sometimes men, but the focus isn't on the violence but on the process by which these men convince themselves that what they are doing is, if not right, then necessary, especially if they can get away with it. I found myself being impressed by the way each of the men, with different perceived threats, different hopes and different social situations trod, independently, the same path to violence, or, as the title has it, to darkness and to death.

The plot that interlocks the stories of these three men is intricate. The linkages are complex and clever, The reveals kept me guessing and cranked up the tension with the actions of each man amplifying the damage done by the others.

In the midst of all of this, we have Claire and Russ, the Priest and the Sheriff, bringing humanity to the story and preventing it from degrading into a clever but mechanical thriller. Seeing people through Claire's eyes or Russ' eyes makes them more real. It allows us to see them as more than plot devices.

The book also moves forward the story arc of the unlooked-for but inescapable attraction between Claire and the very married Russ. I thought this part of the story was very well done. Clichés and moral judgements were both avoided. Instead, we were shown too fundamentally good people who want something that they can't have without becoming different people than the ones they want to be. It seems clear that Claire and Russ have reached a point where they will have to make a decision. I think it shows how well this was written that I found myself unable to say what should happen next and was only certain that they can't stay as they are.

I'll be back for book five and hoping that Claire and Russ find a path and that the next plot is a little less violent. ( )

All of the events in this story center around the consequences of the van der Hoeven family deciding to sell their land to a nature conservancy. The man who owns the lumbering equipment used there very reluctantly decides to sell up and retire. Randy Schoop, one of his crew, is especially upset since lumbering is what lets him stay in his home town with his wife who is the sister of one of Russ's officer's wives. Then there is the owner of a local paper company that is also in danger of failing because there won't be the nearby source of pulp wood for their paper. So many characters are desperate for solutions and doing stupid things because of their desperation.

Clare's introduction to the problem comes with a phone call from search and rescue. Millie van der Hoeven has been reported missing by her brother. She should be preparing for the annual visit by the Bishop which is happening the next day, but she is quick to lend her assistance to the searchers. Also called in to the search is Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne. He and Clare are still fighting their attraction to each other. His wife is a major barrier for both of them.

Before Millie can be found, another young woman is found by her father's lumbering equipment severely beaten. Randy lost his temper with her when she wouldn't support his desire to keep lumbering using her father's equipment. Now Randy is on the run and being assisted by his wife Lisa. Lisa decides it will blur the trail if she accuses the paper company owner of having an affair with the woman.

This story was tense and twisty. I couldn't put it down. I'm so wondering if Russ and Clare will ever find a way to be together. I can see nothing but trouble in their futures. ( )

Does the proposed sale of a 25,000-acre Great Camp have anything to do with Millicent van der Hoeven’s disappearance? What will the sale of the property mean to the town’s last lumber mill when the nature conservancy planning to purchase the land refuses to allow any further tree harvesting?

Millicent’s disappearance . . . on the day she is to sign the paperwork for the sale . . . creates a chain reaction that, over the course of a single day, reveals long-held secrets and exposes the power of greed. What is the future for the town? For the Great Camp? And will Millicent be found before something even more tragic occurs?

This story, the fourth in the series, has a surfeit of characters, many of whom are unlikable, unsympathetic, and selfish. It’s complex, flawed, and dark. Just like real life. As a counterpoint, there’s compassion, bravery, and hope. Just like real life. Human frailties abound; the intriguing plot brings the chaos of desperation to the fore as the poignant relationship between Clare and Russ races toward some sort of revelation or decision or??

As always, the major plot points are resolved, but there remain a few loose ends left to serve as an enticement for readers to pick up the next book in the series. Although each story is a stand-alone, reading the books in sequence keeps events in the proper perspective for readers and helps them understand and fully appreciate the town, its people, and the developing relationship between Clare and Russ.

Highly recommended. ( )

A Clare Fergusson Mystery

I really like this series. Ongoing moral dilemmas, a good mystery, and believable characters make for a predictably good read. ( )

This is my favorite book in the series thus far. Nonstop action! Every time I thought I figured out what was really happening there was another plot twist. The relationship between Claire and Russ amped up a bit as well! Of course not too much since she is a priest and he is married but the sexual tension is cranking up. ( )

Miller's Kill Chief of Police, Russ Van Alstyne, wants to spend his 50th birthday out in the woods hunting with his friend. His wife, Linda, needs to have the custom draperies for the new resort ready for that night's grand opening. Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson is trying to get St. Alban's ready for an important visit from the bishop when she is called up by the Search and Rescue Squad to look for a local young woman, Millicent van der Hoeven, who is lost is in the woods. Millie's wealthy family is about to sell their home and the surrounding land to the Adirondack Conservancy Corporation, which will devastate the local lumber businesses. Is Millie really lost or has she been kidnapped? It won't take long for the reader to find out.

The fourth book in the Russ Van Alstyne/Clare Fergusson series takes place over a 24 hour period. It was probably my least favorite of the series because it concentrates more on the secondary characters and we don't see as much of Clare and Russ and their volatile relationship as we normally do. It took me a while to realize that this book is developing story plots that will be important to future books in this incredibly compelling series.

To Darkness and To Death gives us a much more detailed view of the whole town of Miller's Kill, the outlying areas, and of the various people who live there. A great series with detailed characters and I look forward to the next one.
( )

Another terrific story. Be prepared to take notes; many, many characters are involved in its telling. Bait and switch personified. Just started All Mortal Flesh :) ( )

This installment was . . . ambitious. The book unfolds over the course of one crazy day in Millers Kill. A pending sale of 250,000 acres of land effects a lot of lives and has pushed some citizens of the small town over the edge.

Have you ever wanted to read a cross between the show 24 and a daytime soap opera? Me neither. There were a lot of characters to contend with. I counted at least 22 and we jumped to damn near all of them. The book popped around to different POVs very quickly, I really did feel like I was reading a daytime soap because the story jumped around so much to so many people. Again, not bad per se, it just drove me nuts. I really do miss JSF's storytelling from the first two books.

Then there were the characters. Very few, had any redeeming value. It seemed like no one could find it within him/herself to make the right and/or moral choice. I was raging at them most of the book. Clare and Russ . . . I don't even know how I feel about them right now. So I'll just say that I'm in love with Hugh Parteger. He can stop being fictional and bring his super-cute British self on over to me. Even if he was wearing purple corduroy pants and a floral print shirt.

JSF does climaxes really well. I couldn't put the book down when we finally got there. I was still disappointed just because there were a few characters who didn't get the comeuppance I strongly felt they should have and one character who didn't deserve his or her fate.

I rated this one a star lower than the rest. Mostly because of my consistent irritation and anger at the characters throughout the book. Some to the point that I started sort of skimming through their POVs. ( )

I continue to enjoy this series that I began reading such a short time ago. Spencer-Fleming knows how to write pulse-pounding scenes of action and danger while bringing her characters to life. Russ Van Alstyne and Clare Fergusson are two good people who've pledged themselves to help others. They are also falling deeply in love with each other, and this plunges them into a huge briar patch of moral dilemmas. I'd say that it's a treat to watch them walk the tightrope of professional respect and fiery passion except for one tiny fact: Spencer-Fleming not only makes readers feel the characters' attraction, she makes them feel their pain. This is probably the best relationship in crime fiction, and I'm always torn between inhaling the books in this series as quickly as I can to find out what happens to these two, or trying to take some time to savor each one. So far I'm savoring, but it's not easy.

Spencer-Fleming not only provides a top notch story and wonderfully complex characters (one of which is the upper New York state setting), there's also plenty of insight into human nature. She also touches on environmental issues with the estate being handed over to a nature conservancy, showing how this would affect the area's hunters as well as local logging companies and paper manufacturing.

If I have any complaints about this fourth book, it would be that too much time is spent with minor characters and not enough with Russ and Clare. The author is treading a very fine line with the two from a moralistic standpoint, and I know that they can't spend every day in each other's pockets, but when I find myself reading and reading and then thinking to myself, "Hey, where are Russ and Clare?" I know it's been too long between their scenes.

Now that I have that complaint off my chest, I find myself itching to pick up the next book in the series. I'm addicted! ( )

Listened to the BBC Audiobooks CD edition narrated by Suzanne Toren. By now Toren has the major characters well-delineated and performs them well. The format for this entry in the series consists of time-stamped sections that bounce among multiple perspectives adding to the already strong feeling of suspense. What Spencer-Fleming does really well though is make it clear how people can trap themselves with one bad choice and continue responding in ways that seem logical at the time, but when you pull back and view them from afar are completely immoral and possibly insane. ( )

My blog post about this book is at this link. ( )

Clare Ferguson, Episcopal priest, ex-army copter pilot, is called in to help with a search and rescue when Millie van der Hoeven is reported missing by her brother, a recluse at Haudenosaunee, the van der Hoeven estate. Millie is expected at the big event that evening to sign over the van der Hoeven estate for preservation. The impact to the environment is highly beneficial but the effect on local logging will effect the employment of many in Millers Kill.

The reader is supplied with all the information - what happened and where is Millie, the specifics of an assault and exactly who's to blame. But certain details are left for Clare and Russ to unravel along with the frustration related to their relationship.

Definitely a good addition to the series. ( )

What did they put in the water in Millers Kill? More mayhem in one day than a large city would expect...at this rate they'll depopulate the town! For the first half of the book I was going to give it 5 stars, I enjoyed it so much. But then it seemed like we just got too many ordinary people suddenly acting like mass murderers, to the point I just couldn't buy it. I liked the idea of the whole story in one day, but it just got beyond believability. On the other hand, I still just love Clare and Russ and am enjoying their relationship. So I didn't go all the way down to 3 stars. Quite. ( )

Fourth in the series, and it holds up just as well as the first books. Exciting mystery filled with plot twists and turns and the characters we have come to love. A must-read! ( )

This is the 4th book in the Clare Fergusson/Russ Alstyne series and this one was written differently. The story is related by various narrators and for the most part the reader knows what's going on long before Clare and Russ do, which sets this book apart from the previous ones in the series. The other difference , and this one I didn't like at all, was that Russ and Clare really had a very small role in the narrative and pages and pages went by without hearing from either of them. I hope this is not a trend that the author continues beyond this book because they are the heart and soul of this series.

Still, it was well-written and a good mystery. Even though the reader knows who the bad guys are and why they are doing what they are doing, it in no way prepares you for the shocking ending. Well done Ms. Spencer-Fleming. On to #5. ( )

This is the fourth in the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mystery series. This is one of the few series I read, and I enjoyed this just as much as the earlier volumes. As always, the action takes place in Millers Kill, a town in New York's Adirondacks region. Clare (an Episcopal priest) and Russ (the police chief) inevitably find themselves working together on a situation affecting the community, and equally inevitably the romantic sparks fly, but the dramatic tension remains.

This book differs from the others in that it takes place in a 24-hour period. Clare is called out early one morning to volunteer for a a search and rescue operation. Millie van der Hoeven, a young heiress and environmental activist, has gone missing. Haudenosaunee, the van der Hoeven estate, is being sold into preservation. A banquet and dance are planned for the evening, to sign official documents and celebrate the handover. But the environment benefits are offset by impact on local industry, since the property will no longer be available for logging. It's never simple, and emotions run high.

Russ gets involved a couple of hours later, as the missing person case develops into something more complex. Interestingly, the reader knows more details than either Russ or Clare. We know what's happened to the missing person. We know the details of an assault, and a mistaken identity. We know exactly who the good guys and bad guys are, and can only watch as Clare and Russ work it out. So of course, this had me wondering how Julia Spencer-Fleming would wrap things up. I mean, if I already knew everything there was to know, then where was the mystery?

Well of course there is one, and it sure did sneak up on me, delivering the "oompf" one comes to expect from a good mystery novel. And it left me eager to read more from Julia Spencer-Fleming. ( )

This mystery is a little more complicated than her previous ones, and - dare I say it - with too many good people doing bad things. People get desperate a bit unnecessarily, and mess themselves up. It comes untangled in the end, of course, but requires more than the usual suspension of disbelief.

As for the romantic angle - things proceed apace, of course. ( )

It's Russ Van Alstyne's 50th birthday and he's got the day off. No traffic violations to write, no problems at city hall, just some deer hunting and then a party later with his wife. A party that most of Millers Kill are invited to, including more-than-friend Clare Fergusson. This birthday will be one Russ will never forget.

I liked the all-in-one-day premise and it was nice to see Spencer-Fleming trying out a different technique. Nice tension in this one, especially the end. Solid entry in the series. ( )

Rev Claire is called out on a search party for a missing young woman while preparing for the Bishop's annual visit. Working with Sheriff Russ Van Austyne deepens their feelings for one another while trying to solve the case, ward off eco-terrorism threats for the lumber industry and stop an explosion. ( )

This book was a bit strange as a mystery... because you know who did what the whole way through. ( )