Review Summaries

• Readers praise the tense plotting and the character work that supports the heroine’s inner conflict. The wintry unease of the town and the way the case moves alongside the emotional tension leave a strong impression, though the risky relationship at the center may divide opinion.

Reviews

• Agréable à lire mais je n'ai pas trop aimé la fin. Aussi il me semble que ce livre se tire un peu en longueur.

• It only got better upon the second reading. The story wasn't what I thought it was going to be from the blurb because of their relationship statuses in the book. So it had me worried for a very long time. I think that was the reason for the four stars I gave the book after the first time I read it. I'm going to try to keep this review to the first book alone, though it's hard as I want to comment on what comes later. I love Julia Spencer-Fleming's writing style. It is descriptive without being over-flowery. There are no lines that stand out as trying too hard, she has a very consistent voice. She sets scenes that draw you into what's happening in an almost effortless way. It can dip into a bit of the cliche, but it never really dives in. Fleming doesn't write a mystery that drops clues along the way, allowing the reader to play junior detective along with the characters. You get the information as the characters do and it's a snaking vine that keeps you guessing but never allows you to get it right. I'm sure some people will hate that because they love trying to put clues together, but I really liked not being bored with the mystery because it was so easy to tell whodunit. The story is engrossing, and there are definitely a few edge of your seat moments. One that happens on a snowy mountain that I just love. Though this scene and the climatic ending do veer somewhat into head scratching territory it's easy to forgive because they're so absorbing. The number one thing Fleming does best is characters. I'm a character driven person. I can forgive a lot of things in a story if I love the characters, and a decent story will be terrible to me if I hate the characters. The love I have for this series is very much tied to my love for Russ Van Alstyne and Clare Fergusson. Both are very strong characters, intelligent, with great senses of humor. They're both stubborn (and that trait definitely gets her into trouble) and can set each other off, but they also listen to each other well (most of the time). I love that they're not perfect. They don't always make the right choices (and the choices they have to make get harder and harder). You wouldn't think that would be the case with a priest, but she has to fight her pride, her stubbornness, her emotions, and temptation. She has to question herself and her calling. The two have some similarities but they are also very different. For instance, Russ is clear about being an atheist and Clare is an Episcopalian priest. They certainly have their theological discussions but he doesn't really impugn her beliefs and she never preaches at anyone who doesn't ask her to. That's another thing I love so much about her. Throughout the series I found myself wishing they were real and my friends too many times to count. Their friendship is so effortless and such a joy to read. They get each other on such a fundamental level. And the reader gets to see that! It is so rare now that a reader gets to actually see a relationship begin and unfold instead of being told that it happened. We're given many conversations, joking around, and even arguments. I never feel as though I have to take anything about them on faith. Almost everything about their friendship just makes me happy. The secondary characters are just as easily likable, or they can be annoying or rage inducing, but that's their purpose and they're always well drawn and compelling. Even when they're doing things I don't understand. So, if you can't already tell from my rare, effusive gushing (that I still feel doesn't do this story justice), I heavily recommend picking up this book. Then I dare you to not devour the next six books in the series. I read all of them within a month and that was on top of reading other books, moving, and breaking bones.

• I really enjoyed this novel. It has the classic pull for me of all good dramas - the unfulfilled yearning of 2 people for one another - made all the more delicious because she is a priest and he is married - one suspects not totally happily! The characterisation is lovely - feisty, surprising woman, rather shell-shocked police chief. The old-fashioned parishioners are clearly in for a bit of a shake-up too! The book isn't particularly taxing, but it was an absorbing read, good on character, and very good on place - very filmic descriptions. I will most certainly read the other 7 books in the series as this one feels as though there will be plenty of fleshing out of the 2 main characters, and already I want to know how their friendship/possible relationship will progress. I also wonder whether Clare will be able to maintain her calling to the priesthood - she clearly had a life before becoming a priest, and I feel she hasn't totally left that behind. I won't spoil the story for other readers by saying any more!! I would certainly recommend this as a lovely story to curl up with on a cold dark evening, and be glad you're in a nice centrally-heated home!!!

• ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ is the first book in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s ‘Rev. Clare Fergusson & Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries’, originally published in 2002. The series currently stands at eight books, with a ninth due out in the Fall of this year. I don’t read much crime fiction, but the series I do read I am unfailingly loyal to – Karin Slaughter’s ‘Grant County’ and ‘Will Trent’ series mostly. Normally Slaughter’s instalments are all the crime-fic I need; occasionally I’ll venture to lightweight “cozy mysteries”, but Slaughter is the only hard-boiled I read religiously and that’s mostly thanks to her books being so cutthroat and gruesome they’re about all I can stomach. Balancing out Slaughter’s macabre explorations is the other reason I stick so closely to her crime series – the characters and their complex relationships. For that reason, whenever I get the occasional whim to go looking for a new crime series to tide me over, I always look for something that also balances the thriller/relationships ratio. And now I think I’ve found it in Spencer-Fleming’s ‘Rev. Clare Fergusson & Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries’. I do so love discovering a series with a hefty backlist for me to dive into, but before I started the ‘Rev. Clare Fergusson & Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries’, I wanted some assurances that there was some sort of emotional exploration running through the books to propel the characters as much as their search for justice with each new instalment. I can’t read something like ‘Jack Reacher’, I’ve tried, but a series in which a protagonist blows in and blows out of towns and leaves a trail of conquests in his wake (never to be seen again) is just not for me. I want relationships to carry the series, as much as a good whodunit with each new book. So when I read a lengthy (spoiler-y!) review of the series on ‘Heroes and Heartbreakers’, I was thrilled. Janga provides a quote from Spencer-Fleming, about her initial idea for the series; "I knew I wanted to tell a love story about a brand-new female Episcopal priest and a married small-town chief of police. I knew I wanted it to be smart, and grown-up, and to ask questions like, “What do we sacrifice to honor our commitments?” and “What if finding your soul mate only leads to heartache?” I didn’t know if the ending would be happy or tragic. I didn’t know if I could balance the story of Russ and Clare, and the people of Millers Kill whose lives intersect with theirs, and the demands of a tightly-plotted mystery. I really didn’t know the central question over five—soon to be six—books was going to be: Will they or won’t they?" That’s the opening to the series in a nutshell - Rev. Clare Fergusson is the new Episcopal priest in the town of Millers Kill, and she meets local police chief Russ Van Alstyne a few months into her job when a baby boy is left on the parish doorstep … when the baby’s suspected mother turns up dead, Clare and Russ work together to solve the mystery. The whodunit of this first book is a good one that left me guessing till the last chapter. The abandonment of a newborn babe and murder of the baby’s mother – both of which have connections to Clare’s church – means that this case has the new Priest examining her congregation very closely and getting to know them quite intimately. Of course the real draw-card of this book is the partnership of Rev. Clare Fergusson & Russ Van Alstyne. Clare is an ex fighter pilot, and Russ is a Vietnam Vet quite a few years older than Clare, self-proclaimed atheist and married to boot. These two get along like a house-on-fire from the first – both of them straight shooters who normally play their cards close to their chests, but with one another they find an unlikely and instantaneous friendship … then over the course of this first book, something more heated comes to the surface. Julia Spencer-Fleming weaves a darn good whodunit, but it’s the tangled web of Russ and Clare’s forbidden attraction that has ensured I’ll be delving into her eight-book backlist pronto!

• Interesting characters , good plot line, loved it! Have just finished the first book in the series, and I think the author should talk to Netflix or Amazon about an original series. Reverend Clare... Father Brown is so well loved, I think Rev Clare would be too!

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