WILL UNWOUND #134: “Will’s Mystery Project – Book 3 – In the Bleak Midwinter” by Julia Spencer-Fleming
June 6, 2010Do clergy make good murder detectives?
The answer of course is yes. Starting with G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown, the man or woman of God has been an intriguing and popular choice for a detective. Kemelman’s Rabbi Small, McInerny’s Father Dowling , Quill’s Mother Mary Teresa, Tremayne’s Sister Fidelma, Peter’s Brother Cadfael, and now Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Reverend Clare Fergusson all bring an extra dimension to the challenge of solving a crime.
Religion and murder go hand in hand. Our oldest and most famous murder story is rooted in the earliest pages of the Bible with the slaying of Abel by his brother Cain. Who is our first detective? None other than God Himself. “Where is your brother Abel?” God asks Cain. His answer is a lie: “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” How does God see through the lie? He declares to Cain, “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil.”
Not too many pages further along in the Torah, God gives Moses the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments. The most famous of the group is number 6: Thou Shalt Not Kill. For the clerical detective, therefore, a murder case is more than merely a problem of maintaining law and order; it is a profoundly spiritual matter. Any good clergymen should, like God Himself, be able to look into a person’s heart and soul to get a clue about guilt and innocence.
The Reverend Clare Fergusson, a priest in the Episcopal Church, is the character that makes the book, In The Bleak Midwinter, an absorbing reading experience. She’s an army veteran who left the service to answer the call of God. Her ministry takes her to St. Albans Episcopal Church in Miller’s Kill, a small town in the Adirondacks region of upstate New York . The parishioners of St. Albans, don’t quite know what to make of Clare. She wants to take their upwardly mobile church into the streets of Miller’s Kill to address the needs of unwed mothers. Where she sees the word of Christ as a call to social action, they see it as a call to worship in their traditional sleepy Sunday liturgy. As a result, sparks fly.
Sparks also fly between Reverend Fergusson and Police Chief Russ Van Alystyne. Although they quickly become friendly with each other (too friendly for some of the folks at St. Albans) they have distinctly different approaches to dealing with murder suspects. The Chief plays it by the book and trusts no one, while Clare relies on her instincts, intuitions, and spiritual insights to navigate through the difficult process of eliciting truth from people under extreme stress.
The mystery which confronts them touches the very heart and the soul of the church and the town. A baby is left on the steps of the church, the mother of the baby is murdered, and the victim’s father is also killed. For a small town it’s a shocking series of developments. Overlaying the melancholy mood of dread and despondency is the bitter cold and snowy weather of winter in northern New York.
This is not a cheerful book. The atmosphere is bleak, and the characters are flawed. Clare sees it as her responsibility not only to bring the guilty to justice, but to redeem the spirit of the church and the town in a renewed outlook of hope, reconciliation, and purpose. As we follow her footsteps as she slogs through the slush and snow, we see church work less as a sublime journey to the divine and more as a mundane and mostly thankless trek through the sins and sorrows of everyday life.
This is an impressive first novel by Spencer-Fleming. Her spare but pointed style and her tightly woven plot make me eager to see how she has evolved in the next installments of this series. I give In the Bleak Midwinter a solid 4 star **** rating (out of 5).
Will, that is a fascinating review!
I had forgotten good Rabbi Small. Lovely detective! Please, pick a slightly more cheerful or at least hopeful one for your next outing! You need something uplifting or funny after this last week. While this book is intriguing, I’m going to pass it up. I need something cheery as well!
Joan, how about something with talking cats?
Sure, why not?
I don’t think I ever started the Joe Grey books in order, not sure why. Here is a bit of info from Joe’s MySpace page.
In Mystery Scene Murphy wrote, “These cats are not cute, Joe Grey is not your sweet natured kitty. Joe’s detecting skills run to swift action and to picking up classified information from Police Chief Max Harper as Joe lounges on the poker table … the gray tomcat is a devotee of the cutting retort and the sneaky surveillance technique.”
Publisher’s Weekly said, “Cat lovers will cuddle right up to Joe and his pals, but the story has plenty of murder and mayhem for those who take their detective fiction straight up.”
If you like the first one, I think I’ll have to give it a try as well!
Actually my next book is a bit surprising. Sophie picked it out for me. I took her to the adult M section, she got impatient to get back to the children’s room, grabbed a book, stuck it in my bag, and dragged me back to children’s. That’s how my next book got picked…pretty scientific.
Good for Sophie! I see her problem solving skills are excellent, as is her manipulation of the proud Grandpa. She sounds adorable.
My favorite description of Joe Grey comes from one of the later books and is a quote from Joe: “I’m a cop in cat skin, going undercover” which he says as he prepares to break into a suspects home and toss it for evidence.
Hi Will- I’m glad you enjoyed my mystery recommendation. What a great review you wrote! I picked this book up at either Book Expo or ALA when it first came out and I loved it. I spend a lot of time in the Adirondacks, and I loved the fact that I recognized many of the local places and details. The series only gets better- hope you read the rest of Julia’s books.
Thanks, Marcia. I love the Adirondacks also. Spencer-Fleming is a gifted stylist and plotter. I will definitely read the rest of the series.
Glad you enjoyed it, Will. I’m ready for the next book in the series!!
Ellen, you were right. The Reverend Fergusson is quite an intriguing and admirable character. Can’t wait to see how she settles into Millers Kill.
I love this series, Will! I think it gets better as it goes on- you may want to read the others once your project is finished, if you can ever stand to look at a mystery again.
I definitely plan on reading through the rest of the series.
Sold to the woman in black – this sounds just like my cup of tea…
LA…the Reverend Clare Fergusson is no Lady Gaga!
I just started this one, got it from ILL on Friday. So far I think it is terrific. (We have just met Katie’s parents.) A little bleak as the title suggests, but the social action of Christ fits very well with my 60′s thinking. My first thought, though, after reading Clare’s and Russ’s thoughts on the bleakness of the lives of the underclass in Miller’s Kill is that they need to get a branch of the nearest Community College in Miller’s Kill. There’s a lot we could do for those folks who need some decent job training! In addition to some social services they need some good job development. Maybe I have been working too long at a rural community college myself, but a lot of this sounds just like my little community. Can’t wait to see how it comes out. Walt, does this sound like the UP to you?
Karen, you make very good points. Rural and small town America are often forgotten. Remember Obama’s clueless comments. Community colleges fill a huge void. Thanks, Karen.
So glad you liked it. I first read it when a woman I know who teaches a college class on the mystery genre gave me her paperback copy. Besides the fact that it is set near Saratoga, NY, the place where my husband and I hope to retire someday, I love that the predictable amateur sleuth/local law attraction is made into a very complex relationship. And unlike some books that make this lapsed Lutheran cringe with the heavy handed religiosity, Clare’s faith, which is beautifully articulated by Spencer-Flemming, is a principle that clearly guides her life, but isn’t imposed on anyone else – including her readers.
Mary Ellen T. Thanks. Spencer-Flemming definitely has a gift of understanding and expression.
I’m only an occasional mystery reader, but Spencer-Fleming’s series is one of my favorites. It has many layers and each book is better than the previous one.
Can’t wait for the next one. Thanks, Teresa.
Great series–but then I like dark, depressing books with flawed characters. Much more life-like (when you’ve finished your mystery project– although let’s face it, you’ll be hooked for life–try Jon Hassler. He’s vastly under-appreciated)
Carol Ann, I have read some of Hassler. I think it was called “The Dean’s List.” It was excellent.
Uggh. If drear is to your liking, try Winters Bone.
Beautifully written, and somewhat uplifting.
BTW, What’s become of “Never apologize for your reading taste”? Or better still “So many books, so little time”.
It sounded like your widely varied reading choices —classics, nonfiction, literary fiction—trump Mystery any day. Does this mean you have to tackle Romance next? Then Westerns, followed by Science Fiction? And Poetry.
Just one of those English majors playing devil’s advocate….
Just
Anne, you will be quite surprised at what my plan is for next year. You’ll never guess.
You’ve got me interested with this review, Will. Of course as a sometime chorister I love the title. (I refer to Gustav Holst’s setting of Christina Rossetti’s poem.)
RA…this book in its own modest way raises some interesting questions about the Christian imperative.
Just finished reading this book and overall really liked it. I especially like the two main characters, Reverend Clare Ferguson and Chief of Police Russ Van Alystyne. Having lived in upstate NY (Ft. Drum area where I have experienced the cold and countryside described) and coming from an Army background helped me to connect to the story and the characters.
It was interesting to read a story set in the winter while experiencing a hot summer day. At times I was actually tempted to wrap up in a blanket with a hot cup of tea while reading.
I think the author integrated the experience of a military background into her characters quite well, except for the one odd ball at the end. I just can’t accept the conclusion. Surely that person especially would have been able to reason out a better solution, given his training and conditioning.
That said, I would like to read the next book in line just to see what happens next and how the two main characters develop over time. JG