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In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming
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In the Bleak Midwinter Julia Spencer-Fleming Mystery 2002 Rating: B |
In the Bleak Midwinter, the first installment of the Rev. Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mysteries is a solid beginning to a series that looks like it may be quite enjoyable. Clare, our heroine, is a priest in the Episcopal Church, and Russ, our hero, is a cop in small town Millers Kill, in upstate New York. The two of them would seemingly have little in common, yet they find themselves drawn to the other's perspective and company.
Here the mystery concerns a baby who is left abandoned on Clare's doorstep and the child's mother who is, eventually, found murdered. Clare, since she found the infant, feels personally responsible for it and tries to make sure that one of the families in her parish will get custody (as was specified in the note left with the child). However, when the girl is found and the violence unexpectedly escalates and points an accusing finger at the would-be adoptive parents, Clare can't help but question her judgment...and get involved in solving the mystery.
Clare is a priest, and she lends the series a number of homey, liturgical, and theological touches. Russ's line of work ensures that there will be some suspense (as well as a more hard-bitten perspective on humanity). Given this combination, this book should please all but the most blood-and-gore mystery fans. Spencer-Fleming writes deftly and includes a number of details about Millers Kill which flesh out the setting and add ambiance. The book is set in December and Clare is a wuss about cold; as Spencer-Fleming described her reaction and the consistently frigid temperature, I almost dragged out the blankets, even though I was reading this in August. It seemed that cold.
While the mystery here is solid, the real draw for me is the developing relationship between Clare and Russ. The sexual tension between them is subtle at first but continually grows as they grow to like and respect each other and realize they have more in common than they think. Since Russ is married and Clare has a vocational duty to remain celibate, their growing attraction causes them both difficulty. It will be interesting to see how Spencer-Fleming ultimately resolves this.
Of the two of them, I definitely preferred Russ who is down to earth, tolerant, grounded, and protective. Clare is a good person living out her religious vocation with fervor, but she's such an emotional thinker, and her perspective occasionally gets tiresome. She is also both curious and impulsive, a combination that frequently gets both her parishioners and herself in trouble. Several times over the course of the story she did the equivalent of entering the serial killer's basement with a candle. This was, needless to say, frustrating. Because of her past experience as a pilot in the military, she is capable of thinking on her feet and acting decisively in an emergency, but she wouldn't have to if she would just think before acting in the first place. In particular, at a certain point about two-thirds of the way through, the identity of the murderer fairly screams itself to the heavens. Had she only been listening, she could have avoided much trauma.
One more element of frustration was the way that many characters referred derisively to the infertile would-be adoptors as seekers of the "Great White Baby." While this pair weren't the most sympathetic of characters, infertility and adoption are bigger and more complicated than anyone here seems to realize, and trans-racial adoption is still a hotly debated topic in the adoptive community, not so much among adoptive parents as among social workers and trans-racial adoptees. Cut them a little slack, please, before you negate their natural desire to have a family with your dismissive commentary.
Rather than finish on the negative, I'll end this review by saying that the pages here fairly turned by themselves and as soon as I finished In the Bleak Midwinter I picked up the next book in the series, A Fountain Filled with Blood, which I had in a moment of prescient wisdom, checked out at the same time. I think that says it all.