I Shall Not Want

 

I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming is this author’s sixth book in her Fergusson/Alstyne murder mysteries. If you’ve been following my reviews of these books, you’ll know that I’ve had quite favorable opinions of those novels. Please search for those comments in this blog. In this story, the relationship between the two protagonists is finally consummated, this being made possible by the murder of Alstyne’s wife of 25 years. However, as seen in the earlier books, Spencer-Fleming does not make that happen easily. Both parties are torn between living according to high ethical standards and the obvious sexual craving that they have for one another. In addition, the mutual self-tortures of Clare and Russ are accompanied by serious criminal activity of others that must be solved. As we’ve seen in prior stories, this involves Clare overstepping the usual boundaries expected of an Episcopal priest and Russ rushing into a dangerous circumstance and getting injured. This time he was shot in the chest, and while close to death, he survives to fight and love another day.

 At this point in the series, I was screaming for the consummation to finally happen. I thought the author really took much too long to get there. From the above paragraph, you get my sense that these stories have gotten a bit formulaic. I just did not enjoy this book much as the earlier ones, but I also know that even the best authors do not always write winners. I do find it remarkable that this reviewer is a nontheist and it is a surprise, even to me, that I’ve gotten this far with a character who is a deep-faith Christian who makes frequent referrals to scripture. Given that I started reading about Clare and Russ in the 11^th book, At Midnight Comes The Cry, and I gave that one a 5-star review.

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To Darkness and To Death

 To Darkness and To Death is the fourth book in the 10-book series by Julia Spencer-Fleming. As previously reviewed, this is a series of novels about Clare Fergusson, an Episcopal priest, and Russ Van Alstyne, the chief of police in Millers Kill, a town in upstate New York. In this story, the heir of one of the wealthy local families has decided to sell their massive property which has been in the family for 100 years. The property had been supported by the timber industry, but it has grown progressively more expensive to operate the business at the same time it could be sold to developers for millions of dollars, a move that is being protested by some radical nature elements. The author dives into the history of all the families and organizations involved at the same time she continues to develop the relationship between the two protagonists. Both Russ and Clare are persons of high ethics who have found their intense attraction to one another to conflict with their own standards, as well as what they know the public expects of them. It would be a massive scandal if the married police chief and a single priest were discovered to be having an affair. Still, they've done nothing to act on their mutual attraction accept to admit their feelings to one another. The book ends with an intense fire emergency in the property that is scheduled to officially change hands and Russ' decision that he would admit to his wife that he had fallen in love with another woman. It's my plan to read on, and I've already downloaded the next book, All Mortal Flesh.

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A Fountain Filled with Blood

 A Fountain Filled with Blood is the second book in the Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries. I’ve now finished three of this 10-book series, and I’m eager for more. In this story, more is revealed of the protagonists compelling histories, both having had combat army experiences, both currently being in jobs of responsibility in the public sector. She is an Episcopal priest and he is a police chief in a small town in upstate New York. He’s married, she is not. A big land development is beginning, but it may be disturbing a prior dump site for toxic chemicals. Contaminated water has been found and towns people are up in arms. But, a new development would mean jobs. There’s a big community protest while some small-brained lunatics are running around bumping off gay men. Then, the drug trade has made its way to this remote area, bringing vicious people to the territory.

 

As the plot carefully unfolded and the reader grows even more attached to Clare and Russ, there’s a rescue scene which is as nail biting as any that I’ve ever read. A man falls into a nearly inaccessible ravine and is unconscious. Clare and Russ, although short-handed, go to the rescue. She flies helicopters and grabs one that’s available. After military disasters involving helicopters, Russ has a phobia about those aircraft, but fearfully goes along to help Clare. After a death-defying act of getting the injured man into the helicopter, they discovered that it has been sabotaged. It crashes, and of course that sets off a fire from the sparks. It only gets better.

The sexual tension between Clare and Russ continues to evolve, and after the first two books, we've yet to hear a word from Russ' wife. I thought that near the end of the book as the author drew some subplots to a conclusion that the story line suffered, but that was only in the last few pages. I plan to read more.

In the Bleak Midwinter

 

 

Last month, I reviewed what turns out to be the 10^th book in the Fergusson/Van Alstyne mystery series by Julia Spencer-Fleming, At Midnight Comes the Cry. It was an excellent story with strong characters and a good plot, so I chose to go back to the beginning of the series and see if my enthusiasm for the author would hold up and allow me to read the entire series. Good news, the first book, In the Bleak of Midwinter, did not let me down. 

We are introduced to the two protagonists, Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne. Fergusson is a newly minted Episcopal priest who has landed at a parish in Miller’s Kill, a small town in upstate New York. She is an unmarried woman who retired from the Army where she was a Blackhawk helicopter pilot. Van Alstyne is the police chief of the small police force in Miller’s Kill. The author, for her first book, she used the name of a poem and Christmas carol for the title of this story that took place during the midwinter in upstate New York, much of the action occurring during a blizzard for which Fergusson was very poorly prepared. A newborn baby had been left on the doorstep of her church where there just happened to be a couple that had been desperately searching for a baby to adopt. But then, the mother was found murdered, and so the mystery evolved with a great cast of supporting characters.

 

So, my excitement about this author and the series will at least get me to the third book, A Fountain filled with Blood, which I hope to acquire very shortly.

At Midnight Comes the Cry

 Julia Spencer-Fleming is not an author that I had known prior to a blurb in the NY Times Book Review, so I gave her a look. When I finished her latest novel in the Fergusson/Van Alstyne mystery series, At Midnight Comes the Cry published in 2025, I found out this was at least her 11^th book in the series. She published the first one, In the Bleak Midwinter, in 2002. The newest novel tells about the ongoing relationship between Clare Fergusson, an Episcopal priest and former US Army Blackhawk helicopter pilot, and former police chief Russ Van Alstyne in the fictional town of Millers Kill in upstate New York. I find it exciting to read a very good story and then learn that the author has a substantial body of work already published. Now I have a series of novels to look forward to, and I’ll get to enjoy the evolution of Ms. Spencer-Fleming’s protagonists. I’ve already downloaded In The Bleak Midwinter and plan to read it soon and then work my way through her novels in the order of publication. 

This story began with Kevin Flynn, a young officer who chose to leave the Millers Kill PD to work in a bigger department at Syracuse. He was assigned to an undercover operation in which his task was to infiltrate a group of white supremists, but then he disappeared. His girlfriend and parents had not heard from him for months, he was fired from the Syracuse PD because the funds for his undercover job had been reallocated to other things, and he was a no-show for a new assignment.

 

Basically, this was a story about the white supremists, their plan to kill Jews, the misogyny of that movement, and the multicultural characters who were aligned to stop them. This was a very well-designed plot with fascinating characters. This mystery novel gets a 5/5 rating from me, and it left me excited to read more of this authors work.