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The Clare Fergursson/Russ Van Alstyne books just keep getting better and better. The characters are believable and the tension is superb. The story lines keep moving and I find it hard to put the book down. If there is a fault I think that there seems to be alot of crime in a small town.
It's easy to see why this would appeal to a writer interested in exploring the whys of a whodunit. Alban's new deacon who might as well stroll into scenes wearing a witches' hat by the end of the book for all the subtlety she's given. The difficulty is that not having read any of the previous books I didn't care about whether Russ and Clare would give each other up forever and nothing in the book changed that. It might sound like I didn't like this book and the bare bones of the plot in the hands of a lesser writer might have me giving this less than the very respectable 3 stars I did. Making the cleric in question both a woman and a former army helicopter pilot increases the opportunities for complexity. Add to this Julia Spencer-Fleming choice of locale - small town upstate New York - and you have a canvas for a broad social commentary in her All Mortal Flesh.This is my first venture into the Clare Fergusson - Russ Van Alstyne series and in retrospect it probably isn't a good place to start for the simple reason that the relationship between the two leads comes to a crisis point. There are a fair number of mystery series with clergy of some persuasion playing the role of detective. It was a little hard to believe that an intelligent woman like Clare couldn't add it up on her own either but then she was distracted.
That's a genuine accomplishment.As a stand-alone book, this book leaves more than a little to be desired. The final exposition was a bit of an eye-roller for me - I could see it a mile away, as I good the identity of the murderer. As an entry in a series, it is probably quite solid. Spencer-Fleming does deliver one genuine plot twist along the way. The latitude to explore on moral and spiritual issues is greater allowing for a more complex narrative. What made this book stick with me is the community Spencer-Fleming created.
Another difficulty is that the situation calls for the two leads to act at their least rationale which can undermine the confidence other characters seem to automatically place in them.What Spencer-Fleming does especially well is create a believable, palpable locale, her town of Miller's Kill and the people in it feel real. She does over play things on occasion, like St. By the end of the book I knew what it would feel like to walk down the Main Street of Miller's Kill. Julia Spencer-Fleming's undeniable writing talent has me headed back for more - this time starting at the beginning.
This book was so suspenseful that I literally couldn't put it down. The events of "To Darkness and To Death" take place in a single day, while "Out of the Deep I Cry" involves two mysteries, one contemporary and one 75 years old. A criminal may get away, or an innocent person may die.
But in "All Mortal Flesh", Chief Van Alstyne comes up with a brilliant insight that probably made Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy Sayers smile in their graves.Many mystery stories I have read follow a predictable pattern. The wonderful variety in this series prevents the boredom I sometimes experience when successive books by the same author seem too similar. I finished reading it around 2 am.Having enjoyed many classic mysteries in which the detective (Sherlock Holmes, Lord Peter Wimsey, Miss Marple) solves the mystery by thinking, I have been disappointed to find that in many modern mystery stories, deductive thinking is missing altogether or is buried beneath numerous plot twists.
Also, each Spencer-Fleming novel is very different from the previous ones. After the initial crime, justice triumphs: all the bad guys are convicted or die, and all the good guys survive unharmed. Spencer-Fleming's books are less predictable, which for me makes them more suspenseful.
"I Shall Not Want" is a multi-faceted novel that includes a suspenseful mystery, whereas "All Mortal Flesh" is a fast-paced mystery that does not pause for breath.
Read these wonderful books in order. They are a cut above the usual due to her excellent characters. You want to go to lunch with them, be part of the congregation, and feel safe under Russ's watchful eye. Wish there were more to read.
Russ, the police chief with a gaping hole in his alibi, or Clare, the former Army helicopter pilot with proven survival skills.As a discrete mystery, this is still a great book. On her website, Julia Spencer-Fleming says she would receive mail from fans with suggestions of how Russ Van Alstyne's wife should die. She shows up near the end of Book 3, and we see a bit more of her in Book 4. But who to suspect. Well, that doesn't happen in this book. She's pretty and friendly and is doing a great job building her business making high-end window treatments.
And while I think it's true with all the books that they're better if you read them in order, this is one that will particularly resonate if you've taken the time to meet the cast of characters in the first four books. That was back around Book 2 of the series, when we readers hadn't yet met Linda Van Alstyne. But hardcore fans of Spencer-Fleming's Miller's Kill novels appreciate the evolution over the years of Clare & Russ's relationship. No one seems to have a reason to hate her. Which is why, when the Miller's Kill police find her murdered body, they can't help but think her death is connected to Russ's close relationship with the Reverend Clare Fergusson, and the recent separation in the Van Alstyne's marriage. And not just Russ and Clare -- some of the other members of Miller's Kill Police Department are worth watching in this book.I won't give anything away, but I can rule out one thing: According to Spencer-Fleming, her fans' favored way of killing off Russ's wife was in a bizarre accident/murder involving some particularly elaborate drapes & valences.
But what does happen is tense and gripping, both challenging & satisfying in equal measures.
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