From Publishers Weekly
In this debut novel, a riveting page-turner from start to finish, born-and-bred Virginian Clare Ferguson, newly ordained priest of St. Alban's Episcopal Church in the small upstate New York town of Millers Kill, is faced with not only an early December snowstorm and the bitter cold of her first Northern winter but also a conservative vestry, who apparently expended all their daring on hiring her, a female priest. When a baby is left on the church doorstep with a note designating that he be given to two of her parishioners, Clare calls in police chief Russ Van Alstyne. The foundling case quickly becomes an investigation into murder that will shatter the lives of members of her congregation, challenge her own feelings and faith and threaten her life. With her background as an army helicopter pilot, Clare is not a typical priest. Smart, courageous and tough, she is also caring, kindhearted and blessed with a refreshing personality. Likewise, the other characters are equally well developed and believable, except for the young pediatrician, who speaks more like a hip teenager than a professional. It is a cast readers will hope to meet again, while a fast-paced plot keeps the guess work going until the very end. Along the way, there is an exceptionally spine-chilling confrontation. The vivid setting descriptions will bring plenty of shivers, but the real strength of this stellar first is the focus on the mystery, which will delight traditional fans. (Mar. 25)Traditional Mystery contest.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
This first novel, winner of St. Martin's Malice Domestic Award for 2001, introduces an unusual investigative partnership and a probable new series. Russ Van Alstyne, police chief of Millers Kill, and Clare Fergusson, new-to-town Episcopal priest, first meet when she reports a baby abandoned at the church. The two later discover the body of the baby's young mother. As the investigation progresses, Clare runs into opposition from staid church members, two of whom will do anything to adopt the child. With superb skill, exact detail, and precise diction, this highlights credible personal conflicts. For all collections. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


John Roberts, Maine Sunday Telegram, March 3, 2002 (copyright Blethen Maine Newspapers)
The prose soars above the quality usually found in this genre…the story twists and turns to the last page.


Library Journal, February 1, 2002
With superb skill, exact detail, and precise diction, this highlights credible personal conflicts. For all collections.


Kathy Lynn Emerson, author of Face Down Across the Western Sea, Face Down Under the Wych Elm
In a strong, distinctive voice, she …pits [her characters] against public murder, personal demons, and the power of nature itself.


Charlaine Harris, author of Shakespeare’s Counselor and Living Dead in Dallas
In the Bleak Midwinter is one of the most impressive ‘first’ crime novels I’ve read…This is one great book.


April Henry, author of Circles of Confusion, Square in the Face, Heart-Shaped Box
Don't miss this one! The icy setting will chill you, but the fast pace will keep you turning the pages.


Book Description
It's a cold, snowy December in the upstate New York town of Millers Kill, and newly ordained Clare Fergusson is on thin ice as the first female priest of its small Episcopal church. The ancient regime running the parish covertly demands that she prove herself as a leader. However, her blunt manner, honed by years as an army pilot, is meeting with a chilly reception from some members of her congregation and Chief of Police Russ Van Alystyne, in particular, doesn't know what to make of her, or how to address "a lady priest" for that matter.

The last thing she needs is trouble, but that is exactly what she finds. When a newborn baby is abandoned on the church stairs and a young mother is brutally murdered, Clare has to pick her way through the secrets and silence that shadow that town like the ever-present Adirondack mountains. As the days dwindle down and the attraction between the avowed priest and the married police chief grows, Clare will need all her faith, tenacity, and courage to stand fast against a killer's icy heart.

In the Bleak Midwinter is one of the most outstanding Malice Domestic winners the contest has seen. The compelling atmosphere-the kind of very cold and snowy winter that is typical of upstate New York-will make you reach for another sweater. The characters are fully and believably drawn and you will feel like they are your old friends and find yourself rooting for them every step of the way.



About the Author
Julia Spencer-Fleming was born in Plattsburgh Air Force Base and spent most of her childhood on the move as an Army brat. She studied acting and history at Ithaca College, and received her J.D. at the University of Maine School of Law. She lives in a 180-year-old farmhouse outside of Portland, Maine, with her husband, three children, and beloved big dog.



Excerpted from In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
It was one hell of a night to throw away a baby. The cold pinched at Russ Van Alstyne's nose and made him jam his hands deep into his coat pockets, grateful that the Washington County Hospital had a police parking spot just a few yards from the ER doors. A flare of red startled him, and he watched as an ambulance backed out of its bay silently, lights flashing. The drive leaned out of his window, craning to see hiw way between cement rails. "Kurt! Hey! Anything for me?" The driver waved at Russ. "Hey, Chief. Nope. Heart attack stabilized and heading for Glens Falls. You heard about the baby?" "That's why I'm here." Kurt continued to back out, almost to the end of the parking lot. "Jesum, hard to imagine sumpin' like that here in Millers Kill..." The rest of his commentary was lost as he heeled the ambulance into the road. Russ waved, then pushed open the antiquated double doors to the emergency department. His glasses fogged up within seconds in the moist heat of the foyer. He pulled off the wire frames and rubbed them with the end of his scarf, mentally cursing the myopia that had finally led him, at forty-eight, to cave in and wear the damn things full time. His stomach ached and his knee was bothering him and for a moment he wished he had taken that security consulting job in Phoenix like his wife had wanted. "Hey! Chief!" A blurry form in brown approached him. Russ tucked his glasses over his ears and Mark Durkee, one of his three night-shift officers, snapped into focus. As usual, the younger man was spit-and-polished within an inch of his life, making Russ acutely aware of his own non-standard-issue appearance: wrinkled wool pants shoved into salt-stained hunting boots, his oversized tartan muffler clashing with his regulation brown parka. Hell, Mark was probably too young to get a cold neck, even with the back of his head shaved almost bald. "Hey, Mark," Russ said. "Talk to me." The officer waved his chief down the drab green hallway toward the emergency room. The place smelled of disinfectant and bodies, with a whiff of cow manure left over by the last farmer who had come in straight from the barn. "Man, it's like something out of an old Bing Crosby movie, Chief. The priest at Saint Alban's found the little guy bundled up at the door of the church. The doctor's checking him out now." "How's the baby look?" "Fine, as far as they can tell. He was wrapped up real well, and the doc says he probably wasn't out in the cold more'n a half hour or so." Russ's sore stomach eased up. He'd seen a lot over the years, but nothing shook him as much as an abused child. He'd had one baby-stuffed-in-a-garbage-bag case when he'd been an MP in Germany, and he didn't care to ever see one again.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Heavy Snow...Icy Desires...Cold-Blooded Murder Clare Fergusson, St. Alban's new priest, fits like a square peg in the conservative Episcopal parish at Miller's Kill, New York. She is not just a "lady," she's a tough ex Army chopper pilot, and nobody's fool. Then a newborn infant left at the church door brings her together with the town's police chief, Russ Van Alstyne, who's also ex-Army and a cynical good shepherd for the stray sheep of his hometown. Their search for the baby's mother quickly leads them into the secrets that shadow Miller's Kill like the ever-present Adirondacks. What they discover is a world of trouble, an attraction to each other-and murder...

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Torrey Tunet, the American translator (and accidental sleuth) holed up in the Irish town of Ballynaugh, has more trouble on her hands when wealthy widow and affordable housing advocate Natalie Sylvester Cameron ("A darling. High heels. Spotless reputation") finds herself being blackmailed. The Irish Cairn Murder: A Torrey Tunet Mystery, Dicey Deere's follow-up to The Irish Manor House Murder, shows off some intricate plotting and a cast of eccentrics, including Jasper, Tunet's overweight gourmand boyfriend, and her rival, the inept and vengeful Inspector O'Hare. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

This is the first of three engaging mysteries featuring Episcopal priest Clare Ferguson, newly appointed rector of St. Alban's Church in the upstate New York village of Millers Kill. Shortly before Christmas, an infant is left on the steps of St. Alban's with a note indicating that the baby should be given to a specific couple in the congregation. Clare sees the abandonment as a way to begin a mission project to help unwed mothers, but her enthusiasm is rebuffed by the senior warden of the socially conservative church vestry, a retired army colonel. Suspicion mounts when the child's mother, an 18-year-old college student from the wrong side of the tracks, is found dead. Clare joins Millers Kill police chief Russ Van Alstyne in the search for the murderer. There are as many slippery twists and turns as there are on the snowy Adirondack mountain roads that Clare must negotiate. Narrator Suzanne Toren handles all the voices deftly, giving just a touch of Southern accent to the Virginia-born Clare; her pacing captures the mounting tension perfectly. An excellent selection. Nann Blaine Hilyard, Zion-Benton P.L., IL nonfiction Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

AudioFile

Clare Fergusson is quite a character, a young Episcopal priest who used to fly helicopters in the army. When she's in priest mode, we hear the soft Southern honey of her childhood; when she's in survival mode (it's not every priest who can ambush an armed would- be murderer in the freezing outback and brain him with a rock), we hear the voices of her army days, alive in her head. Suzanne Toren has the skill and range to hold us enthralled from the moment Clare finds a newborn baby on the church doorstep and the secrets of her new parish in Miller's Kill, New York, begin to unspool all around her. A terrific performance by both author and actor. B.G. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews