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Dec 15, 2011

Red rated it:

This book was a good beach book, perfect to read on a hot summer day because it takes place in a very cold New England winter.

I'm not a huge mystery reader, but I enjoyed this book. I liked the police character, I liked the amateur sleuth, I liked the small town, I liked the supporting characters, and I didn't figure out who done it ahead of time. Our protagonist, Claire, is an Episcopalian priest, who in her previous career was an Army chopper pilot. The police chief is your basic r More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Jul 02, 2008

Trin rated it:

Mystery in which a male cop and a female (Episcopalian) priest in a small upstate New York town team up to fight crime! I liked this more than I expected to. Russ (the cop) and Clare (the priest) are both complex, realistic characters, and I really enjoyed how the relationship between them was developed. The way they find common ground and begin to seek out and crave each other’s company felt very natural and wonderfully genderless, if you know what I mean, and after reading a lot of crappy, wei More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 15, 2012

Sherri rated it:

This is a terrific book, I enjoyed every page.I recieved the book on monday from Goodreads and finished it in just a couple of days - it really holds your attention. The story starts off with an abandonded baby and soon after a murder but the best thing about the book is that there were so many twists and turns that you didn't figure out the mystery until the very end. I find it difficult to finish out books when you know you have already figured it out but I just had to keep reading this one. T More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 08, 2008

Patty rated it:

Powerful writing, fascinating relationships, unusual occupations. This one is outstanding and I can understand why it won some awards. Claire Fergusson is an Episcopal Priest, on the job for all of a month when she first meets Russ Von Alsytyne. The occasion is the finding of a baby on the church doorstep. From there the suspense in this one builds and spirals and just about forces you to keep reading.

I'm late coming into this series but can't wait to get onto the next episode. More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2012

Sam rated it:

In the Bleak Midwinter is a really great mystery. The lead character is not your typical heroine. She isn't a PI or a detective. Claire Fergusson is an Episcopal Priest. OK, she has a back ground as a former ex-Army chopper pilot, but she has given that life up and moved to Miller's Kill, New York and the care of St Alban's Church.

When a new born infant is left on her door step before she has even had a chance to unpack, Claire finds herself thrown into the middle if church politics a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 10, 2012

Alicia rated it:

I have read this book twice now within six months. It only got better upon the second reading.

The story wasn't what I thought it was going to be from the blurb because of their relationship statuses in the book. So it had me worried for a very long time. I think that was the reason for the four stars I gave the book after the first time I read it. I'm going to try to keep this review to the first book alone, though it's hard as I want to comment on what comes later. I apologize if I More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 18, 2009

Cindi rated it:

In the Bleak Midwinter was better than most of the other books I've rated as 3-stars, but not quite good enough to bump it up to 4-stars. (Will we ever get 1/2 stars on GoodReads?)

Rev. Clare Fergusson, Episcopal priest, has recently moved to the upstate New York town of Miller's Kill in the piedmont of the Adirondacks. A few weeks after her arrival, as she leaves the church after a vestry meeting on a snowy evening, she finds a newborn left on the steps of the church. The note le More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 28, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 12, 2008

Kate rated it:

Apparently, this book won all sorts of awards and got glowing reviews in several respected publications, including my hometown Washington Post. My only question is whether I read the same book as everyone else? I found this book to be predictable, tedious, poorly plotted and characterized. The main characters - there were two - were both conflicted, but their conflicts were sterotypical and the intersection of those conflicts telegraphed with every paragraph. The points of view shifted aroun More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Apr 20, 2010

Joyce rated it:

1st in the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series.[return][return]Miller s Kill, a village in upstate New York near Lake George, is the improbable setting for this imaginative series starring an ex-Army helicopter pilot turned Epsicopal priest, Clare Fergusson, and the Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne. A small town that lives largely off the tourist trade, Miller s Kill should be both sleepy and crime-free. In reality, like most small towns, it s neither, but certainly one doesn t expect More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 15, 2011

Lynda rated it:

I recently discovered this series after reading a review her newest book so I started with book one. Clare Ferguson, former military heliocopter pilot, has been hired as the priest at St. Albans Episcopalian church in Northern New York. After meeting police Chief Russ Van Allstyne when an abandoned baby is left on the doorstep of the church, she decides to ride with the police chief on patrol in order to familiarize herself with the community and its problems. When a body of a young woman is dis More...

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Nov 15, 2011

Kris rated it:

This is the first in the Clare Fergusen/Russ Van Alstyn series - and I am hooked! It is a great mix of romance (albeit unrequited)mystery, and police procedural - all genre that I love, when done right, and this one is.

Julia Spencer-Fleming is amazing. Her style is easy to read, but still provocative in both content and language, and by that I mean, vocabulary that is sparkling, erudite, and appropriate for the scene. Clare Ferguson is an Episcopalian Priest, a former Army helicopte More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 11, 2011

Dee rated it:

I like this mystery. The "Pilot" brings together two very different, yet similar people with which to start a series. Claire Ferguson, an Anglican Priest newly arrived at Miller;s Kill, New York, and Russ Van Alstyne, the police chief. Both are ex-army. She was a helicoptor pilot until her sister's untimely death caused her to examine her life and take up her present occupation. This past experience allows them to go far beyond the ordinary person's ability to "chase" More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 05, 2011

Sadie rated it:

So in the interest of full disclosure I don't read mystery novels ever. I think this is pretty much my first since the Boxcar Children from elementary school. So it's possible that mystery novels are just not for me however I was disappointed with this book.

I'm going to start with the writing and especially the dialogue. It just didn't work for me. I was reading dialogue between characters and it all sounds so cheesy and unnatural.

As far as Clare the priest goes I find her h More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 25, 2011

Barbara rated it:

A friend recently introduced me to Julia Spencer-Fleming, the author of the above. I wanted to begin reading mysteries and this I found this book to be wonderful. I read it in a couple of days and had trouble putting it down. The mystery unravels slowly with numerous surprises that kept me in suspense until near the end of the novel. What adds a special interest for me is that the main character is Clare Fergusson, the new priest of St. Alban's Episcopal church. This is her first church and More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 19, 2011

Judy rated it:

The first in the Rev. Clare Fergusson series and, as such, it introduces the major characters and begins to develop their relationships. Clare Fergusson is a newly ordained Episcopal priest--her former occupation was a helicopter pilot in the Army--when she is sent to the small town of Miller's Kill in upstate New York. Arriving in the winter, the weather becomes a character in the story. Naturally, many in the town and the congregation of St. Alban's Episcopal Church find it difficult to accep More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 29, 2010

Phillip rated it:

This is the second mystery series I've delved into this year based on a recommendation from a friend. This one features an intriguing relationship between a small town (Upper State New York)police Chief and the new female Episcopal Priest. They both share a common bachground in the military (hers as a helicopter pilot.) The finding of an abandoned baby on the church door step as December snows start drifting in (hence the title) introduces them to each other. The discovery of the murdered More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 25, 2010

Jenn rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 30, 2010

Steve rated it:

Winner of a half dozen awards for first novel, it’s easy to see why. Russ and Clare, the protagonists and, respectively married police chief and new Episcopal priest in Miller’s Kill, a rural New York State community, work together on a case that begins with Clare’s finding an abandoned newborn boy at the church, a couple of murders, and the solving them. Both Russ and Clare face unforeseen life-threatening dangers in taking on the case and its principals. The mystery, the child and murders, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 14, 2010

Bitsy rated it:

I really enjoyed reading this book. I loved the setting, I loved the characters, I loved how the storyline pulled me in and didn’t let me go until the last page was turned. It had unique characters, well researched back story, and of course a killer on the loose to help spice things up as the death toll keeps climbing. Between the mystery and suspense surrounding this small baby abandoned on a church door step, to the believable relationship and build up between Reverend Clare and Chief Alystyn More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 29, 2009

Kerry rated it:

As a promotion for her latest release last year, Julia Spencer-Fleming offered the first two books in her Clare Ferguson series as a free download. I'm generally up for a good mystery and the people who promoted the links had good things to say about the series, so I downloaded them both and added the first to the TBR list. It came up on the random number generator while I was down at my parents' place over Christmas. I tried converting the PDF to something I could read on my PDA (the PDF readin More...

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Jan 26, 2011

Donnajo rated it:

NL"s Buddy Read. 1st in series.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

May 16, 2010

Bob rated it:

Got this book when recomended by one of our library patrons and glad I did. This is the first book by Julia Spencer-Fleming an author living in Maine. The books setting though is New York State in the small upstate town of Millers Kill. Its snowy winters night and Chief of Police Rus Van Alystyne gets a call to the hospital where a baby has een brought after being found wrapped and in a box at the Episcopal Church. When Russ goes into the ER room he finds a strange woman leaning over the baby More...

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Jul 21, 2011

Kathleen rated it:

Clever Murder Mystery or Cheesy Romance Novel? You Decide.

Because it is so hot right now I got this bright idea to cool things off by reading a book that had a very chilly setting. I'd read good things about Julia Spencer-Fleming's In The Bleak Midwinter and, since I had a copy handy, I decided to give it a read.

As a murder mystery it is pretty good, clever, well-paced – I didn't figure it out prematurely. The setting, in the Adirondacks in winter, was excellent, the writ More...

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Apr 10, 2011

Erica rated it:

I really enjoyed this character-driven contemporary mystery. I was lucky enough to be introduced to the series by Julia Spencer-Fleming herself, when I won a copy of the 7th book in the series, One Was a Soldier, which arrived a couple of weeks ago accompanied by a lovely note from the author. Not wanting to start the series in the middle, I bought a digital copy of Bleak Midwinter, which was nigh unputdownable.

Since I don't read many mysteries, I can't really judge (or categorize) t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 13, 2009

Jen rated it:

I'm not sure why I bought this. Someone somewhere wrote a review that intrigued me. (here on Goodreads? Can't remember now, sorry!) There's no way reading the cover would have pulled me in. A mystery - nah, not in the mood right now. Ex-military priest and ex-military cop? Sounds way too testosterone-inflated for my taste. Sleepy small town with dark undercurrents? Sounds trite.

But what I do love is having my expectations turned upside down, and this book definitely is nothing like More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 02, 2011

Sandie rated it:

I liked this book about a female Episcopal priest new to a small town in the Adriondaks, despite some flaws. It was a good escape mystery read. The priest is a do-gooder, wants to heal all the town's problems and make everybody happy. She finds a baby on the door of the church after a meeting, and the story heats up when the baby's mother is discovered dead. She teams up with the married police chief to find the killer and gets herself in trouble on several levels. Sometimes pieces from h More...

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May 04, 2011

Diana rated it:

The mystery is the only reason I finished the book. I did not like Clare, I did not like Russ, I did not like the narrator. That pretty much sums it up. Knowing that many people whose opinions I respect adore this series and being aware of its awards, I have to just scratch my head and say "but not for me."

As other less than favorable reviews have noted, the premise is fatally flawed. The author tells me that Clare is a smart, competent war veteran while showing me a wacky me More...

7 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 12, 2012

Ronald rated it:

An abandoned baby left on the church's doorstep on a midwinter's night. A body of a young woman found in the freezing snow. A chilling trail of clues all add up to a suspenseful winner. In The Bleak Midwinter, introduces us to Millers Kill, New York. This is the home of Russ Van Alstyne, the chief of police and his wife. Also the new priest of the Episcopal church, Clare Fergusson. The author knows how to build suspense and also handles the action very well. The Chief finds himself working close More...

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Apr 20, 2011

Bridget rated it:

This is the first book I read on my Nook Color, and I really enjoyed it. I was not familiar with this series, but saw that the first installment was on sale for the Nook, so decided to try it.

Close to Christmas, Clare Fergusson - former Army helicopter pilot and now Episcopalian minister - finds a baby on the steps of her church, St. Albans, in upstate Miller's Kill, New York. There is a note on the blanket, saying tha the baby is named Cody, and should be given to a couple in the c More...

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