The River View

Jules Clement #5

by Jamie Harrison

Former sheriff Jules Clement returns in this new installment of the celebrated mystery series, set once again in the wild, strange, windy town of Blue Deer, Montana, where your neighbors or the tourists can be just as deadly as the weather

Jules Clement is back in Blue Deer, working as an archaeologist and private investigator. He’s a mostly happy he’s a new father, and he and his wife Caroline are building their dream house on an idyllic patch of river bottomland. But everything that can go wrong will, in terms of money, love, and murder. The horrible neighbors enlist Jules to spy on each other. The county hires him to find out if a road runs over some misplaced bodies in a long-abandoned potter’s field. A former priest with a side hustle in extortion ends up very dead. A crew of Russians in fast cars is running amok through the Montana landscape. All this as an old nemesis returns, pulling Jules back to confront what he’s been avoiding his entire the death of his father.

Published alongside newly reissued editions of the entire series, The River View is further proof that “you haven’t been west in any meaningful sense until you’ve been to Blue Deer” (The New York Times).

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Westerns, Mystery Thriller, Crime

352 pages, Hardcover

Published August 6, 2024

About the author

Jamie Harrison is the author of six novels: The Center of Everything (January 2021, Counterpoint), The Widow Nash (2017), and the four Jules Clement/Blue Deer mysteries, slated to be reissued soon by Counterpoint Press: The Edge of the Crazies, Going Local, An Unfortunate Prairie Occurrence, and Blue Deer Thaw. She was awarded the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Reading the West Book Award for The Widow Nash, and was a finalist for the High Plains Book Award.

The Center of Everything (2021) was a January pick by Oprah Magazine, People Magazine, and Indie Next, with a Rave status at Book Marks: https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/the...

Reviews

[Ashton Ahart · Rating 3 out of 5]

The River View is a thrilling mystery novel that is filled with wit, banter, and lively characters. Located in Blue Deer Montana, Jules Clement, a former sheriff and current archeologist, is trying to build a home with his wife and newborn son. However, it proves to be a difficult task. Between shady neighbors who lie and sabotage one another, a dead priest, a crew of Russians, and a reopened murder investigation, Jules and Caroline Clement have quite the busy schedule.

This novel was a fun, thrilling, and partly disturbing read about a town steeped with trouble. Even though I had not read previous Jules Clement novels, it was easy to jump into the established world. My only complaint was that there was a lot of information and characters that you had to constantly keep up with. It seemed that every page a new person was introduced which made it hard to understand. Other than that, this book was entertaining and full of information. I recommend it to those who enjoy mature mysteries and witty characters.

[Christian Schultheiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was both a thrilling mystery with tons of quite puzzling layers and also my first Harrison and clement novel. Honestly I couldn’t help drawing comparisons to a more modern and Americanized Peroit from Agatha’s groundbreaking series and u really did enjoy the private eye also be an archeologist. I’d really say the only thing that fully drew from the story as a whole, would have to be the sheer volume of the cast which made keeping track of names and events kind of a struggle at times.
* 3.5/5

[Rory O'Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounded up to 3.5? Not my favorite in the series, but I enjoy Blue Deer.

[Pam J · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those books I was very happy to finally finish. It’s hard to describe what exactly I disliked about it. I feel like the author definitely knows how to write…she is smart and uses some great descriptors. In no way did I feel like this was written by an amateur.

Maybe it was just not my style?

Maybe I would have liked this better if I’d read the other books in the series first?

All I can say is I did not enjoy this. It was so full of different characters and plot lines, I found it very hard to keep track of what was happening. In the beginning, I really tried to digest everything. 100 pages in, I knew the only way I’d get through it would just be to power through and stop trying to make sense of it all.

She gave back stories to every single person or place the reader came across. For example, a character found a dead body. His only purpose was to alert the main character, Jules, to this dead body. I’m not sure why Jules couldn’t have just come across it himself, why we even needed Bob as a character for roughly one page. But OK, for some reason, we didn’t want Jules to find the body himself. But it couldn’t just be “a crane operator called Jules over.” It had to be Big Bob the crane operator, and we had to wonder what he thought about all day in his machine… “Sex, chicken-fried steak, the horror of the Balkans.”
The entire book was like this, just more More MORE about every little thing.
It was so much that there were times I really couldn’t even figure out what was going on, things that still don’t really make sense to me. At one point they found a different character I assumed was dead, but apparently he wasn’t.
There were a couple of references to a nurse character “who saved Caroline.” She did? In this book? Something happened to Caroline? If so, I have no memory of it. There were other references to this same nurse working with Jules’ mother at the hospital. Really? Jules’ mother worked? I assumed she was retired. Did I miss it? Very possible. Or were these references to previous books?

There were so many names, as well variations of those same names. Even the dog had a human name, couldn’t just be Rover so I could easily remember that was the dog.
When they referenced Sadie, I knew she was related to another main character, but I could never remember who.
250 pages in they were talking about Doris, which I was pretty sure it was a town. But then they were making it sound like it was a person, and I was confused. Turns out it’s both!
Carolyn gets flowers and says something about Fred and a camera. What’s this now? Is there someone named Fred in this book? (a few pages later he was referenced again, and then I remembered, Oh yes, there is a Fred.) And what about Bernie’s camera? Why is it relevant? Does Fred have it? If so why, and why do I care?
They referenced a police officer named Bunny a few times, and I assumed it was a female. Nope. To be fair, when Bunny was introduced, he was clearly a man. But it was such a short snippet, and you never heard of him again for 200 pages, I forgot all about him.

I was basically able to follow the major plot points. Did they all tie together and make sense? I genuinely don’t know. Even having finished it, I am not sure what I would say this book was about. A lot of people getting murdered (nine? ten? too many!), a lot of land disputes and sales, and a lot of bones being dug up.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you poke around in the American West you’ll discover that “ghost” towns are quite real. There are entire settlements that simply outlive their purpose and disappear from maps. In a way, that’s the centerpiece of The River View (Counterpoint, 2024, 335 pages), a new mystery from Montana writer Jamie Harrison. This is part of Harrison’s Jules Clement series, but The River View is a standalone work. Clement is an interesting central character, an ex-sheriff who is an archaeologist/private investigator/new father. Like many in the Big Sky country, Clement lives close to the margin, but he and his wife Caroline, who works in the county sheriff’s office, are about to build their dream house (with considerable sweat equity). That is if they can ever get Divvy to dig the foundation. In the interim Jules is hired to make sure a new road doesn’t disturb a lost-to-time paupers’ graveyard allegedly just outside the hamlet of Blue Deer. The River View is an unusual book in that it’s part farce and part serious. As the first, it’s quite funny, as in a flasher with an odd penis; a soon-to-be-neighbor who’d like to buy out the Clements who are too close, all manner of building nightmares, and Russians floating about as muscle for unknown outsiders. They could be straight out of The Russians Are Coming, were it not for their serious guns. Of course, it’s never funny when people get killed and your neighbor might be either ridiculous, psycho, or both. And where in the heck is Doris, MT? The book suffers from too many characters and too many mysteries crammed into one book, including Jules’ search for his father’s murderer, which happened many years earlier. But I’ll take too much over too little. ★★★ ½ -- Rob Weir

[AJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting couple of mysteries tied together in a way hard to determine until the end. One mystery i solved like 25% through the book except how which was frustrating watching the main characters trying to figure it out until *SPOILER* you learn others in the town are in on it. The only down fall of this book is theres too many moving parts/characters and it becomes hard to keep track of.

For my first (and probably only) book in the series, it was pretty good! I especially enjoyed how Caroline was for all intensive purposes, an asshole, without making her villainized. She was a stern woman who is just wanting to do her job. Also, a good sense of humour amongst the characters.

I probably will not read more in the series, as I am unsure how the world could continue/develop with how many bodies this one story dropped.

I am glad I read the book, but I am not dying to come back to this world.

[Thuressa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5⭐️s
The plot of this book is really interesting. It focuses on a number of different characters, all who are related/connected some way or another, and how greed can take over. I also enjoyed reading about Montana and the mystery lying within the land (fictionally of course).
That being said, there are SO MANY characters in this book and so many connections. I felt like I needed to draw a map to keep track. I would’ve enjoyed this book more if I wasn’t confused 70% of the time trying to figure out what was actually happening currently and what was context from the past… and trying to keep all the characters straight.

[Molly Burks · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, Jamie delights with her twists and turns and stellar style of writing. A careful read reveals much more to the mystery than a casual one so pay attention. Her characters are flawed, complex and both likable and deplorable, but fit naturally into the overall narrative. Loved all of the Jules Clement books and also The Widow Nash and The Center of Everything. And, as a former Montana resident, the peculiarities of being from there crop up at the most hilarious and poignant times. Read all of Jamie's books; you won't be disappointed.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took a while to get started--so much backstory about local property, town burial sites, and workplace personality conflicts before the plot begins to move forward. Then it gets gripping, and the orchestration is in many ways masterful, but: really, so many murderers happening to act at the same(ish) time and in the same place?

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting book with lots of things going on, particularly early in the book. Having not read this author before, I didn't know what to expect. All the pieces were brought together so it was worth reading the book. I was impressed with the author's ability to keep all the characters and details organized throughout the novel.

[Joy · Rating 1 out of 5]

So boring. And the writing is,so disjointed and confusing. And way too many characters and those characters all have pints of view merging and then going back = one big trainwreck .

Also I was told it's humorous and I see no lines that are funny or snarky dark humor .

I see nothing even slightly humorous anywhere .

Maybe the 1st book was .this is just confusing boredom

[Michael Lawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

While this entry answered some questions that loom over the entire series, I almost favor the fourth book as a more satisfying ending.

Edge of the Crazies got me into this series. The main characters, wittiness, and depictions of Montana made me stay.

This installment may not be my favorite, but I really enjoyed the series as a whole.

[Nann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fifth installment (after a gap of 20 years) in this rollicking series. I've spent the past month reading all five and this is the best. There are many characters and I gave up on keeping track of all of them.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I’ve read all books in the Jules Clement series and enjoy the main characters and their witty dialogue and self reflection. However, I concur with the criticism of other reviewers that there were too many characters and subplots. Nevertheless, I’d read the next book.

[Marion · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jules Clement #5 written after a 23 year hiatus from #4.
The most complicated one yet. As usual, the past looms large as old crimes are revisited and new ones prosecuted. Jules, no longer sheriff, is an independent investigator and and archaeologist. Caroline is still in law enforcement.

[Halifax]

Audiobook DNF

[Margaret]

This mystery is full of characters, murders, bodies, secrets ... So much that it's almost over the top...And the main characters are often with their baby while the drama is unfolding.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is a confusing book with so many characters and subplots that it was difficult to follow most of the time.

[Becky Bosshart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the authenticity of place and character, also the humor and irreverence of her plot. It’s sometimes hard to follow the writing or decipher what’s going on, I had to read some passages over a few times, mostly because I don’t have all the characters down (there are a lot of new characters introduced and then heritage characters from earlier books). This is my first in the series so I’ve just thrown myself into the middle of it. I score this high because the author does something here no one else does, make a portrayal of rural Western crime that isn’t unrealistic (OTT) or sentimental. It’s cynical BUT I do not feel the grossness of toxic masculinity here in our heroes. Thank god and finally.

[Lindy High · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read, and loved, the first four Blue Deer novels and always hoped there would be another. Yet I somehow missed the release of The River View last year. No matter; I doubt my rating would be any different. In the intervening years, the folks in Blue Deer have gotten crankier and weirder. Jules Clement, former sheriff turned private investigator, has a child with sheriff’s deputy Caroline Fair. His mother asks him to find out what really happened when his father was gunned down years earlier. The killer is serving time; Olive Clement wants to know why he shot her husband. In his investigative capacity, Jules is mapping out where indigents might have been buried so they can be moved as a new road is put in. The acting sheriff is a violence-prone man. A mysterious group of Russians keep cropping up in this small Montana town. Jules and Caroline are trying to build a house on a lot with nightmare neighbors, including the brother of the man serving time for killing Jules’s father. A local priest has been murdered and may have been blackmailing parishioners. If all this sounds complicated, it is: lots of mysteries, lots of characters. So many, in fact, that I kept losing track of names and why they were important — hence my three-star rating. Most everything was wrapped up in the end but there was a lot of lying, a lot of bad tempers, a lot of people in between. In particular, I never did quite understand the significance of ancient maps and placement of bodies in burial sites. My mind just kept thinking “Move on.” I found myself leafing back in the book, trying to remember who someone was. Pro tip: before you read this, go back and re-read Blue Deer Thaw. That might help you straighten out who some of this huge cast of characters are.