Reverend Clare Fergusson series, by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Author: Julia Spencer-Fleming
Series: Reverend Clare Fergusson / Russ Van Alstyne
Setting: A fictional small town in upstate New York/ Adirondack Mts
Sub-genre/category: whodunit / police procedural
List of titles: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/julia-spencer-fleming/
I should warn you up front that I'm in love with this series. It was recommend to me last year by a librarian. Gods & goddesses bless all librarians, they are wonderful people. I read the first 6 books in rapid succession. (I've held off on reading the 7th title until I know the 8th book is coming out.)
Clare Fergusson is an ex-army chopper pilot with combat experience who left the military to join the priesthood. Newly posted to the conservative town of Miller's Kill, NY (kill means stream), Clare is not quite what the town would choose. Russ Van Alstyne is the chief of police in Miller's Kill. He's been there forever.
These mysteries are solid, but nothing special. Her misleads seem obvious to me, & she has yet to surprise me with who-done-it. What drags me in is the conflict & connection between The Reverend Fergusson & Chief Alstyne. They each want to do the right thing, but Chief Alstyne wants to do what is right by the law & the needs of solving the case, & Clare wants to do what is morally right. And those aren't always the same thing. These two main characters have a lot of depth, & over the course of several books some of the supporting cast began to also are fleshed out into more complex characters.
Plus I love reading about Clare's challenges in trying to update her congregation, her battles with the church over what is acceptable behavior for a priest, & the struggle to figure out how one appropriately addresses a female priest. I groan at the fact that headstrong Clare often becomes the idiot in peril, but she appears to be learning as the series goes on.
That's about all I can review without spoilers. I recommend this series & think if you read the first book you will get dragged in. I'd love to discuss them with anyone who has read them.
Series: Reverend Clare Fergusson / Russ Van Alstyne
Setting: A fictional small town in upstate New York/ Adirondack Mts
Sub-genre/category: whodunit / police procedural
List of titles: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/julia-spencer-fleming/
I should warn you up front that I'm in love with this series. It was recommend to me last year by a librarian. Gods & goddesses bless all librarians, they are wonderful people. I read the first 6 books in rapid succession. (I've held off on reading the 7th title until I know the 8th book is coming out.)
Clare Fergusson is an ex-army chopper pilot with combat experience who left the military to join the priesthood. Newly posted to the conservative town of Miller's Kill, NY (kill means stream), Clare is not quite what the town would choose. Russ Van Alstyne is the chief of police in Miller's Kill. He's been there forever.
These mysteries are solid, but nothing special. Her misleads seem obvious to me, & she has yet to surprise me with who-done-it. What drags me in is the conflict & connection between The Reverend Fergusson & Chief Alstyne. They each want to do the right thing, but Chief Alstyne wants to do what is right by the law & the needs of solving the case, & Clare wants to do what is morally right. And those aren't always the same thing. These two main characters have a lot of depth, & over the course of several books some of the supporting cast began to also are fleshed out into more complex characters.
Plus I love reading about Clare's challenges in trying to update her congregation, her battles with the church over what is acceptable behavior for a priest, & the struggle to figure out how one appropriately addresses a female priest. I groan at the fact that headstrong Clare often becomes the idiot in peril, but she appears to be learning as the series goes on.
That's about all I can review without spoilers. I recommend this series & think if you read the first book you will get dragged in. I'd love to discuss them with anyone who has read them.