REVIEW: To Darkness and To Death by Julia Spencer-Fleming

To Dark­ness and To Death is the fourth entry in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s series fea­tur­ing Rev. Clare Fer­gus­son and Russ Van Alstyne. It’s the com­plex­ity of their rela­tion­ship that drives me to read these books with antic­i­pa­tion and glee. I love this series and this book was a winner. There are no spoil­ers ahead.

Many read­ers are put off by Clare Fergusson being an Epis­co­pal priest. They need not be because the author shows Clare to have a social life out­side of the church that is a breath of fresh air. Just ask her fans. They love Rev. Clare Fergusson. Before she became a priest, Clare was a ex-​helo pilot in the army and when she left the army she moved to Miller’s Kill, New York to be pastor of St. Albans. What I love about the series is a couple of things: the church pol­i­tics, the towns-​people and the fluctuating friendship between Clare and Chief of Police, Russ Van Alstyne that tentatively threatens to trans­form into some­thing else. It’s that “some­thing else” that keeps read­ers like me tuned in.  See, Russ is mar­ried. I can already see some frowns. This makes the com­plex­ity of their rela­tion­ship cap­ti­vat­ing to me while to others their relationship seems completely inappropriate.

In The Bleak Mid­win­ter, Clare and Russ were very good friends. When Clare came to Millers Kill, Russ reluc­tantly accepted her and they struck up a friend­ship. The first case they worked on together was dropped at Clare’s front door. Clare loves that Russ sees her as just a woman while others see only the collar at her throat.  Throughout the series they’ve been close but now that close­ness has even­tu­ally evolved into some­thing else that both are trying to avoid.

To Dark­ness and To Death can be read as a stand alone novel but of course it is strongly rec­om­mended that you start from the beginning if you care to catch up on the dynamic ups and downs of Clare and Russ’s rela­tion­ship. In this install­ment, Clare is awak­ened in the early morn­ing hours to vol­un­teer for search and rescue. A young woman is miss­ing on her family’s prop­erty. The author is never one to shy away from con­tro­ver­sial issues and in this install­ment the conflict cen­ters around environmentalists buying and restor­ing land that will leave many people jobless and homeless.  Most of the people involved in the sale of the prop­erty are affected emo­tion­ally as well as finan­cially. A few respond quite dras­ti­cally to the upcom­ing sale that make for some dire con­se­quences later.

I love the author’s nar­ra­tive style. The title of the book is aptly named. The inter­ac­tions between the towns people and especially Clare and Russ’s inti­mate moments together are nice. Millers Kill is a small town and many of the inter­ac­tions of small town life seems to be spot on. I love the church pol­i­tics which is no dif­fer­ent than your usual office pol­i­tics. Often times it is heated and some­times humorous.  At the center of it all is the rela­tion­ship between Clare and Russ. I love their scenes together and in To Dark­ness and To Death, they weren’t together very often but the few scenes they were in together — the author made them count.

Julia Spencer-​Fleming is still going strong in this series. Her con­flicts are some­times com­plex and con­tro­ver­sial and plau­si­ble. Many read­ers will be either put off by Clare’s voca­tion or her attrac­tion to a mar­ried man. All of that makes for a cap­ti­vat­ing read for me. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. To Dark­ness and To Death is yet another strong entry into the series. My grade, B+. If your inter­ested in read­ing the first book in the series, start with In The Bleak Midwinter.

Tech­no­rati Tags: Julia Spencer-​Fleming, Cozy Mys­tery, Rev. Claire Fer­gus­son series

Tagged as: Cozy Mystery, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Rev. Claire Fergusson series