Just Jennifer

Through the Evil Days by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Minotaur, November 2013)

Episcopalian priest Clare Fergusson and her new husband, the somewhat older police chief of Millers-Kill, New York are ready to go on their honeymoon, to a cabin they are considering buying about an hour north of their hometown before facing the birth of their child (Russ is unsure about becoming a first time father at his age) and the career crises each faces: Clare has been threatened with losing her parish and being disciplined for becoming pregnant before she married Russ and Russ is facing the possible dissolution of his police force in favor of paying the State Police to patrol Millers-Kill.  Before the two can pack the truck, they are called to a house that has exploded into flames in the night killing the elderly couple who was sleeping inside.  Russ learns the couple was fostering a young girl in need of a transplant who was not found in or around the house but must be found quickly as she is still on rejection drug therapy.  Russ leaves the case in the capable hands of his department, but finds the case has followed him and his new bride on their honeymoon and rather than nesting, Clare, almost back to normal after her recent tour in Afghanistan is restless, putting herself and the baby in harm’s way.  As the case unfolds from Millers-Kill and from a remote cabin, the plot takes a decidedly evil twist and reveals some much unexpected things about people Russ thought he knew.

The tightly and intricately plotted mystery that unravels is very good reading to begin with, but Spencer-Fleming excels at her characterization, not only of long-running characters such as Clare and Russ, but of secondary characters, such as Kevin and Hadley who are beginning to play more prominent roles in the storyline.  The plot shifts easily from Millers-Kill to Russ and Clare’s honeymoon retreat and the brutally cold January temperature, with the addition of the job crises awaiting back home, keep the atmosphere thick, the tension taught and the suspense high.