This sale was followed by the two subsequent books going on sale as well: A Fountain Full of Blood and Out of the Deep I Cry.
I enjoyed In The Bleak Midwinter, and thought it was a nice series starter, but it didn't galvanize me to read the second and third books. It wasn't until my mom mentioned how much she was enjoying them that I read book two, and then book 3. A Fountain Full of Blood was a good, solid mystery that continued the character development that began in the first book. The relationship between Russ and Clare develops as well, as they have very clearly fallen in love with one another. This is a forbidden love, because Russ is very much married, and both of them struggle with their attraction to one another, and the consequences of falling in love.
In Out of the Deep I Cry, the series really hits it's stride. This is a split narrative, with part of the book taking place in the present, when the staff doctor for the Millers Kill free medical clinic disappears, and a woman who butted heads with him over the danger of vaccinating children, comes under suspicion. The other portion of the book takes place in the past, when the patron of the clinic was a small girl, having lost four siblings to a terribly virulent strain of diphtheria. Her father also disappears, and her mother goes on with the business of raising her, seeking to have him declared dead so she can officially be considered a widow. His disappearance was never solved.
Once I got to book three, this series became something of an addiction for me. The mysteries are enjoyable, and well plotted, but the true delight of the series is in the characters of Russ Van Alstyne, Clare Fergusson, and Millers Kill itself. There are a number of secondary characters that are introduced along the way, including skinny Flynnie, or Kevin Flynn, the youngest of the officers at the MKPD, the sexton of St. Alban's Episcopal Church, Mr. Hadley, Hadley Knox, his granddaughter and erstwhile police officer, among others. Some big events occur in that fourth book, and I can't do plot summaries, or even really plot references, without adding a major spoiler alert. Therefore, I will confine myself to simply linking to books 4 through 7, in order, here:
Miller's Kill is a fascinating small community, and by book seven, the series is confronting serious and significant issues, including emotional infidelity, the intersection of faith and faithfulness, whether we, as a society, are doing an adequate job of supporting our combat veterans, the impact of a bad economy on small towns, and service to one's greater community. All in all, Julia Spencer-Fleming has written a wonderful series of mysteries. At the end of book 7, One Was A Soldier, we are left with a piece of good news for Russ and Clare, and with a long wait to book 8, which is projected to be released in April, 2013. While this is a long time to wait, there is every reason to believe that Ms. Spencer-Fleming won't let her fans down.
