Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Clare Fergusson Mystery Series

One of my favorite writers is Maine author Julia Spencer-Fleming.  A lawyer and mother and then novelist, Spencer-Fleming writes a great mystery series about an Episcopal priest-Clare Fergusson, and the Chief of Police-Russ Van Alstyne in Millers Kill, New York.  Theirs is an unusual partnership.  While you might think a nice scenic small town in the Adirondacks would have minimal crime and mystery, it doesn’t.  Turns out Millers Kill is a hotbed for intrigue and mayhem and Clare gets involved with each and every situation.

I have been reading each installment when published, and then eagerly awaiting the next book.  Why?  I like a good mystery, but I love the characters.  Well-developed, likeable, believable, yet they are a little larger than life in a way that makes for great fiction.  Clare either has some super hero to her or some bionic parts to survive each book.  I never get tired of finding out what is next for Clare and Russ and the other residents of Millers Kill.  The suspense is great.  It is the safe kind of suspense you find in a series, when it seems that no matter how treacherous the plot, the main characters will ultimately live to see another book.  I used to like crime procedurals, but gave them up when I tired of the gory details.  These books have the suspense of the crime procedural, but are not as harsh.  I don’t feel like there are any parts I cannot “unsee.”

On top of the suspense, there are the politics of a small town and the relationships of its residents, as well as the politics at Clare’s church.  Another thing I love-the Maine references.  Names and places that crop up in Millers Kill are quite familiar to Greater Portland.

If you like Maisy Dobbs, Ruth Galloway, Armand Gamache, give Clare Fergusson a try.  Start with In the Bleak Midwinter, and wind your way up to Through the Evil Days, which comes out in November.  I am just savoring the last few pages of an advance reader copy, and look forward to telling you all about the 8th installment in the Clare Fergusson Mystery Series.