Book Review: Out of the Deep I Cry

Reviewed By: Woodstock - RAM

Out of the Deep I Cry     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Julia Spencer-Fleming
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Religious Fiction   Woman Main Character   Police Procedural
Series: Clare Ferguson # 3
Thomas Dunne Books 2004

Countless daytime television dramas and movies of the week have relied on the tension between a man and a woman intrigued by and attracted to each other but who are not free to acknowledge their feelings or to develop a permanent relationship.

Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson and police chief Russ Van Alstyne live in a small upstate New York town. He's married, she's single, but with a deep heartfelt commitment to her role in the church. In prior entries in this series, Clare and Russ have worked together to sort out the truth of several crimes, and as they grew to know each other better their mutual attraction has grown. They meet weekly for lunch, somehow managing to keep Russ' wife innocent of their attraction. Other residents of the small community are not fooled, nor are his co-workers in the police department.

Certainly in continuing this series, Spencer Fleming has succeeded in bringing many many readers back for more, but it's a fair question to wonder exactly where this plot thread is going.

Like earlier books, OUT OF THE DEEP I CRY is set in the small town of Millers Kill, New York. A single devoted protester pickets a small free clinic, the church roof springs a truly disastrous leak, and a prominent doctor goes missing. Spencer Fleming succeeds in making all these plot threads work together and includes intriguing flashbacks to events in the Millers Kill of 60-70 years in the past.

Eventually all questions are answered and long buried secrets laid bare. This is an enjoyable read, with pleasant characters, but there are some qualifications to an enthusiastic endorsement.

One of the characters has managed to support herself and a young child for several years without the benefit of gainful employment. This is an important fact in the final outcome and it seemed odd to me that during the fact checking and research which is part of every good police procedural no one followed up on the obvious question "Where does her money come from?"

And Clare is afflicted with an all too common personality trait in suspense fiction - against all common sense she barges in where angels would fear to tread.

Woodstock - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Woodstock - RAM