One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming

We waited three years for Julia Spencer-Fleming to bring back Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne. She left us hanging when she sent Clare to Iraq in I Shall Not Want. But, Fleming brought Clare and Russ roaring back to life in the unforgettable One Was a Soldier. It was worth the wait.

Sheriff Russ Van Alstyne waited for Clare to return to Millers Kill, New York. But, his planned romantic homecoming for her is broken up when he has to respond to a disturbance at a local bar. It's only the first time he and Clare will encounter the three people involved in the fight, Specialist Tally McNabb, her husband, Wyler, and Chief Warrant Officer Quentan Nichols. Tally will turn up in the veterans' group that Clare attends for counseling. And, all three of them will turn up in one of Russ' investigations.

Russ is eager to get back to life with Clare, hoping to marry her. But, she returned from Iraq, scarred with memories, dependent on pills and alcohol, hiding that from him. It isn't as easy to hide problems from the other veterans and the therapist, but she uses her role as an Episcopalian priest as a good shield for the truth. She can see the young Marine who hasn't let out his anger at losing his legs. She knows a returned veteran has anger issues. But, how can she, a leader and a priest, also have problems? Knowing all that they know about each other, when one of their own is a suspected suicide, Clare's veteran group can't accept that. They refuse to accept Russ' decision, and start their own investigation into a murder. Neither Russ nor Clare know how far that investigation will go.

One Was a Soldier could have been a dark mystery, dealing with veterans' issues and mystery. But, Julia Spencer-Fleming doesn't forget to alleviate the tension with humor. Russ Van Alstyne is a cop who understands that sometimes humor gets you through those dark situations. And, there's a great scene when the therapist for the veterans' group realizes they're intent on investigating the death of one of their own. Sarah addresses Clare. "You are not Daphne from Scooby-Doo. We are not going to get into a purple van and ride around town looking for a spooky old house." Then, when she realizes they're all committed, asked what she's going to do, she says, "I guess I'm going to put on an orange turtleneck and drive the van." Perfect sly humor for this story.

There's a complicated plot and mystery in One Was a Soldier, but, as always with Spencer-Fleming, her characters are the heart of the story. The Clare and Russ storyline has always drawn readers back, but there are other characters with a great deal of depth. The returning veterans have come home with issues civilians don't think about; nightmares, addictions, loss of limbs. Spencer-Fleming shows the depth of the problems, and the issues people don't want to face. We'd rather welcome them home, and then go on with life. The other members of the police force also have complex lives that add to the story's richness. Spencer-Fleming brought police officers back from war, officers who have matured, and changed. The rest of the force has to adjust to those changes.

We've waited a long time for a new Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mystery. One Was a Soldier welcomes Clare Fergusson back from Iraq, and Julia Spencer-Fleming back to the mystery world. The mystery world is better off with all of them here.


Julia Spencer-Fleming's website is www.juliaspencerfleming.com

One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming.  St. Martin's Minotaur. ©2011. ISBN 9780312334895 (hardcover), 336p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure - The publisher sent me an advanced readers' copy, hoping I would review it.

Think of a Number by John Verdon

I started John Verdon's debut thriller, Think of a Number, and, by page 35, I was thinking, this writing is a little dense for me. And, even after finishing it, I still think it could have been tightened. But, the complicated thought processes are part of the main character, Dave Gurney, and before long, Dave had captured my attention. This may be thriller, and a complicated puzzle, but Dave Gurney is the heart of Think of a Number. If you like Gurney, you'll find this novel irresistible.

Gurney has recently retired from the NYPD at the age of 47. But, his whole life was wrapped up in his career as a successful homicide detective, and he can't put that behind him. Even his new hobby involves killers. Gurney paints portraits of murderers. His intense focus on murder is just one of the causes of tension between Gurney and his wife, Madeleine. The two have drifted apart, but Madeleine is very astute at gauging Dave's reaction to everything from her comments to phone calls.

But, no one could have guessed the result of a phone call from an old college acquaintance. Mark Mellery irritated Gurney by claiming a friendship they hadn't really had when he shows up asking for help. He's received odd letters, and they seem threatening, but Mellery doesn't want to call the police and jeopardize his position as director of an institute. Instead he brings the letters to Gurney, letters that started by saying, "Think of a number." And, then, when the writer correctly guessed Mellery's number, the writer said, see how well I know you. Now, send me money. While Gurney treated it as an intriguing puzzle, he knew the letters that continued to come were threatening, but he couldn't convince Mellery to go to the police. And, then it was too late.

The call saying Mellery had been killed brought the retired homicide detective into a complicated puzzle that continued to grow worse. Gurney agreed to work for the local D.A. as a special consultant, but he didn't know how many more murders there would be; murders that seemed impossible. And, each time, taunting letters preceded the death.

Think of a Number is a complicated, enjoyable puzzle for any reader who enjoys following the clues. First, get past the writing, which seems complicated, but the book deals with a complicated man, not so much the killer but the investigator. Here's just one passage that illustrates what I mean by dense writing. "It wasn't that he disagreed with her, at least not aesthetically, maybe not at all, but the difficult personal fact for him was that his natural inclinations tilted him inward in a variety of ways, with the result that, left to his own devices, he spent more time in the consideration of action than in action, more time in his head than in the world. That had never been a problem in his profession; in truth, it was the very thing that seemed to make him so good at it." At the same time, that passage shows the kind of character we're observing. Gurney is a complicated man who fears failure, and knows his wife understands him better than anyone. At the same time, he fears they've grown apart. But, he can't help himself when he grows fascinated by the lure of an intriguing murder case.

I did have one other issue with this book, and perhaps it's a problem for a first-time author. The police never investigated the person who seemed to be an obvious suspect. Perhaps, as a first-time author, Verdon didn't want to point at the villain. As a long-time reader of crime fiction, I looked at the person precisely because the police didn't.

Enjoy Think of a Number as a thriller about a serial killer. But, it's also a story about a complicated man. And, it's a story of a marriage. John Verdon's debut novel is a successful thriller. But, for me, the complexity of relationships gives the book its depth, and the complicated man at the heart of the mystery is its greatest puzzle.

Think of a Number by John Verdon. Crown Publishing Group, ©2010. ISBN 9780307588920 (hardcover), 432p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure - Verdon's publicist sent me the book as part of a blog tour.