All Mortal Flesh (Fergusson/Van Alstyne Mysteries)

This book was so suspenseful that I literally couldn't put it down. I finished reading it around 2 am.

Having enjoyed many classic mysteries in which the detective (Sherlock Holmes, Lord Peter Wimsey, Miss Marple) solves the mystery by thinking, I have been disappointed to find that in many modern mystery stories, deductive thinking is missing altogether or is buried beneath numerous plot twists. But in "All Mortal Flesh", Chief Van Alstyne comes up with a brilliant insight that probably made Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy Sayers smile in their graves.

Many mystery stories I have read follow a predictable pattern. After the initial crime, justice triumphs: all the bad guys are convicted or die, and all the good guys survive unharmed. Spencer-Fleming's books are less predictable, which for me makes them more suspenseful. A criminal may get away, or an innocent person may die.

Also, each Spencer-Fleming novel is very different from the previous ones. The wonderful variety in this series prevents the boredom I sometimes experience when successive books by the same author seem too similar. "I Shall Not Want" is a multi-faceted novel that includes a suspenseful mystery, whereas "All Mortal Flesh" is a fast-paced mystery that does not pause for breath. The events of "To Darkness and To Death" take place in a single day, while "Out of the Deep I Cry" involves two mysteries, one contemporary and one 75 years old.

In the opening pages of Deborah Crombie's 14th novel, DCI Rebecca ["Becca"] Meredith, an Olympic contender and a senior officer in West London's Major Crimes unit, is found dead in the waters of the Thames near her home in the town of Henley, 35 miles from London. The events that follow take place, amazingly, over a period of about a week. I say 'amazingly' because so much happens, in a terrifically plotted novel. The case falls to Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid, of Scotland Yard's Murder Investigation Team, with some aspects of it falling to his bride, Gemma James, DI with the Notting Hill Police.

The book is filled with wonderfully drawn characters, including not only both the protagonists but also Kincaid's partner, Sgt. Doug Cullen, about to become a first-time homeowner and nervous at the prospect; Gemma's colleague, Melody Talbot; Becca's ex-husband, Freddy; Kiernan Connolly and Tavie Larssen, members of the SAR [Search and Rescue], or K-9, team as well as its four-legged members, Finn, a Labrador retriever and Tosh, a German shepherd, every bit a part of the plot as are their human partners.

The common thread among several of the characters is a love of - in fact, a passion for - rowing or, to be more specific, sculling, a very specific skill employing the use of sleek racing shells, apparently a world of its own. Just how much so is made very clear through the author's use of quotes, preceding the start of most chapters, from various publications on the subject, as well as Ms. Crombie's own prose in the early pages, describing the victim shortly before she is killed: "she sat backwards on a sliver of carbon fiber narrower than her body, inches above the water, and that only her skill and determination kept her fragile craft from the river's dark grasp."

The James/Kincaid family dynamic of `his' [Kit], `hers' [Toby - - their respective 14-year-old sons], and `theirs' [Charlotte, the mixed-race 3-year-old foster child they are planning to formally adopt], is a constantly active one that makes the protags' personal lives every bit as engaging as their professional ones.

The author comments "Things were always so much more complicated than they appeared on the surface," and employs mini-cliffhangers throughout, maximizing the suspense, as well as some shocking revelations, producing several OMG moments. But I'll leave those discoveries to the readers of this highly-recommended novel.

First, a confession. I'm not a great mystery reader. The mechanics of these mysteries, while they strike me as essentially sound and quite creative, don't interest me nearly as much as the tortured yet incredibly appealing relationship between the two main characters, the Rev. Clare Fergusson, Episcopal priest, and married nonbeliever Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne. Spencer-Fleming's writing is intelligent and wry with a fabulous ear for dialogue. She paints a very believable portrait of a small upstate New York town and local church politics, with a great cast of mostly sympathetic and often very funny minor characters. At the heart of it are the very real moral quandaries and questions of faith that our two heroes face, which are particularly strong in ALL MORTAL FLESH. This volume ends on a haunting note that seems, to me, to demand a sequel. (I also find myself reading parts of it over and over and admiring the writing every time.) So I deeply hope it's not the last ... but even if it is, I wouldn't have wanted to miss a single volume.

Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne have been doing a lot of soul-searching-literally. At the beginning of ALL MORTAL FLESH, Julia Spencer-Fleming's fifth novel set in the small upstate town of Millers Kill, New York, Clare and Russ, after confessing their romantic feelings toward each other, have spent a week praying, crying and wrestling with their personal demons as they try to decide how to approach their decidedly forbidden love relationship.

The young, military-trained, female Episcopal priest and the married veteran chief of police might be an odd couple, but their love for each other is sincere and utterly believable. In the end, the two make the heartwrenching decision to part, never to see each other except in chance encounters at the grocery store and post office, to be almost-strangers instead of close friends and almost-lovers.

All this becomes a lot more complicated, though, when Russ's wife Linda is found murdered in the couple's family home. The long-married pair have been separated for more than a week, and both Russ and Clare certainly have means, motive and opportunity to kill the woman. Russ, nearly paralyzed by grief, feels compelled to pursue Linda's killer even as he copes with his own feelings of disloyalty, doubt and guilt. Russ also discovers that his late wife, who was so outraged to hear of Russ's feelings for Clare, might have been hiding her own secrets all along. Clare, too, tries to exercise her amateur sleuthing skills to achieve justice and to exonerate the man she can't help but love. In the course of the investigation, small-town rumors fly fast and furious, suspicions are cast, loyalties are tested, and the truth about Russ and Clare's relationship finally might have to come out in the open.

Russ must take his own investigation underground when the state police, tipped off by one of Russ's own men, begin to suspect that the department is covering up for their chief. In the meantime, Clare is also under suspicion, as a frighteningly capable new deacon shows up to put her oar into Clare's parish (and personal) affairs. Just when Russ and Clare, who have grown so important to one another, need each other most, they are unable to depend on the other at all. Just as in previous books in the series, the character development, as much as the mystery plot, will be what keeps readers engaged, turning pages and demanding to know what happens next.

With ALL MORTAL FLESH, Julia Spencer-Fleming takes her superb series to new and darker places. Mistaken identity, new characters and a painfully ironic plot twist drive the novel in unexpected ways, and the end of the book will take both Russ and Clare in unforeseen directions that hint at future complexities to come. With its fascinating, probing character studies and unusual ethical sensitivities, Spencer-Fleming's mystery series takes the genre to a whole new level --- and it looks like the best, most challenging chapter is still to come.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

There are any number of flashy words I could pull from my thesaurus to describe this latest book in the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mystery series, and yet none are adequate. From the opening chapter, Julia Spencer-Fleming delves into the lives of her characters and takes the reader deep inside the story.

This story is by far the most personal for Clare and Russ as they struggle to overcome the everyday problems of dealing with tragedy. Caught in their own web of emotional trauma, the murder of Russ' wife only intensifies the drama as they struggle against forbidden feelings.

Just when you think you've leveled off in your reading pace, the secondary characters take on lives of their own and weave yet another aspect of intrigue and deception, sending you into a tailspin.

Julia Spencer-Fleming is what every writer should aspire to. Her chilling description will have readers cringing in their favorite chair while they devour page after page. Packed with one wicked twist after another, ALL MORTAL FLESH is one hell of a book!

I really had a difficult time coming to terms with this book. The characters and their flaws really irked me. A married police chief and a priest involved in an emotional affair that everyone assumes is not so bad because it has not turned physical. The fact that the main character is a rector at a church really stunk up everything. If you are counseling couples that are soon to be wed and married couples in crisis, how can you chase a married man? The ethics or the lack thereof, makes me want to throw up. No police chief in his right mind would have tolerated anyone tagging along and not only contributing to the investigating, but also directing it many cases. He comes off as weak, dumb and whipped by a woman he is not even `involved' with.

She comes off as a bimbo in a clerical collar pretending to be virtuous because she cannot control her emotions enough to stay away from a `happily' married man. Clare for me is and has remained the bad person in this story, no matter how self deprecated she is painted to be. The author attempts to use the ridiculous ploy of showing Clare's and Russ's humanity to excuse their behavior to get the reader to understand and feel sorry for their pain and suffering (completely ignoring the pain and suffering they cause); will not make up for the lack of professionalism (Clare and Russ), lack of integrity (Clare and Russ) or even the unremitting drive to bulldoze the feeling of someone they `care' (Russ) about in characters. I ended up cheering for the wife and hating the people who hurt her by their selfish actions. Russ is a dedicated husband of 25 years of marriage to what is described a smart, beautiful woman but he is falls in love with Clare who is the exact opposite of his wife. I would have believed him to be a hero if he had maintained his marriage.

This series makes Christians and law enforcement look dumb and weak. Is that the author's intent?

I really enjoy this series for the most part. It's a great premise and the characters are really interesting. It's also a believable, tough situation. The supporting characters are interesting and well drawn and the writing is very good.

However, I agree with the other poster that the plot was just too much to hard to swallow. Someone's dead, then she's not, then she is again? Come on.

Also, handing Clare off to a "watchdog" deacon was pretty ludicrous. The woman is a total caricature, for one thing. Also, even though dioceses vary, spending time with a separated married man is NOT an offense against canon law. Clare's bishop comes off like a complete reactionary idiot. However, Clare herself also comes across like an idiot - does she have no sense of self-preservation. let alone of pastoral care?

Sorry to say that I was coming close to not caring about what happened to any of them by the end of the book - it was too melodramatic and far too hyped. If nothing else, Clare's bishop should have let her go back into the service as a chaplain. What a waste!

On her website, Julia Spencer-Fleming says she would receive mail from fans with suggestions of how Russ Van Alstyne's wife should die. That was back around Book 2 of the series, when we readers hadn't yet met Linda Van Alstyne. She shows up near the end of Book 3, and we see a bit more of her in Book 4. She's pretty and friendly and is doing a great job building her business making high-end window treatments. No one seems to have a reason to hate her. Which is why, when the Miller's Kill police find her murdered body, they can't help but think her death is connected to Russ's close relationship with the Reverend Clare Fergusson, and the recent separation in the Van Alstyne's marriage. But who to suspect? Russ, the police chief with a gaping hole in his alibi, or Clare, the former Army helicopter pilot with proven survival skills?

As a discrete mystery, this is still a great book. But hardcore fans of Spencer-Fleming's Miller's Kill novels appreciate the evolution over the years of Clare & Russ's relationship. And while I think it's true with all the books that they're better if you read them in order, this is one that will particularly resonate if you've taken the time to meet the cast of characters in the first four books. And not just Russ and Clare -- some of the other members of Miller's Kill Police Department are worth watching in this book.

I won't give anything away, but I can rule out one thing: According to Spencer-Fleming, her fans' favored way of killing off Russ's wife was in a bizarre accident/murder involving some particularly elaborate drapes & valences. Well, that doesn't happen in this book. But what does happen is tense and gripping, both challenging & satisfying in equal measures.

"In the Bleak Midwinter" thoroughly hooked me on the series. Luckily, I found this book after the fifth volume was out, because I have literally devoured all five books in about a week.

Julia Spencer-Fleming creates compelling characters in Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne and Anglican Priest, Reverand Clare Fergusson. The pair fall in love in the first book, hopelessly in love--since Russ has been married to a very beautiful woman for the past 25 years.

In this fifth (and hopefully not last) book, Clare and Russ have vowed to stay apart. Clare is under disciplinary action from her archdiocese and gossip in their small NY town is running rampant.

They might have kept that oath to stay apart, save that Linda Van Alstyne's wife is found butchered in their home and of course the Chief is the prime suspect. Clare has to come to help and emotions run wild both wanting to be together and suffering from guilt because of the death.

This description makes the book seem like a romance novel. It's really not---while the characters relationship is key to the plot, the mystery stands above all else and is supported by a strong foundation of secondary plots and characters.

Other reviewers are right. Bring a box of tissue with you when you read this book. It will break your heart.

One of the things I love about crime / mystery fiction is that it allows a writer to explore vivid, realistic characters in extreme circumstances. Some take better advantage of this than others; Julia Spencer-Fleming is a master.

The fifth in her Miller's Kill series, the book is a tightly drawn mystery with more than its fair share of twists and turns. But more than that, it's a wonderfully tender and sophisticated story of love, temptation, and duty. The protagonists, police chief Russ Van Alstyne and Episcopal minister Clare Fergusson are treated with compassion and grace, and their yearning for one another is at once pained and perfect. By this point in a series, a lesser writer would have lost the spark that keeps the two of them burning. Spencer-Fleming seems like she's just warming up.

Miller's Kill, a small Adirondacks town, remains a hotbed of crime, which is usually resolved by Episcopal minister Claire Fergusson and police chief Russ Van Alstyne, Ferguesson and Van Alstyne, of course, have been fighting off their mutual attraction since the first book in the series, and in this one the mystery and the romance meld. when Russ is accused of his wife's murder. The evocation of small town scandal is powerful, and the story very compelling.

Being a lifelong mystery lover with a penchant for the clerical, I've found this whole series compelling. Well, all except for the second half of the second book, with its over-emphasis on plot and explosions. Sure, one has to suspend disbelief frequently, but the setting, characterization, emotions, and suspense more than make up for it. I was pleased to see books one, three, and five (this one) greatly flesh out the small town and its citizens more fully. Characters are reappearing from book to book and the reader's sense of the place is growing. However, I did not expect the end of this book and am rather aghast at the thought that this is it for the main characters and the series. It certainly seems like it, and yet we never even got the scene of Clare telling Russ the details of her call to the priesthood. Here's to book six, please, and the two reunited!

I will let other readers tell the synopsis of the book because they are better at it than I am.

I just want to say that if you are planning on reading this book (and you SHOULD!!), do yourself a favor and read the other 4 first so you can get the "full wollop" from this emotional gut wrenching story.

Spencer-Fleming pulls out all the stops in this one. It was fantastic. I read it in two sittings (would have been one but unfortunately I started it on a work night).

DO NOT MISS THIS BOOK!!!

I have just finished reading this book and am still shocked!!! I didn't anticipate a "happily ever after ending" but not the way it ended. I do believe, as others have stated, that you really need to read her previous Clare/Russ books in order to get the full effect and emotion of the main characters. I also think she left too many things "unresolved" to make this the end of the series. I have been enthralled by her books from the beginning. I live in upstate NY and my daughter lives in Saratoga (which she mentions in this book also). The author was born in Plattsburgh where my daughter went to college and I also am an Episcopalian. She depicts the area beautifully and I get excited when she mentions places that I know. When she quotes from the Book of Common Prayer I can say the prayers right along with her!!!!!!! A friend read her first book and was disappoined that Clare didn't have stronger faith that would have prevented her from falling for Russ. But I think the author betrayed Clare very honestly and very real. I wish that we had more background on her to show why she left the Army and joined the priesthood. I know she touched on that in her early books but not enough. I sincerely hope there is at least one more book in this series as this ending made me feel very sad..........

Julia Spencer-Fleming has given us a look inside her two main characters' hearts and souls in this incredible book. I love Clare and Russ even more that I have experienced this tragic story with them. Thank goodness that there are more books in this wonderful series!!!

My daughter and I stumbled upon Ms. Spencer-Fleming's first book ("In The Bleak Midwinter") when we were looking for a good summer read. Since then I have "not-so-patiently" waited for each installment in her Clare Fergusson/ Russ Van Alstyne series. Per-ordering them before they were published and tearing open the package once they finally arrived. I have to say that I was not disappointed with Ms. Spencer-Fleming's last installment ("All Mortal Flesh"). It was probably her best thus far. I couldn't put it down, and was on the edge of my seat and left guessing right until the last page. I have already gotten my sister hooked on the series, and tell all of my friends about it. I would recommend that anyone who hasn't read any of Ms. Spencer-Fleming's novels do so. And although each book can stand on its own, do youself a favor and start at the beginning. My only regret is the book's ending. I was looking forward to/hoping for something else. I am already looking forward to Ms. Spencer-Fleming's next book. But, if it keeps going in the direction that the end of "All Mortal Flesh" leads me to believe that it will I may not be as anxious to read her next book.

Perhaps the title of this book should have been: All Moral Flesh. After I typed that in error, I then realized that this exactly exemplifies my problem with this book. I believe this is the 5th book in the Clare Fergusson/Russ van Alstyne series, and I've listened to three of them as audiobooks. I keep waiting for the passionate, pull-out-the-stops, love scene between Clare and Russ, but it never comes. I was willing to wait for awhile, but now I'm truly disappointed.

Ms. Spencer-Fleming. This is not Victorian England of 1840. We're not talking Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester here, or Cathy and Heathcliff. The last time I looked it was 2007 and people can deal with a little explicit sex and nudity in novels and if not that, at least the acknowledgment that such strong characters would act out strong feelings. I think the reader is getting tired of the on-again, off-again, overly melodramatic breast beating (instead of touching) between the protagonists.

This could have been a great book and a wonderful series, but the inexplicable, incomprehensible prudery has gotten in the way. After three novels, I still very much enjoy the dialogue, the scene evocation, the suspense, and the plot twists, but Author, please let the characters act on their feelings like real people.

SPOILER: My husband also listened to the audiobook and noted that teenage psychopaths with delusions of power (like the Columbine killers, Virginia Tech killer, etc.) use guns so they can project power, but still distance themselves from their victims. When a killer is a sadist, he may prefer a knife, because it is intimate and often sexual. The author's prudery shows up again in having the killer so indifferent to the attractive woman he kills. A sadist "is amused by, or takes pleasure in, the psychological or physical suffering of others (including animals)" (American Psychiatric Association). When the ME reassures Russ that the victim didn't suffer, the crime departs from type. If the perpetrator was a real sadist, this death would not have been without suffering. A crime author should be no more squeamish than her killers.

All in all, what I want to convey is that the author is a very good writer, she just frustrates the reader with the irritating lapses that could have been eliminated to make the book almost perfect fiction. I wish I could have been her editor instead of a commenter on the published book.

I have really enjoyed this series up to now. The fith novel in the Miller's Kill series was a disappointment. Clare's character is dull and subdued. Russ is an indecisive mess. Linda seems like a different person than she was in the first four stories. The ending is ridiculous. It seemed to me that the author couldn't make up her mind about the outcome, so we were provided with various possible endings throughout the book. The author needed to pick one and stick with it. Is Linda going to be the evil nemesis that has to be eliminated at the end of every book only to pop up in the next book to torment the hero? Wrong genre, I think.

I agree with some of the other reviewers that this installment was a bit muddled/messy in terms of the character development. The end of the book moved way too fast and was a bit hard to follow. However, the twists and turns were completely unexpected and, overall, I really enjoyed the ride. Ms. Spencer-Fleming is so talented and I cannot wait to read her sixth installment.

I really enjoyed the other books in this series, particularly the first and the third, and would recommend picking them up for sure. I always enjoyed the mysteries around which the plots of the other books revolved, and I also felt like Clare & Russ's feelings for each other were explained and communicated well. It was messy, it was morally troubling, and it was true to life.
Then comes this novel, in which I found the plot so incredibly far-fetched as to make it unbelievable to me no matter how hard I tried to willing suspend disbelief in order to enjoy it.
And Russ and Clare's relationship, rather than being one of mere mortals, becomes something superhuman. Apparently the author felt it wouldn't have been enough for their relationship to have a normal, believable ending. No, the only way to resolve their relationship was apparently to kill off Russ's wife, then bring her back to life, then kill her again. This was so melodramatic and unbelievable and Days-of-Our-Lives-esque that it totally ruined these previously great characters for me.
What a disappointment. I think I'll just pretend this book never happened, and the series ended with the fourth book!

The latest in the Clare and Russ series, these books are written to draw you into the lives of the characters.
I listened to the audio versions and Suzanne Toren does an excellant job of making the characters come alive.
I hope this series someday becomes a movie or TV mini series.

Ordered the book as I have all Julia
Spencer Fleming's books. Read it again she did not disappoint. I am waiting for the next in her endeavors due out in June! I have enjoyed everything she has written. A clerk at a bookstore recommended her and so do I.