In this episode, winter has come to Delphi with a sudden vengeance,
dumping several feet of snow on the South Dakota plains in a New Year's
Eve white-out blizzard that knocks out the power and threatens life and
limb. Just when Delphine, Tory's roommate and cousin by marriage,
thinks she's found the man of her dreams in the smooth talking
Englishman named Ian that she found in the personal ads, her world is
turned upside down when both her date and her son turn up missing before
morning. A frozen body found in the snow, along with a string of petty
and not-so-petty thefts in the town of Delphi, makes for an interesting
mystery that Tory and her friends must solve before the snow plows break
through the drifts and the perpetrators can get away.

After reading five of these books, these folks in Delphi are as familiar
to me as my own neighbors, and just as quirky. I really enjoy this
series, though this isn't the strongest book. It was still pretty good
to curl up with, though, and did advance the background story fairly
well, so it gets a 4.

Cold Front is the fifth Tory Bauer mystery. This time, it's New Year's Eve
in Delphi, South Dakota, and a blizzard is howling through the streets. Used
to the cold weather, the area residents still troop into the local watering
hole to ring in the New Year. Tory's friend and trailermate Del is
especially excited this year because the man who answered her personal ad in
the Sioux Falls paper is coming to town to help her celebrate. She's told
all the details so many times that everyone in Delphi is sick of hearing
them.

Ian, the man of Del's dreams, shows up and turns out to be quite the lady's
man. A few hours later, his body turns up frozen solid in the back of
Stewart McKee's pickup truck. Since Tory was in the cab of the truck when
the stiff was discovered, she has a personal interest in the outcome.

Theft, adultery, murder---who'da thunk stuff like this happens in small
towns? (People who've lived in one for starters. ) Another excellent
installment in what has turned out to be one of my favorite series---and I
only have one left! ( )