Aaron Stander

Reading one of Aaron Stander's Ray Elkins murder mysteries is like drinking a fine Leelanau peninsula wine - or maybe like slurping a good chocolate malt from Jones's Ice Cream Parlor in Baldwin. ('Cause I'm not really much for wine.) You don't want to hurry it; you want to savor it. But sometimes it's just so damn good you can't help yourself. You rush through it just to see what happens next. And while there's no hangover or ice cream headache when you finish, there is just a slight sense show more of disappointment that it's gone, knowing you'll probably have to wait another year or two for the next one. The next northern Michigan thriller with the fictitious Cedar County sheriff we've grown to know and appreciate, I mean. Because Ray Elkins is pretty unique to regional mysteries - a sheriff who once taught at a university, who appreciates fine food and wine, who looks forward to his New Yorker and likes a good memoir or book of poems in his spare time, of which he seems to have precious little. I greatly enjoyed Stander's first two books, and this newest one, SHELF ICE, is no different. A case that at first unfurls itself at a leisurely pace and then begins to pick up speed and keeps you turning the pages 'til you've slurped that final scene. And yes, I know there's a third book, DEER SEASON. And I've got it around here somewhere. When I got SHELF ICE in the mail last week, I opened it up to just glance at it. The next evening I finished it. Couldn't help myself. This is classy stuff, first-rate writing. Here's a minor footnote to the story. It seems Elkins' comfort drink of choice after a tough, battering day of crime solving is often chamomile tea. I mean, shades of poor Peter Rabbit! Remember? After Peter's harrowing misadventures in Mr MacGregor's garden, his mom gave him some chamomile tea and put him to bed. Not only classy stuff, but with its roots deep in the classics. There's a little Bobby Frost tucked into the story too, I think. Fitting in a chilling tale filled with fire and ice. Bravo, Mr Stander. show less

A skilled craftsman at writing mystery-thrillers, Aaron Stander knows how how to set a scene, introduce clues, suck you in, string you along and then reel you in. But perhaps most of all, he knows how to create and flesh out very real characters. And, with each book in which he has appeared (this is the fifth), Ray Elkins has become more real, more fallibly human and familiar. In the four previous books, Elkins was presented as a rural county sheriff in northern Michigan, where he grew up. show more But in the course of each of those books we learned a little more each time about his earlier life: that he'd spent some time in the army as an MP, had attended college and grad school and had taught in a university setting - all this before taking what would seem to be a step down to become a back country Sheriff.

In MEDIEVAL MURDERS, a prequel to the first four books, Stander takes you back to Elkins's earlier academic years, to a time when he was a departmental head of a criminal justice program at an unnamed large midwestern state university. But at the time the story takes place, Elkins is working as interim head of campus police and security following an apparent scandal in its leadership and ranks. Despite the change in setting, however, the pattern of the story is pretty "standard Stander." And that's not a criticism, because "standard Stander" is usually head and shoulders above much of the competition often found in today's police procedurals or mystery-thrillers. Stander's style harkens back to the days of Erle Stanley Gardner when crime-solving was less blood and gore and shoot-em-up and more cool, cerebral and analytical. Back to the time when most of the violence was off-stage, and the important thing was the unraveling of the mystery.

The focus in MEDIEVAL MURDERS is on the successive and "statistically improbable" deaths of three members of the university's English Department, all three women, all "medievalists." Elkins and his assistant, Charlene Pascoe (who is a former student of his, personally recruited by him, and very similar in many ways to Detective Sue Lawrence in the other books), have very few clues to go on in any of these mysterious deaths, but gradually gather clues and do their best to learn all they can about the victims and search for motives, etc. In the process, Stander paints a very believable portrait of campus life and, even more particularly, of the petty departmental politicking that takes place in any academic setting, with its various eccentric characters. All of this adds tremendously to the plot, as do other more personal details, such as the fact that Elkins's long-time live-in lover and life-companion has recently died of cancer and he is still grieving. And there are a few women who would like to help him heal and forget. These potential love interests are, of course, handled in the most tasteful manner imaginable, which is also "standard Stander," as are all the culinary and literary tidbits thrown in along the way.

The bottom line is this: it all works. And it works so well that this may be the best yet of the Ray Elkins books. Stander keeps you guessing right up to the last couple of dozen pages, where, as usual, the pace picks up and keeps you turning pages faster and faster. Sorry, no spoilers from me. What I will say is that this is, once again, a thinking man's mystery, and simply a damn fine read. show less

Aaron Stander's sheriff-protagonist, Ray Elkins, just keeps getting more and more interesting - or "curiouser and curiouser". I learned a lot more about him in this second book in a series of three (so far) mystery-thrillers. I think the stress should be on the mystery part though. The pace remains sure and even, and maybe even a bit of a plod in COLOR TOUR. Elkins and his evidence collection specialist, Deputy Sue Lawrence, go methodically about their business, painstakingly collecting show more clues, looking for motives and questioning possible suspects in this grisly double murder set once again on the shore of Lake Michigan. This time the murder investigation involves the staff and students of a posh private prep school. That plod picks up to a trot and eventually even a gallop in the final fifty pages or so (as Elkins begins to take the case much more personally and becomes a target himself), before settling back into a brisk walk as Elkins and Lawrence attempt to tie up all the leftover loose ends of what had become a complex and even messy case.

The truth is I love the characters here more than I do the mystery. Maybe it's just me, but Ray Elkins seems something of a mystery himself. The tantalizing bits and pieces about his background which Stander continues to sprinkle in here and there make the man seem almost more than the sum of his parts. Because he's simply a fascinating guy. Let's see now - a northern Michigan boy who grew up poor, Ray went to college at U of M in Ann Arbor, then did a hitch in the army during the Vietnam era, but in Germany as a military policeman (maybe the beginning of his interest in law enforcement?), after which he returned to grad school at Michigan. I'm not sure if it's ever noted what his field was, but he did teach at college level for an unspecified time before moving back north to become a full-time lawman. And he certainly has risen above his humble origins. His interests and tastes are lofty - nearly aristocratic - and eclectic. Once again, let's see - he reads English literature (Boswell's Johnson and Joyce's Ulysses) as well as fiction and poetry from his own geographic area and generation, represented by Jim Harrison and Judith Minty, and was there a Jack Driscoll book in there? I mean all he needs here are Anne-Marie Oomen and and Doug Stanton (and maybe Aaron Stander) and he'd have the whole Traverse City - Interlochen writers scene pretty well covered. Elkins knows painting, sculpture and architecture, as well as how to build and paddle a kayak.

He's also something of a gourmand (or is that gourmet? I'll look it up later). I mean he's the sort of guy who examines the quality of mold in the rind of exotic cheeses before purchase. He speaks appreciatively of a good "tawny port" and other fine wines, and swirls his snifter and sniffs the bouquet before sipping. He recognizes a good "single-malt Scotch," although he rarely indulges, since he never knows when he'll be called back to his police duties. When his much younger deputy sidekick has a bacon cheeseburger and fries for dinner, she brings him "Portobello mushrooms with goat cheese and roasted red peppers on a freshly baked sourdough roll ... [with tea] chamomile with honey, lemon and some chopped ginger ... how you like it." I mean, my God! Imagine Sheriff Andy Taylor or Deputy Fife ordering something like that! (Just kidding, Aaron.)

While I would certainly never aspire to such lordly tastes (I kinda LIKE tuna casserole) or ever hope to know as much as Stander's professorial sheriff, I not only admire him, I LIKE him. I know he could teach me plenty. No question, Sheriff Ray Elkins not only gets the job done, he educates you in the process. I look forward to that next book, DEER SEASON. Stay tuned. show less

DEER SEASON is the fourth Ray Elkins mystery-thriller by Aaron Stander that I have read. (I haven't read them quite in order.) Elkins is a very unique sort in the crowded pantheon of contemporary crime solvers. Every time I've read one of Stander's books about this sheriff of fictional Cedar County (obviously set in the Traverse City area of northwest Michigan), I am reminded of VP Spiro Agnew's infamous comment about "effete intellectual snobs." Except Elkins is certainly not effete. The show more snob part is perhaps debatable, but the intellectual tag is spot on. Because in Elkins we meet a Shakespeare-quoting law enforcement officer who is university educated and intelligent in ways not usually associated with back country sheriffs. The methods by which he approaches crime-solving are meticulous and multi-layered, as evidenced in the whiteboard notes he keeps and studies in his office, brainstorming and discussing the case with his second-in-command, Detective Sue Lawrence.

While Elkins is the consumate professional in his detecting, his personal life remains more mysterious if not nearly bloodless. He does seem to have a romantic interest in lovely local school administrator, Sarah James, although the passion is all off-page, as in "embrace and fade to black." And even Detective Lawrence appears to have some romantic designs on her boss, as evidenced by a wine-fueled deep kiss following a Thanksgiving dinner party. They seem to successfully restore their strictly professional relationship in a rather embarrassed manner the next day though, darn it.

The plot here is pretty standard - a murder with several suspects and a gradual untangling of leads and clues, all of which unfold at a measured and careful pace, interspersed with descriptions of what Elkins is reading (the New Yorker mostly), cooking and eating. And his culinary tastes are certainly unique, particularly for northern Michigan (that possible 'snob' thing). For example, his contributions to a Thanksgiving feast shared with several friends are "tenderloins of venison in a butter and thimbleberry sauce and steelhead filets poached in white wine." I mean, okay as far as deer meat and trout and maybe even the thimbleberries - all local fare - but it's the sauces and poaching and white wine that seem foreign to the venue. In fact, for the same meal, the celebrants share several wines - a Chateauneuf du Pape, a Shiraz, a Pinot Noir, and even a Dom Perignon, each matched to the appropriate course. Probably most of the local residents would consider all these wines a bit on the snooty side, in a region where beer and bourbon are usually the lubricants of choice. But hey, all that wine certainly got Sue Lawrence loosened up; enough to put the moves on her boss after everyone else had left.

Small stuff, I know. The truth is, I like Ray Elkins, even though I know he's a lot smarter than I am. I don't really know squat from fine food and wines, but I do read the New Yorker. The Elkins character often brings to mind Sheriff Jesse Stone of the Robert B. Parker novels (and TV films starring Tom Selleck). It would indeed be fun to cast a film made from a Ray Elkins novel or a combination of a few of them. And I believe they would make excellent film fare, with their various red herrings and gradually rising action to a bang-up climax, followed by a rational Perry Mason-like explanation of things - exactly why who did what to whom.

It's easy to see why Aaron Stander has such a faithful following of fans in northern Michigan, particularly among the summer tourists, who are always on the lookout for a good "beach read." But Sheriff Ray Elkins is a multi-layered and memorable character that has a tendency to stick with you long after you've shaken the sand from your sandals. I'm looking forward to the next installment. show less