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In the small Adirondack town of Millers Kill, an old lumberman sits in the dark with his gun across his knees. Not far away, an unemployed logger sleeps off his bender from the night before. The owner of the town's last paper mill tosses in his bed. And a young woman, one of three heirs to the 250,000-acre Great Camp, wakes alone in darkness, bound and gagged.Chief of police Russ Van Alstyne wants nothing more than a quiet day of hunting in the mountains on his fiftieth birthday. His wife show more needs to have the town's new luxury resort ready for its gala opening night. The reverend Clare Fergusson expects to spend the day getting St. Alban's Church ready for the bishop's annual visit. Her long-distance suitor from New York expects some answers about their relationship during his weekend in town.
In Millers Kill, where everyone knows everyone and all are part of an interconnected web of blood or acquaintance, one person's troubles have a way of ensnaring others. What begins as a simple case of a woman lost in the woods leads to a tangle of revenge, blackmail, assault, kidnapping, and murder. As the hours tick by, Russ and Clare struggle to make sense of their town's plunge into chaos—and their own chaotic emotions.
Something terrible waits in the ice-rimed mountains cradling Millers Kill. Something that won't be content with just one death—or two.
In To Darkness and to Death, Julia Spencer-Fleming continues her moving story of the way a small town, as well as a great city, can harbor evil, and the struggle of two honest people to deal with the ever-present threat of their feelings for one another.
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It's Russ's fiftieth birthday and he's hunting with a friend with the new gun his wife Linda gave him. Linda is busy finishing her drapery order before the new resort opens. Clare is supposed to be preparing for the bishop's annual visit but gets called out by search-and-rescue to help locate a missing young woman.
In the background to all of this is the pending sale of a 250-thousand acre Great Camp. The missing woman is one of three heirs who should be getting ready to sign the paperwork selling the camp and putting it into a nature conservancy.
Closing the camp to logging has an impact on many of the locals including Russ's hunting companion who is being forced into retirement and the closure of his logging company and a young man show more named Randy who is one of his former employees and is now jobless. The hunting buddy is especially impacted because his daughter works for the conservancy that is putting him out of business. The owner of the local papermill is also greatly affected since it will mean closing his five-generation family business.
When the hunting companion's daughter is found badly beaten and near to death on a logging road near the camp, it is first thought that she was the missing woman the search-and-rescue had been called out to find.
This was a twisty and engaging story filled with villains who are both stupid and self-serving. And in the background, Russ and Clare are trying to find the honorable thing to do about their relationship. They are in love but have other promises that get in the way of them being together in Russ's case or forming a new relationship in Clare's.
Both the twisty mystery and the equally twisty relationship issues kept me listening long into the night. show less
In the background to all of this is the pending sale of a 250-thousand acre Great Camp. The missing woman is one of three heirs who should be getting ready to sign the paperwork selling the camp and putting it into a nature conservancy.
Closing the camp to logging has an impact on many of the locals including Russ's hunting companion who is being forced into retirement and the closure of his logging company and a young man show more named Randy who is one of his former employees and is now jobless. The hunting buddy is especially impacted because his daughter works for the conservancy that is putting him out of business. The owner of the local papermill is also greatly affected since it will mean closing his five-generation family business.
When the hunting companion's daughter is found badly beaten and near to death on a logging road near the camp, it is first thought that she was the missing woman the search-and-rescue had been called out to find.
This was a twisty and engaging story filled with villains who are both stupid and self-serving. And in the background, Russ and Clare are trying to find the honorable thing to do about their relationship. They are in love but have other promises that get in the way of them being together in Russ's case or forming a new relationship in Clare's.
Both the twisty mystery and the equally twisty relationship issues kept me listening long into the night. show less
This book is dominated by a complex plot, pivoting around the independent but interlocking actions of three men, each of whom uses violence, mostly against women, to defend things that they see as central to their sense of self.
It also pushes the relationship between the Priest and the Sherrif beyond any pretence of being platonic.
If this hadn't been the fourth book in the series, I might have set it aside after the first chapter.
It opens with a woman awakening alone and finding herself bound and with no knowledge of where she is or how she got there. It was scenes like that that led to me abandoning "Criminal Minds". It's too close to turning horror into either banality or voyeurism.
The book righted itself quickly, coming back to show more characters and a writing style that I recognised but it left me wondering if this was going to be another book looking at the bad things that men do to women in a way that revels a little too much in the power the violence gives to the men.
I should have had more faith in Julia Spencer-Fleming. She delivered a book which is about men who commit acts of violence against women and sometimes men, but the focus isn't on the violence but on the process by which these men convince themselves that what they are doing is, if not right, then necessary, especially if they can get away with it. I found myself being impressed by the way each of the men, with different perceived threats, different hopes and different social situations trod, independently, the same path to violence, or, as the title has it, to darkness and to death.
The plot that interlocks the stories of these three men is intricate. The linkages are complex and clever, The reveals kept me guessing and cranked up the tension with the actions of each man amplifying the damage done by the others.
In the midst of all of this, we have Claire and Russ, the Priest and the Sheriff, bringing humanity to the story and preventing it from degrading into a clever but mechanical thriller. Seeing people through Claire's eyes or Russ' eyes makes them more real. It allows us to see them as more than plot devices.
The book also moves forward the story arc of the unlooked-for but inescapable attraction between Claire and the very married Russ. I thought this part of the story was very well done. Clichés and moral judgements were both avoided. Instead, we were shown too fundamentally good people who want something that they can't have without becoming different people than the ones they want to be. It seems clear that Claire and Russ have reached a point where they will have to make a decision. I think it shows how well this was written that I found myself unable to say what should happen next and was only certain that they can't stay as they are.
I'll be back for book five and hoping that Claire and Russ find a path and that the next plot is a little less violent. show less
It also pushes the relationship between the Priest and the Sherrif beyond any pretence of being platonic.
If this hadn't been the fourth book in the series, I might have set it aside after the first chapter.
It opens with a woman awakening alone and finding herself bound and with no knowledge of where she is or how she got there. It was scenes like that that led to me abandoning "Criminal Minds". It's too close to turning horror into either banality or voyeurism.
The book righted itself quickly, coming back to show more characters and a writing style that I recognised but it left me wondering if this was going to be another book looking at the bad things that men do to women in a way that revels a little too much in the power the violence gives to the men.
I should have had more faith in Julia Spencer-Fleming. She delivered a book which is about men who commit acts of violence against women and sometimes men, but the focus isn't on the violence but on the process by which these men convince themselves that what they are doing is, if not right, then necessary, especially if they can get away with it. I found myself being impressed by the way each of the men, with different perceived threats, different hopes and different social situations trod, independently, the same path to violence, or, as the title has it, to darkness and to death.
The plot that interlocks the stories of these three men is intricate. The linkages are complex and clever, The reveals kept me guessing and cranked up the tension with the actions of each man amplifying the damage done by the others.
In the midst of all of this, we have Claire and Russ, the Priest and the Sheriff, bringing humanity to the story and preventing it from degrading into a clever but mechanical thriller. Seeing people through Claire's eyes or Russ' eyes makes them more real. It allows us to see them as more than plot devices.
The book also moves forward the story arc of the unlooked-for but inescapable attraction between Claire and the very married Russ. I thought this part of the story was very well done. Clichés and moral judgements were both avoided. Instead, we were shown too fundamentally good people who want something that they can't have without becoming different people than the ones they want to be. It seems clear that Claire and Russ have reached a point where they will have to make a decision. I think it shows how well this was written that I found myself unable to say what should happen next and was only certain that they can't stay as they are.
I'll be back for book five and hoping that Claire and Russ find a path and that the next plot is a little less violent. show less
All of the events in this story center around the consequences of the van der Hoeven family deciding to sell their land to a nature conservancy. The man who owns the lumbering equipment used there very reluctantly decides to sell up and retire. Randy Schoop, one of his crew, is especially upset since lumbering is what lets him stay in his home town with his wife who is the sister of one of Russ's officer's wives. Then there is the owner of a local paper company that is also in danger of failing because there won't be the nearby source of pulp wood for their paper. So many characters are desperate for solutions and doing stupid things because of their desperation.
Clare's introduction to the problem comes with a phone call from search and show more rescue. Millie van der Hoeven has been reported missing by her brother. She should be preparing for the annual visit by the Bishop which is happening the next day, but she is quick to lend her assistance to the searchers. Also called in to the search is Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne. He and Clare are still fighting their attraction to each other. His wife is a major barrier for both of them.
Before Millie can be found, another young woman is found by her father's lumbering equipment severely beaten. Randy lost his temper with her when she wouldn't support his desire to keep lumbering using her father's equipment. Now Randy is on the run and being assisted by his wife Lisa. Lisa decides it will blur the trail if she accuses the paper company owner of having an affair with the woman.
This story was tense and twisty. I couldn't put it down. I'm so wondering if Russ and Clare will ever find a way to be together. I can see nothing but trouble in their futures. show less
Clare's introduction to the problem comes with a phone call from search and show more rescue. Millie van der Hoeven has been reported missing by her brother. She should be preparing for the annual visit by the Bishop which is happening the next day, but she is quick to lend her assistance to the searchers. Also called in to the search is Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne. He and Clare are still fighting their attraction to each other. His wife is a major barrier for both of them.
Before Millie can be found, another young woman is found by her father's lumbering equipment severely beaten. Randy lost his temper with her when she wouldn't support his desire to keep lumbering using her father's equipment. Now Randy is on the run and being assisted by his wife Lisa. Lisa decides it will blur the trail if she accuses the paper company owner of having an affair with the woman.
This story was tense and twisty. I couldn't put it down. I'm so wondering if Russ and Clare will ever find a way to be together. I can see nothing but trouble in their futures. show less
This is the fourth in the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mystery series. This is one of the few series I read, and I enjoyed this just as much as the earlier volumes. As always, the action takes place in Millers Kill, a town in New York's Adirondacks region. Clare (an Episcopal priest) and Russ (the police chief) inevitably find themselves working together on a situation affecting the community, and equally inevitably the romantic sparks fly, but the dramatic tension remains.
This book differs from the others in that it takes place in a 24-hour period. Clare is called out early one morning to volunteer for a a search and rescue operation. Millie van der Hoeven, a young heiress and environmental activist, has gone missing. show more Haudenosaunee, the van der Hoeven estate, is being sold into preservation. A banquet and dance are planned for the evening, to sign official documents and celebrate the handover. But the environment benefits are offset by impact on local industry, since the property will no longer be available for logging. It's never simple, and emotions run high.
Russ gets involved a couple of hours later, as the missing person case develops into something more complex. Interestingly, the reader knows more details than either Russ or Clare. We know what's happened to the missing person. We know the details of an assault, and a mistaken identity. We know exactly who the good guys and bad guys are, and can only watch as Clare and Russ work it out. So of course, this had me wondering how Julia Spencer-Fleming would wrap things up. I mean, if I already knew everything there was to know, then where was the mystery?
Well of course there is one, and it sure did sneak up on me, delivering the "oompf" one comes to expect from a good mystery novel. And it left me eager to read more from Julia Spencer-Fleming. show less
This book differs from the others in that it takes place in a 24-hour period. Clare is called out early one morning to volunteer for a a search and rescue operation. Millie van der Hoeven, a young heiress and environmental activist, has gone missing. show more Haudenosaunee, the van der Hoeven estate, is being sold into preservation. A banquet and dance are planned for the evening, to sign official documents and celebrate the handover. But the environment benefits are offset by impact on local industry, since the property will no longer be available for logging. It's never simple, and emotions run high.
Russ gets involved a couple of hours later, as the missing person case develops into something more complex. Interestingly, the reader knows more details than either Russ or Clare. We know what's happened to the missing person. We know the details of an assault, and a mistaken identity. We know exactly who the good guys and bad guys are, and can only watch as Clare and Russ work it out. So of course, this had me wondering how Julia Spencer-Fleming would wrap things up. I mean, if I already knew everything there was to know, then where was the mystery?
Well of course there is one, and it sure did sneak up on me, delivering the "oompf" one comes to expect from a good mystery novel. And it left me eager to read more from Julia Spencer-Fleming. show less
I continue to enjoy this series that I began reading such a short time ago. Spencer-Fleming knows how to write pulse-pounding scenes of action and danger while bringing her characters to life. Russ Van Alstyne and Clare Fergusson are two good people who've pledged themselves to help others. They are also falling deeply in love with each other, and this plunges them into a huge briar patch of moral dilemmas. I'd say that it's a treat to watch them walk the tightrope of professional respect and fiery passion except for one tiny fact: Spencer-Fleming not only makes readers feel the characters' attraction, she makes them feel their pain. This is probably the best relationship in crime fiction, and I'm always torn between inhaling the books show more in this series as quickly as I can to find out what happens to these two, or trying to take some time to savor each one. So far I'm savoring, but it's not easy.
Spencer-Fleming not only provides a top notch story and wonderfully complex characters (one of which is the upper New York state setting), there's also plenty of insight into human nature. She also touches on environmental issues with the estate being handed over to a nature conservancy, showing how this would affect the area's hunters as well as local logging companies and paper manufacturing.
If I have any complaints about this fourth book, it would be that too much time is spent with minor characters and not enough with Russ and Clare. The author is treading a very fine line with the two from a moralistic standpoint, and I know that they can't spend every day in each other's pockets, but when I find myself reading and reading and then thinking to myself, "Hey, where are Russ and Clare?" I know it's been too long between their scenes.
Now that I have that complaint off my chest, I find myself itching to pick up the next book in the series. I'm addicted! show less
Spencer-Fleming not only provides a top notch story and wonderfully complex characters (one of which is the upper New York state setting), there's also plenty of insight into human nature. She also touches on environmental issues with the estate being handed over to a nature conservancy, showing how this would affect the area's hunters as well as local logging companies and paper manufacturing.
If I have any complaints about this fourth book, it would be that too much time is spent with minor characters and not enough with Russ and Clare. The author is treading a very fine line with the two from a moralistic standpoint, and I know that they can't spend every day in each other's pockets, but when I find myself reading and reading and then thinking to myself, "Hey, where are Russ and Clare?" I know it's been too long between their scenes.
Now that I have that complaint off my chest, I find myself itching to pick up the next book in the series. I'm addicted! show less
This mystery is a little more complicated than her previous ones, and - dare I say it - with too many good people doing bad things. People get desperate a bit unnecessarily, and mess themselves up. It comes untangled in the end, of course, but requires more than the usual suspension of disbelief.
As for the romantic angle - things proceed apace, of course.
As for the romantic angle - things proceed apace, of course.
Julia Spencer-Fleming’s To Darkness and to Death is the fourth novel in her top-rate mystery series featuring priest-sleuth Clare Fergusson. As with the prior three installments, Clare’s vocation as the priest at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Millers Kill, New York shapes her character but not the plot. Here, Clare gets involved in the disappearance of a young woman, not because Clare is a priest, but because she is called in as one of the volunteers on the search and rescue team.
Unlike the earlier books, Fleming experiments in this one with a 24-hour format. The action starts with a pre-dawn phone call summoning the search team to look for the missing Millie van der Hoeven, local heiress and co-owner of a 250,000 acre parcel of show more Adirondack forest. Things take off from there, with lots of moving pieces, including multiple kidnappings, assault, cover-ups, blackmail, shady dealings, murder and mayhem.
Throughout, the romantic current between Clare and the married Chief of Police, Russ van Alstyle, still hums. Probably because of the 24-hour format, the two do not spend a lot of time together on the pages, but they are always aware of each other and their relationship makes a significant step forward before the story wraps up.
This is more thriller than who-dun-it, with the pieces ultimately falling into place – or at least coming to rest – in a pretty exciting finale. For those who prefer analysis to action, clues to chaos, this lack of actual mystery solving will be a let down after the prior books. But it is still an engaging story and Spencer-Fleming is a gifted writer. She has a good thing going with this series, which she describes as “novels of faith and murder for readers of literary suspense.”
'Faith and murder' -- you've got to love that combination!
Also posted on Rose City Reader. show less
Unlike the earlier books, Fleming experiments in this one with a 24-hour format. The action starts with a pre-dawn phone call summoning the search team to look for the missing Millie van der Hoeven, local heiress and co-owner of a 250,000 acre parcel of show more Adirondack forest. Things take off from there, with lots of moving pieces, including multiple kidnappings, assault, cover-ups, blackmail, shady dealings, murder and mayhem.
Throughout, the romantic current between Clare and the married Chief of Police, Russ van Alstyle, still hums. Probably because of the 24-hour format, the two do not spend a lot of time together on the pages, but they are always aware of each other and their relationship makes a significant step forward before the story wraps up.
This is more thriller than who-dun-it, with the pieces ultimately falling into place – or at least coming to rest – in a pretty exciting finale. For those who prefer analysis to action, clues to chaos, this lack of actual mystery solving will be a let down after the prior books. But it is still an engaging story and Spencer-Fleming is a gifted writer. She has a good thing going with this series, which she describes as “novels of faith and murder for readers of literary suspense.”
'Faith and murder' -- you've got to love that combination!
Also posted on Rose City Reader. show less
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- Canonical title
- To Darkness and to Death
- Original title
- To Darkness and to Death
- Original publication date
- 2005
- People/Characters
- Clare Fergusson (Reverend); Russ Van Alstyne; Millicent van der Hoeven; Linda Van Alstyne; Eugene van der Hoeven; Ed Castle (show all 19); Randy Schoof; Lisa Schoof; Becky Castle; Shaun Reid; Jeremy Reid; Margy Van Alstyne; Mark Durkee; Harlene Lendrum; Rachel Durkee; Emil Dvorak; Noble Entwhistle; Lyle MacAuley; Geoff Burns
- Important places
- Adirondack Mountains, New York, USA; Miller's Kill, New York, USA; New York, USA; USA
- Epigraph
- When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.
Ezek.18:27 - Dedication
- To my father, Lt. Melvin Spencer, USAF
my father moved through dooms of love
through sames of am through haves of give,
singing each morning out of each night
my father moved through depths of height
--e.e. cum... (show all)mings
and to my father, John L. Fleming
My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived,
and let me watch him do it.
Clarence B. Kelland, 1881-1964 - First words
- Cold.
- Quotations
- She had always thought of herself as a fighter, as a leading-the-charge-from the-deck-of-the-Rainbow-Warrior sort. Now she discovered it was possible to be so tired, so hurt and sad and scared, that the Rainbow Warr... (show all)ior sank beneath a black sea, leaving her adrift, no surface under her feet.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)She chimed in, her alto humming above his baritone, the sleeves of his dinner jacket falling over her hands, and they danced, beneath the November moon, to sad, sweet music they made themselves.
- Blurbers
- Sara Paretsky; Deborah Crombie
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