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Title: A Fountain Filled with Blood: A Mystery by Julia Spencer-Fleming ISBN: 0-312-30410-2 Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.36 (14 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: A traditional mystery that is quite likely to entertain many
Comment: Despite its title, which was taken from an old hymn by the English poet Thomas Cowper, A FOUNTAIN FILLED WITH BLOOD is neither grisly nor especially violent. This book, the second in a series by new author Julia Spencer-Fleming, is a traditional mystery that is unlikely to offend anyone and quite likely to entertain many.
Clare Fergusson is a former Army helicopter pilot, now an Episcopal priest in the small upstate New York town of Millers Kill. In her late 30s and unmarried, she has in general a healthy, no-nonsense attitude toward life and a particular calling toward her religion, which is also now her livelihood. Her faith is strong but unobtrusive --- there's no proselytizing here. Rather, the author uses the occasional inclusion of a prayer or a bit of ritual to add atmosphere while also providing insight into Clare's character.
Here, as in the first book in the series, IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, Clare partners up with Sheriff Russ Van Alstyne to solve a crime into whose path she, literally, stumbles. It seems someone around Millers Kill doesn't like gay men. Two are badly beaten in a manner that suggests a hate crime and then one more is found dead; he's the body Clare stumbles into. There happens to be a connection between the dead man and a young couple whose marriage she is to perform in a couple of weeks, which gives Clare opportunity to learn some things Russ and his deputies might not. Because of her military training and a healthy dose of curiosity --- of the sort that amateur detectives must have or these books would never go anywhere --- Clare doesn't hesitate to learn all she can, though at some cost to herself.
The small-town setting will feel familiar to a large number of readers, regardless of the specific upper New York State locale; there is a sort of comforting togetherness going on. There's a Fourth of July celebration in the park and a town meeting where a new development is opposed on environmental grounds. There's a big old Victorian house on the edge of town that has been turned into a bed and breakfast and is run by a pair of openly gay men who are life-partners. There are summer tourists with their stiff, new city-bought leisure clothes, necessary to the fragile economy but getting in the way. Even the nature of the crimes and their impact on the community seem familiar, especially when Clare proposes to her vestry that their church should show support for the victims of a crime that the older, uptight vestry members would rather pretend had no connection to sexuality.
An interestingly different thread of tension runs through the entire book, in the form of a strong sexual attraction between the priest and the sheriff, who not only is a very married man but also loves his wife --- and they both know it. These two characters are extremely well drawn, real people in a very personal conundrum.
Spencer-Fleming is at her best with action scenes --- most interesting in that she portrays them vividly yet without gratuitous violence. She writes so well that she doesn't need blood and gore to get our attention. In the latter half of the book, there is an extended episode in which Clare uses her helicopter pilot skills, honed during the Gulf War, that will have you breathless as you await the outcome, unable to guess what it will be.
For readers who prefer conventional mysteries --- and for anyone who might like a change of pace from the tougher, darker thrillers --- A FOUNTAIN FILLED WITH BLOOD would be a good choice. Especially since, if you like it, the author's previous novel, IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, is now out in paperback.
--- Reviewed by Ava Dianne Day
Rating: 4
Summary: Better than Bleak; Great Characters
Comment: Julia Spencer-Fleming hooked me with In the Bleak Midwinter because I enjoyed her protagonist, the Rev. Clare Ferguson. I found Fountain an even better read, with well drawn characters. The romantic tension is nicely balanced, never impeding plot movement nor oversimplifying human emotion. The plot itself left something to be desired but I don't read Spencer-Fleming for plot; she has other gifts to offer.
Rating: 5
Summary: I liked this second book better than the first
Comment: Spencer-Fleming is, I think, one of those writers who will get better as she continues, not one of the writers who has one good book and then it's all downhill from there. This book had few of the problems that bothered me with the first.
The "detective" of this series is Claire Fergusson, former Navy helicopter pilot turned Episcopal priest and living in a resort area in upstate New York. Claire is a brave, gutsy priest -- perhaps too much -- who doesn't back down. She can't help but get involved in a series of attacks when she herself discovers one of the third person to be attacked -- and he's dead. Since all the victims are gay, the murder appears to be a hate crime, but perhaps not -- perhaps there's another explanation for this similarity. Maybe it has something to do with a resort that's being built in the community.
Claire is ably abetted in her detective work by the Chief of Police (Russ Van Alstyne), with whom there is considerable sexual tension. He is, after all, married, and she is, after all, an Episcopal priest. This time around, they are making more of an effort to stay out of too much proximity with each other and any compromising situations. You can't help but wish she's find someone more available and wonder why the author set up such an apparently hopeless situation to begin with (maybe something unfortunate will befall the Chief's wife?).
The plot moves right along -- hardly a dull page in this book -- and although I wasn't particularly surprised at the outcome, it was an entertaining trip to get there. Spencer-FLeming describes location very well, so well that you could imagine being there, but some of the helicopter stuff was a bit too involved for my taste.
I look forward to reading the third book in the series.
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Title: Out of the Deep I Cry: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery by Julia Spencer-Fleming ISBN: 0312312628 Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur Pub. Date: 01 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming ISBN: 0312288476 Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming ISBN: 0312986769 Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur Pub. Date: 01 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Book of Light by Michelle Blake ISBN: 0399150463 Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group Pub. Date: 08 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Tentmaker (Lily Connor Mysteries (Paperback)) by Michelle Blake ISBN: 0425176681 Publisher: Prime Crime Pub. Date: 12 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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