Out of the Deep I Cry
From AwardAnnals
| Book: | Out of the Deep I Cry: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery |
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| Author: | Julia Spencer-Fleming |
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| Publisher: | St. Martin's Minotaur |
But the Ketchems were far from forgotten. Over time, the family died off—except for Jane Ketchem herself (whom everyone but a few stubborn optimists/pessimists decided had been made a widow by Jonathan’s disappearance). When Jane inherited substantial funds and a successful dairy business, she grew the money shrewdly enough to be able to endow a charitable clinic bearing the Ketchem name.
The clinic was a solid institution in the town when Clare Fergusson took the position of priest of Millers Kill Episcopal Church. Now the disappearance of the clinic’s physician results in another seemingly unavoidable collaboration between Clare and police chief Russ Van Alstyne. Clare, a former army chopper pilot, has already proved herself a more-than-capable detective when serious local crimes brought the two together to work them out. Now they are at it again and still battling the mutual attraction that they can’t acknowledge or allow because Van Alstyne is married.
The author has enriched her telling of this tale by drawing in episodes from Millers Kill—and Jane Ketchem’s past. What happened in 1970 and 1950 and 1924 may have hard replies to the questions that have remained unanswered until now.
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Reviews
Barnes and Noble
For Clare Ferguson, former army helicopter pilot turned Episcopal priest, Lent should be a time of quiet reflection and preparation. Instead, two crises are disturbing the spiritual peace of her home in the rural New York town of Millers Kill.
First, the leaks in the church roof have reached the point where everyone agrees that some kind of fix is finally necessary. Whether to go the cheap-and-ugly or expensive-and-lovely route is the last remaining decision facing the vestry. Despite the cost, Clare is pleased when they vote for expensive and lovely. But others are less pleased…especially after local philanthropist Lacey Ketchem Marshall kicks off the fundraising by announcing she’s pulling the endowment her mother left to the family-founded Ketchem Clinic to help pay for the new church roof.
At first, Clare can’t understand why the news comes as such a blow to the clinic’s physician. After all, the income from the Ketchem fund is such a small part of the clinic’s operating budget. But when the irate physician disappears, Clare has to consider the possibility of foul play…especially after a bloody confrontation with a patient’s mother suggests he may not have taken a long-overdue vacation—or made good on his long-standing threats to leave the clinic entirely. Used to listening carefully to people in times of stress, Clare begins to put together the pieces of this complicated puzzle; and as she does, she comes to realize that the key to recent events may lie in the long-unsolved mystery of Lacey’s father’s disappearance more than 70 years ago.
Julia Spencer-Fleming paints a complex picture of the charming community of Millers Kill at two very different points in time—during the Great Depression and today—and interweaves a mystery that ties long-hidden events with current deadly secrets. —Sue Stone
