A review of "Out of the Deep I Cry" [12]

Out of the Deep I Cry (A Rev. Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery) by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Minotaur Books, ISBN 978-0312312626
April 26, 2004, 336 pages

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In this, the third in the Fergusson-Van Alstyne series, once again we are back in the Adirondack Mountains of NY, in the town of Millers Kill. We will soon be pursuing mysteries of the past and of the present and following the latest development in the relationship of the Reverend Clare Fergusson, ex-military helicopter pilot and present day Episcopal priest of St. Alban's Church and Russ Van Alstyne, himself a retired career military man and now the town sheriff.

When the roof of the historic church springs a very bad leak, threatening to damage the stained glass windows and the beautiful interior and soon bring the roof in on their heads, Clare realizes they will have to come up with a good sum of money and come up with it quickly. So it seems like a godsend when one of the vestry members, Lacey Ketchem Marshall, offers to liquidate a trust fund that was left to her by her deceased mother to pay for the repairs. But Clare is not quite as happy to find that it will mean a loss of some of the funds that go to support the local free clinic, a clinic that was also founded by Mrs. Marshall's mother.

And that woman, Jane Ketchem, is also at the center of one of the mysteries in this book, a mystery that reaches back to the 1920's. She was a woman surrounded by tragedy, with the loss of 4 of her young children to diphtheria and then the loss of her husband, who just appears to have wandered off one evening, leaving not a trace. She was a woman who was a bit feared by some but also an admired woman, for her gifts to the town of the clinic, her gift of paying for the education of the doctor that has worked there for the last 30 years and leaving a trust that has helped support the clinic to the present day. But Clare can not help but wonder how a widow, seemingly a woman of modest means, with no job, was able to pull off that financial trick.

And it is that clinic doctor, Dr. Allan Rouse, whose disappearance is at the heart of the present day mystery. Everyone says he had been upset recently, maybe depressed, so did he kill himself, just wandering off on to the half frozen lake. Or did he make someone so angry that they lost control and did the unthinkable. It does not take the police long to find one very obvious suspect..but what happen to the body?

And then, of course, as with all the books in this series, we have the developing relationship between Clare and Russ. There is the problem that Russ is married, and actually in love with his wife, the wife that Clare actually gets to meet in this installment. But neither Clare nor Russ can deny that what they are feeling is more than friendship. Clare knows that she is playing with fire, and they both try to do the right thing...but doing the right thing is often easier said than done.

This is a series that really should be read in order...which attentive readers may have noticed I am not. Do as I say, not as I do!
But because of that, I know some of the developments in the whole Clare/Russ saga that take place in future books in the series, but worry not, I will spill no beans!
Still, what do they say...the course of true love is never smooth, and I must say that I find their relationship just a little annoying. They are always walking a fine line, with occasional trips over that line. Maybe Clare, the Good Reverend, needs to reread that part in the New Testament about how he..or she...who lusts in the heart commits adultery. I guess I should be happy in a book these days that the issue of being faithful to one's vows is considered important at all but still...
It also drives me nuts that Clare is still driving that totally impractical car in the snowy mountains in this installment. If she has to call AAA or get someone to tow her out of the snow one more time, I am going to scream...lol

But these small annoyances are far outweighed by a very well written and very engaging story, with a couple of good mysteries for the reader to figure out. The book takes us back and forth in time, from Jane Ketchem's story in the 1920's to the 1950's,  to the present day, and back again, revealing the information we need bit by bit.There are a number of interconnected plot lines, from the past and the present. This could have been confusing, but I think the author pulls it off very well. As in all the books in this series the author also weaves in a few timely issues, in this one foremost is the question of the safety of vaccinations and the storyline presents a conclusion that you may or may not agree with, but which is always interesting. And finally, as always in Fleming-Spenser books, at the heart of the mysteries are the stories of some great characters, well told, stories laced with guilt and heart breaking decisions and very real human emotions.

A very good series...and yes, one best read in order.