I Shall Not Want

this series is excellent! The characters are human, flawed, and you want to know more about them. The priest is not seen as perfection, the sheriff is not a straight and narrow person. They both struggle, as humans do. What a wonderful continuation of these characters!

Like several other reviewers of recent Spencer-Fleming's books in this series I was really hooked after the first one or two, but lost her after she went way overboard on the shoot-em-up type of harrowing experiences in the next one so I with reluctance decided to try this most recent one after it became available in PB with good reviews. To say the least I was really pleased until the very end when right after another "harrowing close encounter" that was believable where S-F had to install a totally unbelievable "action" supposed to I guess appeal to the juvenile audience. Never-the-less up to that point the story was very good with the portrayal of the two main characters very deep and moving and as one reviewer said at times laugh out loud. The introduction of two new characters was also very well done.S-F portrayal of church life is also on the spot. I would recommend this book with the caveat that you skim the last "barn-burner" as adding nothing to the depth of the story.

When I read the first book in Julia Spencer-Fleming's series--"In the Bleak Midwinter"--I was overwhelmed by how quickly she created two interesting and multi-dimensional characters about whom I immediately cared. Clare Ferguson and Russ Van Alstyne continue to to be the focus of this wonderful installment: "I Shall Not Want." Their relationship is realistic and complicated, full of angst but also full of the joy of learning to love another human being. The mystery plot in this book does take a back seat to the more interesting mystery of how these two are ever going to settle into their complicated lives together. As previous reviewers have suggested, start with the first book and watch how Spencer-Fleming makes us love these characters. Another good sign in this book is her introduction of new characters in the town of Miller's Kill. The community is becoming a little more fleshed out and less like a stereotype of the small town. Spencer-Fleming also continues to experiment with structure. Each book is a little different--different points of view, plot structure, etc. It looked like Spencer-Fleming had painted herself into a corner with the last book, but she has deftly managed the crisis "All Mortal Flesh" left us with. Now, however, much more is at stake. The ending of this novel will delight her fans but once again leave them anticipating the next novel with some trepidation.

Julia Spencer-Fleming's sixth installment in the Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne mystery series is a return to top form. If you haven't read this series, now is an excellent time to start with book #1, "In the Bleak Midwinter", which introduces Clare Fergusson, the new Episcopal priest to her small town upstate New York church and the inhabitants of Miller's Kill. Russ Van Alstyne is the police chief of Miller's Kill Police Department. Living in a marriage gone dry, Clare is an irresistible attraction to Russ and that attraction is very much mutual. I Shall Not want opens with a bang that will leave you wondering who lives and who dies in this story and will make you remember that JSF once said that this was a six-book story arc. Just when your adrenaline hits "high", there's a flashback where we join Clare and Russ to find them estranged from each other after the tragic occurrences in "All Mortal Flesh", the fifth book in the series. Russ is living with his mother and Clare has joined the NY National Guard. Soon enough, the two are riding together in Russ' truck, working on the murder of an unidentified Hispanic man and dealing with their deep mutual attraction. When a migrant worker that Clare has sheltered at the church goes missing, she and Russ have all the excuse they need to spend as much time together as possible. It's a mystery story, but it's a whole lot more - action, romance and a focus on small-town life with recurring characters and their families. With topical themes like urban drug runners in small town America, illegal migrant workers, and the Iraq War, there's a lot here to keep you turning the page as you discover (or do you?) how the relationship between Clare and Russ turns out.

Fans of Julia Spencer-Fleming's Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mystery series have been waiting to see what happened after the traumatic events in All Mortal Flesh. She takes us back to Millers Kill, New York in her latest book, I Shall Not Want, where the Episcopal priest and town police chief are still facing the repercussions of past events. The new book captures the reader immediately, not with a scene that immediately involves her main characters, but with a scene in which a rookie cop is under fire. When the opening chapter erupts into gunfire, Spencer-Fleming leaves the reader hanging, and switches back to tell the story that leads up to the shoot-out. As usual, Clare Fergusson innocently gets involved in events that lead to tragedy. When she offers to partner with a nun in assisting the year-round Hispanic workforce who are farmhands on the Washington County dairy farms, she has no idea there will be shootings, dead bodies, attacks in the church, and local confrontations with drug dealers. She and Russ still fight over her "good works," but she now has the outlet of her National Guard duty to get her out of town. And, when Russ confronts his sister and mother over their purchase of a dairy farm, he has no idea his family will be caught up in lies and cover-ups. Once again, Spencer-Fleming embroils her two characters in events out of the headlines; drugs, problems with nonresident aliens, National Guard service during wartime. And, of course, they still face the problem of their attraction for each other. It's a powerful combination for what she calls a novel "of faith and murder for readers of literary suspense." I Shall Not Want seems to place even more emphasis on the police procedural aspect of the series, following the Millers Kill Police Department in their investigations. The author introduces an interesting new character as well, Hadley Knox, a single mother of two who is hired as the police department's newest officer when she returns home to live with her grandfather. The problems of a single mother, trying to work, learn a new job, and cope with two generations, is another example of Spencer-Fleming's finger on the pulse of society. Despite the serious tones of this latest mystery, there's always romance and humor in these books. After totalling another car, Clare thinks, "Her parishioners would start calling her the Reverend Stephanie Plum." No one involves readers in current events, romance, and tragedy in the same way Julia Spencer-Fleming does. I Shall Not Want is another strong story that tortures Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne. Unlike other authors, though, Spencer-Fleming torments her readers as well, and leaves us longing for the next book in this award-winning series.