in the bleak midwinter by julia spencer fleming

They meet when she discovers an abandoned newborn on the steps of the church-a newborn with a note directing the finder to make sure that he is adopted by a couple that attend her church. She forms an instant connection with Russ Van Alstyne, the local police chief. Clare is a southerner by birth, and she has just as much trouble adjusting to the winter weather of the region as the townspeople have adjusting to a female priest who used to be an Army helicopter pilot. That character would be Clare Fergusson, an Episcopal priest adjusting to her new assignment at St. I have a new go to series to recommend to readers looking for mysteries featuring a complex and well developed main character. The characters are fully and believably drawn and you will feel like they are your old friends and find yourself rooting for them every step of the way. The compelling atmosphere-the kind of very cold and snowy winter that is typical of upstate New York-will make you reach for another sweater. In the Bleak Midwinter is one of the most outstanding Malice Domestic winners the contest has seen. As the days dwindle down and the attraction between the avowed priest and the married police chief grows, Clare will need all her faith, tenacity, and courage to stand fast against a killer's icy heart. When a newborn baby is abandoned on the church stairs and a young mother is brutally murdered, Clare has to pick her way through the secrets and silence that shadow that town like the ever-present Adirondack mountains. The last thing she needs is trouble, but that is exactly what she finds.

However, her blunt manner, honed by years as an army pilot, is meeting with a chilly reception from some members of her congregation and Chief of Police Russ Van Alystyne, in particular, doesn't know what to make of her, or how to address 'a lady priest' for that matter. The ancient regime running the parish covertly demands that she prove herself as a leader. It's a cold, snowy December in the upstate New York town of Millers Kill, and newly ordained Clare Fergusson is on thin ice as the first female priest of its small Episcopal church.

In the bleak midwinter by julia spencer fleming