Guilty Pleasure - Read While You Work!

In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I actually listened to this book - and, not only that, but I listened to it while I was at work! This was such a guilty pleasure to me, that I could enjoy a good story while I toiled away at a tedious task (reformatting and printing pacing guides--like 200 of them).

There are so many things to like about this story. We have Russ VanAlstyne, the married, agnostic police officer, and Clare Ferguson, the helicopter pilot turned priest. There are some illicit sparks between them, and they are aware of this undercurrent in their relationship. Together Russ and Clare begin investigating the mystery of the baby left on the church door steps, and the murder of a young girl. This is how they begin to know each other and form a friendship. They respect each other, but, they also have some misunderstandings and get mad at each other--just like real life!

Russ is a bit of curmudgeon, and swears quite a bit. I did have a hard time with this - I never like swearing in a book (yeah, I know, it's supposed to depict real life), and he is always taking the Lord's name in vain. This was especially jarring since it was the spoken word, not me reading the words on the page. In my perfect world, there is no swearing (I know, I'm a dreamer). I appreciate though how the author doesn't have Clare react. Clare doesn't proselytize, she just listens, and shares her heart. She doesn't get mad or upbraid Russ, she still respects and listens to him. Russ respects Clare as well, and does begin to at least notice that he's swearing in her presence.

In the Bleak Midwinter also depicts hard circumstances--unwed mothers, poverty, incest. Russ's reactions and Clare's to these circumstances are naturally different, and both seem appropriate to the characters.

In the end, the mystery is solved. But what will happen with Russ and Clare? Even though I would never want anyone to cheat in their marriage, somehow you just want Clare and Russ to connect.

I will definitely be listening to more stories during tedious tasks, and look forward to reading the next Russ Van Alstyne and Clare Ferguson mystery!

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