Millers Kill reaches the boiling point in this white-hot novel of love and suspense

People die. Marriages fail. In the small Adirondack town of Millers Kill, New York, however, life doesn’t stop for heartbreak. A brand-new officer in the police department, a breaking-and-entering, and trouble within his own family keep Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne busy enough to ignore the pain of losing his wife---and the woman he loves.

At St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, the Reverend Clare Fergusson is trying to keep her vestry, her bishop, and her National Guard superiors happy---all the while denying her own wounded soul.

When a Mexican farmhand stumbles over a Latino man killed with a single shot to the back of his head, Clare is sucked into the investigation through her involvement in the migrant community. The discovery of two more bodies executed in the same way ignites fears that a serial killer is loose in the close-knit community. While the sorrowful spring turns into a scorching summer, Russ is plagued by media hysteria, conflict within his department, and a series of baffling assaults.

As the violence strikes closer and closer to home, an untried officer is tested, a wary migrant worker is tempted, and two would-be lovers who thought they had lost everything must find a way to trust each other again---before it becomes forever, fatally, too late.

Julia Spencer-Fleming shows you can escape danger---but not desire---in her most suspenseful, passionate novel yet.

"A suspected serial killer in the town of Millers Kill in Upstate New York takes a backseat to the simmering relationship between Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne and Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson in the sixth entry in this tantalizing series...Action rachets up in a deadly shoot-out...and just when resolution seems within reach, there’s a final twist. Keenly moving and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, this is a tour de force in a series that seems to have jumped several levels in quality."--Booklist (starred review)

A suspected serial killer in the town of Millers Kill in Upstate New York takes a backseat to the simmering relationship between Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne and Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson in the sixth entry in this tantalizing series. Emotions are raw between the two in the aftermath of a lethal hostage situation and the death of Russ' wife, Linda, in All Mortal Flesh (2006), so they seek diversion (including Clare's joining the National Guard) and try to avoid each other. But the priest, feisty almost to the point of being foolhardy, is always in the thick of things, as when bodies of Latino men start turning up. Spencer-Fleming poses the issue of immigration, showing how the hiring of undocumented migrant workers impacts the Van Alstyne family; and she introduces an appealing new character, single mother Hadley Knox, granddaughter of the Episcopal church sexton, who joins the police force and captivates fellow officer Kevin Flynn. Action rachets up in a deadly shoot-out with drug-dealing Latino gangbangers, and just when resolution seems within reach, there's a final twist. Keenly moving and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, this is a tour de force in a series that seems to have jumped several levels in quality.

Bestselling author Julia Spencer-Fleming is the winner of the Agatha, Anthony, Macavity, Dilys, Barry, Nero Wolfe, and Gumshoe Awards, and an Edgar and Romantic Times RC Award finalist. She was born at Plattsburgh Air Force Base, spending most of her childhood on the move as an army brat. She studied acting and history at Ithaca College, and received her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law. She lives in a 190-year-old farmhouse outside of Portland, Maine, with three children, two dogs, and one husband.

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Imprint: Minotaur Books
Distributor: MPS
Publication Date: 06-10-2008
Pages: 336
Measurements: 9.25in X 6.13in X 1.19in