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American/Cozy Mysteries

Essays: § Cozies: An Especially American Art Form § When is a Cozy not a Cozy?
Kenneth Abel § Cold Steel Rain	Alina Adams § Murder on Ice	Donna Andrews § The Penguin Who Knew Too Much	Nevada Barr § High Country
Larry Beinhart § The Librarian	Claudia Bishop and Don Bruns (editors) § A Merry Band of Murderers	Meredith Blevins § The Hummingbird Wizard	Lawrence Block § The Burglar in the Rye
Jan Brogan § A Confidential Source	Judy Clemens § The Day Will Come	Joan Coggin § Who Killed the Curate?	Jeffrey Cohen § As Dog is My Witness § Some Like it Hot-Buttered
Thomas Cook § Into the Web	Gordon Cotler § Artist’s Proof	Casey Daniels § Don of the Dead	Diane Mott Davidson § Dark Tort § Double Shot
Aaron Elkins § Good Blood	Sharon Fiffer § Buried Stuff	Kate Flora § Stalking Death	Christine Goff § A Rant of Ravens
Denise Hamilton § Last Lullaby § Savage Garden § Sugar Skull	David Handler § The Cold Blue Blood	Charlaine Harris § Grave Sight § Grave Surprise § Shakespeare’s Counselor	Rosemary Harris § Pushing Up Daisies
Ellen Hart § An Intimate Ghost § The Iron Girl § Night Vision	Libby Fischer Hellmann § An Image of Death § A Picture of Guilt § A Shot to Die For	Martha C. Lawrence § Ashes of Aries	Marc Lecard § Vinnie's Head
Laura Lippman § To the Power of Three	Mary Logue § Maiden Rock	Margaret Maron § Last Lessons of Summer	Sujata Massey § Girl in a Box
Alexander McCall-Smith § The #1 Ladies Detective Agency	Deborah Morgan § The Marriage Casket § The Weedless Widow	Marcia Muller § Cyanide Wells	Kem Nunn § Tijuana Straits
Nancy Pickard § The Virgin of Small Plains	David Skibbins § Eight of Swords	Jessica Speart § Blue Twilight	Julia Spencer-Fleming § All Mortal Flesh § A Fountain Filled With Blood § I Shall Not Want § In the Bleak Midwinter § Out of the Deep I Cry § To Darkness and to Death
Denise Swanson § Murder of a Sleeping Beauty § Murder of a Barbie and Ken § Murder of a Snake in the Grass	Sarah Stewart Taylor § Judgment of the Grave § Mansions of the Dead § O’ Artful Death § Still as Death	Elaine Viets § Dying to Call You § Just Murdered § Murder with Reservations § Murder Unleashed § Shop Till You Drop

I Shall Not Want, Julia Spencer-Fleming, St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95.

I admit that at this point in Spencer-Fleming's series, I'm hardly an objective reader. I am seriously hooked on her series characters, Clare and Russ, and couldn't wait for this book to come out to see how this author resolved the emotional issues she had left, shall we say, untethered, at the end of the last book, All Mortal Flesh. The next sentence or two contains a spoiler, so if you haven't read All Mortal Flesh yet, skip ahead to the next review. As loyal readers of this series are aware, the unmarried Episcopal priest, Clare Fergusson, has been pining (not in an requited fashion) for the married police chief, Russ Van Alstyne. In the last book, Russ's wife was killed, but the two were estranged by grief and guilt. When this book opens, they still aren't really talking, even though it's months later.

The book opens with a shootout and then backtracks to the set up - always an effective device, and very effective here. Clare becomes involved with Russ again when she meets the sexton's daughter who has just moved to town with her children and the daughter gets a job at the police department. When Clare then meets a congenial nun at a church function, she's called to the nun's side when she's in a car accident as she's driving some migrant workers to their jobs. This of course also involves the police and Russ in particular. One of the migrant workers has papers and the others disappear into the wilderness; Clare takes this man in, giving him the sexton's job temporarily as the sexton has had a heart attack. When bodies of various Hispanic men start turning up all over town - one on Russ's sister's land, one during a church picnic, the case starts to be dangerous for Clare, and she and Russ are inevitably thrown together.

Spencer-Fleming is a total expert at both set suspense pieces which are usually both original and beautifully written, and at then detailing the emotional fallout. This kind of detail is what has really hooked her readers, though her gifts with suspense and plot don't hurt either. This novel has a complex plot that takes the whole town into its scope - Russ and Clare truly have a context to exist in and it's nicely detailed. All the characters are as memorable as the primary ones, a talent that only the most gifted writers possess. And as always in a Spencer-Fleming novel, it's the ending that gets you emotionally, and hooks you for the next read. Suffice it to say that while some things are resolved, others are not, and you'll be looking forward to the next book as much as I am. Another bravura effort from a writer who is no longer a talented newcomer, just one of the more talented mystery writers around, period.

Stalking Death, Kate Flora, The Mystery Company, $25.00.

Like Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski, Thea Kozak takes a licking and keeps on ticking. In this book she's smashed into a car windshield, knocked from behind and given a concussion, and chased by a bad guy with an axe. She's a truly kick-ass, righteous, feminist heroine, something in a world that seems to be post-feminist is a very refreshing thing. Unlike V.I. though, Thea isn't a detective for hire - she's a consultant for independent (i.e. private boarding) schools. She's called in when there's a crisis of some kind, and the one in Stalking Death is a doozy. The swanky St. Mathews seems to have a problem with a female African American student, Shondra Jones, who claims she's being stalked in a particularly vicious manner. The administration says Shondra is simply crazy and they want to expel her - ostensibly, they want Thea to sign off on a letter they're sending to parents explaining that their own students are safe and no allegations have been proved.

Even reading those last few sentences should have alarm bells going off, and Thea, a woman who neither suffers fools nor moral laxity gladly, has them clanging loudly even before she discovers that the alleged stalker is the grandson of the school's biggest donor. Meanwhile Thea gets a funny "vibe" from the whole school; the headmaster seems oddly disengaged, unworried about the female student, and prone to writing off the accused stalker's behavior as something merely imagined by Shondra. Life for Thea never takes an easy path, and this story is no exception. As Thea attempts her own investigation of the situation, which winds up as she witnesses a fistfight between the stalker and the victim's brother, the school tells her they have the situation under control - they no longer need her help. Thea gladly departs but is brought back to campus by a midnight phone call - a body has been discovered, and Shondra's brother, Jamison, is accused of the murder. The victim appears to be the stalker.

Shondra isn't given a simple characterization by Flora, she's complex and difficult - she has a huge chip on her shoulder and pushes most people away. It's almost difficult to like her - almost. It's that bit that has Thea pulling for her, as well as her desire to see the right thing done. Flora's books are always tight and suspenseful, and this one is no exception to that rule. It's very difficult to put down, and impossible not to be drawn into the story, to care about Thea and Shondra, and to hope the talented Ms. Flora has another Thea Kozak novel up her sleeve.

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