See More From Book Club Friends

Sign up and log in to post, comment and join the conversation.

Book Club Friends is 100% Canadian 🇨🇦

Julia Spencer-Fleming
In the Bleak Midwinter
Book #1 of the Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne series
See the list of Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne books in order

In the Bleak Midwinter

Heavy Snow…Icy Desires…Cold-Blooded Murder

Clare Fergusson, St. Alban’s new priest, fits like a square peg in the conservative Episcopal parish at Millers Kill, New York. She is not just a “lady,” she’s a tough ex-Army chopper pilot, and nobody’s fool. Then a newborn infant left at the church door brings her together with the town’s police chief, Russ Van Alstyne, who’s also ex-Army and a cynical good shepherd for the stray sheep of his hometown. Their search for the baby’s mother quickly leads them into the secrets that shadow Millers Kill like the ever-present Adirondacks. What they discover is a world of trouble, an attraction to each other―and murder…

In the Bleak Midwinter was Julia Spencer-Fleming’s first novel, and it won a Macavity Award, an Agatha Award, an Anthony Award, and a Dilys Award.

Author: Julia Spencer-Fleming
Published: 2002
Page Count: 388

This page may include affiliate links.

Purchase on:

Amazon
Amazon

Book Club Discussion Questions For In the Bleak Midwinter

In the Bleak Midwinter
Discuss In the Bleak Midwinter With Your Book Club Friends

Do you want to take a deeper dive intoIn the Bleak Midwinter? Chat about themes, characters, settings, plots and let’s celebrate this book for our Book of the Month discussion!

Suggest In the Bleak Midwinter

More Book Club Discussions

A Better Man
A Fatal Grace
A Great Reckoning
A Rule Against Murder
A Trick of the Light
A World of Curiosities
All the Devils Are Here
An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s
Beautiful Ugly
Bury Your Dead
Glass Houses
How the Light Gets In
How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future
Iron Lake (20th Anniversary Edition)
Kingdom of the Blind
On Tyranny
State of Terror
Still Life
The Beautiful Mystery
The Boyfriend
The Briar Club
The Brutal Telling
The Crash
The Cruelest Month
The Frozen River
The Grey Wolf
The Housemaid
The Life We Bury
The Long Way Home
The Madness of Crowds
The Mighty Red
The Nature of the Beast
The River We Remember
The Rose Code
The Searcher
The Thursday Murder Club
See All Discussions

Highly Recommended Books by Julia Spencer-Fleming Book Club Friends

Surfacing
The Return of Raffles
Smoke and Whispers
Murder and Mendelssohn
A Good Fuck Spoiled
Bark M for Murder
The Closers
Death of a Valentine
The Fleur de Sel Murders: A Brittany Mystery
Trust Your Eyes
Blood Test
Revenge
Fool Me Once
Predator
Raw Bone
Dark Assassin: A William Monk Novel
Tooth and Claw: A Longmire Story
Hunting Season
What He Needed
Body Double
Naked Once More
The Ice Limit
Dead Water
The Old Success: A Richard Jury Mystery
Convenience Boy and Other Stories of Japan
In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead
Dreaming of the Bones
The Overlook
Until Proven Guilty
Dark of the Moon
The Fallen Man
Bad Blood
A Twist of the Knife
The Keepsake: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel
The Best American Mystery Stories 2018
The Soul of Discretion
One Across
A Good Hanging
Moscow Rules
Bruno and the Carol Singers: A Christmas Mystery of the French Countryside
The Killing Doll
Invisible Girl
Remarkably Bright Creatures
Dreaming Spies
A Stranger in Mayfair
Full Tilt: A Novel
Broken Ground
Still Life: A Karen Pirie Novel
The King's Ransom
A Curious Beginning
The Midnight Feast
The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax
The Memory Game
The New Iberia Blues
See Delphi and Die
The Fool's Run
By Its Cover
The Tree of Hands
Man in the Queue
The Snake
Uniform Justice
The Shattered Tree
Borderline
One Good Deed
The Kept Woman: A Will Trent Thriller
Voices of Rome
The Girl in the Green Raincoat
The Best American Mystery Stories 1998
Wilde Lake
Evan's Gate
The Benefit of Hindsight
A Case of Spirits
The Resistance Man
Trace
Bones: An Alex Delaware Novel
The Mist
Murder on a Midsummer Night
The Thursday Murder Club
The Fallen
Christmas at Patchin Place: Two Molly Murphy Mysteries
The Golden Tresses of the Dead
The Thirteenth Rose
A Shooting at Chateau Rock
Dancing with Demons
Last Breath
The Shadows We Hide
Murder on Vacation
When the Music's Over
Badlands: A Nora Kelly Thriller
Murder Being Once Done
Snowblind
Rutland Place
A Land More Kind Than Home
Motive: An Alex Delaware Novel
The Sixth Man
No Rest for the Dead
Twilight
Do Not Disturb
Past Lying
Lisey's Story
The Judas Judge
Verses for the Dead
Nemesis
The Front
The American Agent
Still Life Deluxe Edition
Void Moon
Joyland
Death by Water
The Stargazey
The Gimlet Slip
No Time Left
Death of a Master Chef: A Brittany Mystery
Harvest
Prayers for the Dead
What to Do When Someone Dies
Death in Darkness
Paragon Walk
One-hit Wonder
Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding
The Lost Get Back Boogie
Force of Nature
Angel's Bidding
S is for Silence
The Winners' Circle
Death of a Heretic
The Wire in the Blood
Fallout: A V.I. Warshawski Novel
All the Devils Are Here
The Right Attitude to Rain
Storm Front
On Eden Street: A Kings Lake Investigation
The Third Nero
True Blue
Bruno's Challenge and Other Stories of the French Countryside
The Tale Teller
Never Saw it Coming
Waiting for Wednesday
Reliquary
R is for Ricochet
Edge of Eternity
Absolution by Murder
To Play the Fool
Gone Girl
No Safe House
Want to Know a Secret?
The Spectacular
This Dark Road to Mercy
The Nature of the Beast
In Like Flynn
Christmas in Newfoundland Memories and Mysteries: A Sgt. Windflower Book
The Mephisto Club: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel
Agatha Raisin: The Complete BBC Radio Drama Collection
Reese Witherspoon Harlan Coben Novel
Last Act in Palmyra
Long Lost: A Kate Burkholder Short Story
A Taint in the Blood
Love and Death Among the Cheetahs
Live Flesh
The Housemaid
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Love
Through the Evil Days
The Tooth Tattoo
The Moor
Endangered Species
Bruno
Spook Street
Residue
Manitou Canyon
As the Crow Flies: A Longmire Mystery
Birds of a Feather
Atonement of Blood
There Goes the Bride
T is for Trespass
The Ghost Orchid: An Alex Delaware Novel
Skeleton Canyon
The Buckshaw Chronicles: Volume 1
A Measure of Darkness
Disappeared: A Kate Burkholder Short Mystery
The Conspiracy Club
The Subtle Serpent
A Silent Death
Dark Saturday
The Sisters of Glass Ferry
Thale's Folly
Wolf Pack
Play with Fire
Milk and Honey: A Decker/Lazarus Novel
Dark Sacred Night
Long Spoon Lane
The Magnolia Palace
The Forgotten Garden
Damage Control
Without Due Process
How the Light Gets In
The Old Wine Shades
The 7th Month
Fleshmarket Close
The Gods of Guilt
Bring Me Back
Battle Mountain
A Rule Against Murder
House of Spies
The Silver Pigs
Open Season
The Fallen Curtain and Other Stories
I'll Keep You Safe
Shamed
The Accident
The Deep Dark Descending
Knife: A Harry Hole novel
Day of the Dead
The Marching Season
The Naming of the Dead
The Pact: A Kate Burkholder Short Mystery
Tigerlily's Orchids
State of Terror
Gone
Wicked Prey
Shell Game: A V.I. Warshawski Novel
An Impartial Witness
The Bone Code
Missing Pieces: A Kings Lake Investigation
Dead Wrong
Bewreathed: A Deborah Knott Short Story
Devil's Food
Blowback
A Moment on the Edge: 100 Years of Crime Stories by Women
The Finisher
Devices and Desires
A Darker Domain
The Perfect Victim
Fever Dream
An Enemy in the Village
Dark Fire
Hour of the Hunter
Treasure State
The Hunter
The Circle
An Old
Trick of the Dark
Too Close for Comfort: The Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series
The Leper's Bell
Uncharted Waters
Still Dead: A J.P. Beaumont Novella
The Clockmaker's Daughter
Payment in Kind
Dust: A Richard Jury Mystery
True Detectives
Revenge in a Cold River: A William Monk Novel
Portrait of an Unknown Woman
No Night Is Too Long
Leave the Grave Green
Safe Harbour
Blue Lightning
Hush Hush
Lord John and the Hand of Devils
Blood Moon: A Kate Burkholder Short Mystery
Disaster at the Vendome Theater
Over the Edge
Copper River
Wolf to the Slaughter
The Turn of the Key
Foul Matter
The Secret Keeper
A False Mirror
Midnight Tango
The Lying Room
Death at La Fenice
Down Among the Dead Men
Hunting Shadows
A Cry in the Night
A Question of Betrayal
The Other Woman
Compulsion: An Alex Delaware Novel
The First Eagle
No Second Chance
An Unexpected Peril
Evan Can Wait
The Headhunters
Mystery: An Alex Delaware Novel
The Absent One
Deborah's Judgment: A Deborah Knott Short Story
Improbable Cause
The Lamorna Wink
A Darker Reality
A Question of Blood
The Collectors
Birds of Prey
Grievous Sin
To Die but Once
The Cliff's Edge
We Are All Guilty Here
Time and Tide: A DC Smith Investigation
Girl Waits with Gun
Drawing Conclusions
A Winter Grave
The Granite Coast Murders: A Brittany Mystery
Reykjavík: A Crime Story