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Book Review of In the Bleak Midwinter (Rev. Clare Fergusson / Russ Van Alstyne, Bk 1)

In the Bleak Midwinter (Rev. Clare Fergusson / Russ Van Alstyne, Bk 1)
millinerygirl avatar reviewed on
Helpful Score: 2


I really love this series. ( and I found it through the bookclub). As an Episcopalian priest and a former army helicopter pilot Clare Fergusson is a unique protagonist.
In "In the Bleak Midwinter", the first book in the series, she has just begun to adapt to her new posting as pastor of a church in a small upstate New York town. The discovery of an abandoned child on the back steps of the church sets the plot in motion. While trying to locate the mother Clare meets and becomes friends with the local police chief, Russ Van Alstyne.
While the story line is intriguing it is the developing relationship between the two main characters and the very real dilemmas that they both face in their careers and their personal lives that makes this book (and the series) stand out. These are real people, trying to do the right thing both professionally and personally while being true to the high standards they set for themselves and others.