In case you have not yet read last week’s blog post: check out Celebrating Autistic Identity and observe Autism Acceptance Month by embracing neurodiversity and promoting inclusion for individuals with ASD. Shift perspectives and advocate for autistic rights. Read some autism/neurodiversity positive books!
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
I Shall Not Want is book number six in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne mysteries series. I have not read the other books in the series, but have had enough information in this episode to read it as a stand alone. It is a good thriller and I would be inclined to read any of the other books in the series.
The characters are unique and well-developed. The mystery has been suspenseful and twisty, and they are getting close to solving it. And there is a strong romantic subplot for those who are looking for it.
Three—well, four, now—murders is certainly enough to grab anyone’s attention. What is going on in this small community that they have not figured out until now?
I have to confess, I am not fond of a flash-forward prologue. The book starts with a high-octane shootout scene, but it’s unclear what is happening or how the characters got there. Then, with a man dying on the ground, the reader is thrown back into the “six months previous” main storyline, with no explanation of how the gunfight ties into the larger narrative.
Thank you … For calling it decisiveness instead of ‘jumping in without thinking things through!’
Julia Spencer-Fleming, I Shall Not Want
Summary
In the searing conclusion to All Mortal Flesh, Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne’s precarious balance between duty and desire was broken by his wife’s tragic death. Now, Russ and Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson are separated by a wall of guilt and grief. When a farmhand stumbles over a body, Clare is reluctantly drawn into the investigation through her involvement with the migrant community. The discovery of two more bodies could mean a serial killer is on the loose. As spring turns into summer, Russ is plagued by media hysteria, conflict within the police department, and a series of baffling assaults.
Throughout the escalating tensions, emotions are fueled as Russ and Clare find themselves seeking each other out, even as they intend to keep distant.
