Out of the Deep I Cry (Mass Market Paperback)

Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson leads her congregation through the beginning of Lent. Her parish faces financial calamity as the roof needs to be replaced and (by one vote) the vestry agrees to maintain the historical architecture of the building, rather than opt for a cheaper, modern solution.

Board member Lacey Marshall suggests donating her trust fund to the church, although this move will take funds from the Ketchem clinic her mother founded. And right after Al Rouse, resident physician, learns the money will be taken away, he disappears. Clare finds herself drawn into the search when Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne investigates a woman she's been counseling.

Not that Clare's an unwilling participant. A former Army chopper pilot, she enjoys a taste of adventure. She draws on her military skills of tracking and map reading. And she's very good friends with the married Chief, a source of scandal to many in the community.

Author Spencer-Fleming interrupts the contemporary story to give us glimpses into the Ketchem family in the 20's, 30's and 40's. We learn about the tragic deaths of Lacey Marshall's siblings, but it's not till the end of the book that we learn the full story. We discover a spooky parallel between the contemporary doctor's disappearance and the historical disappearance of Lacey's father, who simply vanished one night. Eventually we learn where the Ketchem fortune came from and why it's referred to as blood money.

Spencer-Fleming's history, like Sharyn McCrumb's, shows us how life really was lived in a specific US region. We go beyond the glamorized "good old days," realizing the cruelty of the Prohibition laws (not unlike our modern drug laws in some ways) and the suffering of families during epidemics that we no longer comprehend.

I couldn't put this book down. The characters are three-dimensional and very realistic. In particular, Clare's friendship with Russ Van Alstyne resembles friendships I've had with single and married men, where the mind-to-mind component was stronger than any other bond. We're meant to realize that men and women can be friends while remaining faithful to their romantic partners.

The Episcopal priests I've met have been like Clare: smart and down-to-earth, not especially holy, let alone holier-than-thou.

Out of the Deep reminds me not of cozies, but of the lyrical mysteries of Sharyn McCrumb and Nevada Barr, filled with history, geography and complex relationships. Clare belongs to the genre of strong, tough women in nontraditional jobs. And Russ fits the genre of complex small town law enforcement officers, not unlike the sheriff that Anna Pigeon will be marrying, hopefully, in the next Nevada Barr.

Mysteries like these don't get written in a hurry, and I'm already eagerly awaiting Spencer-Fleming's next. --

Clare and Russ team up to find out what happened to the local doctor, Allan Rouse, who has suddenly disappeared. Did he commit suicide or was he the victim of foul play? The doctor's disappearance comes at a time of upheaval in the community. Money that was supposed to go to Rouse's medical clinic is being rerouted to Clare's church, which is badly in need of emergency repairs. The medical clinic is a memorial to Jonathan Ketcham, a farmer who vanished in 1930 after suffering a series of terrible tragedies. Ketcham was never seen again, and his widow, Jane, set up the clinic in his memory.

Spencer-Fleming uses flashbacks to shed light on the connections between the past and the present. She shifts from the 1930's to the 1950's and back to the present day to show how the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle fit together. The scenes from the 1930's, in which we find out what really happened to Jonathan and Jane Ketcham, are poignant, powerful, and deeply affecting.

I was less impressed by the characters and events in the present. Clare Fergusson comes off as a bit of a hypocrite. She is a priest who goes out of her way to do good works for her community, but at the same time, she becomes emotionally involved with a married man. Van Alstyne reluctantly allows Clare to stick her nose in police business, even though she has no training as a law enforcement officer. Spencer-Fleming writes credible dialogue and the mystery is well plotted, but most of the characters in the book are flawed individuals who do unethical things to get what they want. "Out of the Deep I Cry" is an engrossing mystery with a cynical point of view about the human condition.