Summertime in Millers Kill, N.Y.: An unidentified young woman is found dead in the middle of a rural road, barefoot, wearing a party dress, without a mark on her. When police chief Russ Van Alstyne arrives on the scene, he's taken back to 1972, when he was the prime suspect in a case that eerily resembled this one. In their ninth adventure, Hid from Our Eyes, Russ and his wife, Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson, struggle to balance the murder cases past and present with new parenthood, a pending town referendum on dissolving the police force, and other personal and professional challenges.
Julia Spencer-Fleming (Through the Evil Days) brings back her series' ensemble cast of smart, complex, compassionate characters, including Clare's ministry colleagues and Russ's fellow cops. The story centers on Russ and Clare, but past police chief Jack Liddle and current officer Hadley Knox (among others) play vital supporting roles. As Clare juggles vestry meetings, a new church intern and her fears about failing as a mother, Russ is frustrated by the lack of clues in his case and worried about his department's future. The eventual solution to the case reaches back to 1952, when a third young woman was found dead, and the repercussions of both the investigation and the referendum results will reverberate well into the future. Satisfyingly twisty, with a plot that tests both Russ and Clare's detective skills and their characters, Hid from Our Eyes is a worthy entry in Spencer-Fleming's stellar series. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams