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([personal profile] hadjie May. 7th, 2009 06:55 am)
A dream came true last night. My daughter and I traveled to the Goodwin Library in the small town of Farmington, N.H. to see my favorite living mystery writer, Julia Spencer-Fleming. For those, who don't know her, she is the author of a series of six, and one on the way, mysteries featuring the Chief of Police and the female Episcopal priest of a small New York town on the edge of the Adirondack Mountains. Each book consists of a self-contained mystery, but there is an overall arc in the six books which follows the mystery of the relationship between these two characters.

Spencer-Fleming is a terrifically talented writer, who balances exciting mysteries, the in-depth study of characters and their relationships to one another and to God, and the exploration of social issues deftly and seamlessly arising from the characters and the plot. In addition, underlying all are the profound issues of life, death, sin, and salvation.

So important are these themes, and so excitingly presented, that four years ago I chose to lead a study group in the Episcopal Church where I worked as a director of religious education based on the first book, In the Bleak Midwinter. The seasons of the year and the liturgical seasons are of significance in this series. In the Bleak Midwinter takes place, as the title suggests, during the meteorological season of Winter and the Christian liturgical season of Advent, the preparatory period of waitingfor the birth of Jesus. Our study group met once a week during Advent and was full of lively discussion and debate. I heartily recommend this series for reading and for book groups, and particularly for church study groups.
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