Hid From Our Eyes

After a long hiatus due to many personal problems, Julia Spencer-Fleming has brought back her popular characters -Reverend Clare Ferguson and Chief Russ Van Alstyne. In Hid From Our Eyes, the story opens in 1952, when police are investigating the death of a young woman found dead on the road. With no signs of violence, but dressed in a party dress and wearing nighttime makeup, the police assume she was a prostitute. They never solve the case, nor identify the victim. (Hid From Our Eyes will be published by Minotaur Books on April 7.)

Jump forward 20 years and Millers Kill, New York, Chief Jack Liddle leans over another dead young woman dressed up for a fancy date or party. Jack had been on the force in 1952 and the similarities in these two cases is baffling. The person who found the body was young Russ Van Alstyne, newly returned home from Vietnam and angry to boot. Immediately he is considered a suspect.

While Jack investigates, he discovers the young woman was a member of a commune and there are two other suspects. Throughout the investigation, no clues as to how she died have been discovered. Even after an autopsy, the coroner cannot give a cause of death. The case is never solved and Russ is never officially cleared.

Leap forward to present day which in this book is around 2002, and ironically Russ is the police chief in Millers Kill and the body of another young woman is found in an eerily similar fashion. While trying to investigate, Russ is facing a referendum on whether the town should give up its local police and have the state police deal with crimes in their town. He is also married to Clare and they have a new baby. No pressure on him.

Hid From Our Eyes is a gripping, absorbing mystery with a shocking ending. Happy Julia Spencer-Fleming was able to write this new book in the series.