Blue Deer Thaw: A Mystery

So many things are happening in the Montana town of Blue Deer as winter slides gradually into spring: Sheriff Jules Clement is falling in love and seriously thinking of quitting his job; his best friends, Peter and Alice, are finally getting married, planning a huge wedding in the splendid old Sacajawea Hotel, where the restoration is causing major problems; a local millionaire is becoming even richer by an art bequest from one of his late wives. Harrison writes of all these events with so much apparent pleasure that she at first seems to be in danger of neglecting the mystery in this fourth book in her acclaimed series (An Unfortunate Prairie Occurrence, etc.). True, a woman does freeze to death on her way home from a bar in the early pages, but at first Jules can't prove it's anything more than one of the area's many winter accidents, just like the unusually large crop of bodies being fished out of icy rivers. Harrison cranks up the mystery volume gradually, turning at least one of those floating bodies into a murder victim linked to the art collection that Jules (an archeologist in his former life) is looking over while helping to get the Sacajawea back into shape and coming to grips with his growing feelings for Caroline, his lovely deputy. Clement continues to be one of the most interesting and believable mystery heroes working the American turf, and Harrison demonstrates once again that she's among the most talented writers to grace the genre in recent years. 6-city author tour. (Feb.)