Hid From Our Eyes is the ninth book in author Julia Spencer-Fleming’s book set in fictional Miller’s Kill in the New York Adirondacks. It centers on the relationship between two town leaders. Russ Van Alstyne is a long-time resident and Chief of Police. The Rev. Claire Fergusson moved to the town when she became the pastor of the local Episcopal Church. Claire was an army helicopter pilot before receiving the call to become a priest. The two have been doing a slow burn throughout the books in this series. By the time of Hid From Our Eyes, they are married with an infant son.

Back in 1952, a young woman’s body was found on a remote road in Miller’s Kill, dressed to the nines, and dead with no apparent cause. The same thing happened in 1972, only this time a young Russ Van Alstyne, home in between tours in Vietnam, was the one to discover the woman’s body lying in the road. In the present day, Russ’s blood runs cold when there’s a 911 call about the body of a woman dressed to the nines, lying in the middle of a road. None of the earlier deaths are explained, nor were there really any suspects, except Russ in 1972.

Meanwhile, Miller’s Kill is at a crossroads. The town fathers are proposing to end the local police department in favor of having the state police cover the town. I can tell you, as the resident of a town where the state police are occasionally the only responding police, that doesn’t work out so well. The town fathers are only concerned with the bottom line, though. Russ is trying to stop it. He’s not just worried about his job, but the jobs of his officers as well as how the change in coverage would affect the town. For this reason, he feels the pressure to solve the case that stretches all the way back to 1952.

Meanwhile, Claire is dealing with the insecurities new mothers often feel while serving the parish of St. Albans. In her “spare time,” she’s working with Russ’s mother, Margie, on a SAVE THE POLICE campaign.

One thing I liked about Hid From Our Eyes was how much I learned about Russ. Some of his background had seeped through in other books, but in Hid From Our Eyes, I learned so much more about him. He was typical of many young men who served in Vietnam and came back with issues. It was the attention from police chief Jack Liddle that helped him through it. Jack always had a thing for Margie, but she married someone else. However, when they were both concerned with the path Russ’s life was taking, he stepped up and mentored him. Jack does come back to town during this time, and it becomes apparent how important he was in Russ’s life.

The mystery has a whole host of possibilities. Thinking it was one person who committed all three crimes makes it quite difficult. Through flashback, I could see that Jack was there all three times, but it doesn’t seem logical. This would have to be someone who had access to money and a way of killing someone that left no trace. Could a police officer (later police chief) accomplish that?

Actually, I figured out much of the mystery fairly early on. Still, there were enough distractions along the way that I second-guessed myself over and over. The book goes back and forth as Russ makes more progress than anyone else ever did, thanks to modern technology.

Claire certainly has a lot of pressure on her, plus she puts immense pressure on herself. She managed to be clean and sober once she found out she was pregnant, but after the baby was born, it became a lot harder for her to deal with life without any chemical help. Despite the fact that Russ is a former alcoholic who’s also sober, Claire feels isolated from that side of him. She doesn’t tell him how she’s feeling. It’s hard for her to admit she’s facing challenges to begin with, and opening up to Russ about it isn’t easy for her. I was glad to see they didn’t have the addiction issue pop up in one book and then be “fixed.” It’s an ongoing struggle for Claire, and it’s handled very well.

I have the same issues with the narration I’ve had throughout this series, but some of it seems to have gotten better. Suzanne Torren once again narrates. She gives the characters different voices. Claire always sounds like Scarlett O’Hara, which is a bit more southern than Claire should be. Russ sounds a little less like Wilford Brimley, and it helps to appreciate his age. He’s in his fifties now, but he’s still very capable of working. It’s raising Ethan, his son, that intimidates him most of the time now. At one point, he laments that he will be in his seventies when the child graduates from high school. Torren gives him a voice that sounds more in tune with his age, although he still comes across as a grump at times. The way she handles the general narration is good, though, as her voice is clear and doesn’t change volume constantly.

If you’re invested in this series, I think you’ll love this book. The characters are moving ahead in a believable way. The town is in something of a crisis as the elected officials try to be good stewards of the taxpayer money. There might be some bias against Russ, but he proves over and over that he rarely puts what’s good for him ahead of anyone else. This was a series that, when I started it, I wasn’t sure if I was going to follow it through. There may be a number of implausibilities, but the story works. The characters are well-developed, and presented as an almost slice of life in the town, rather than completely focused on the mystery at hand.

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