Jim Kelly, The Coldest Blood

The Coldest Blood

Jim Kelly

St. Martin's, January 2007, $24.95

ISBN: 0312364784

Over thirty-one years ago, back in 1974, children on summer vacation were at the Dolphin Holiday Camp in Sea's End, England, when they saw the horror that continued to haunt them until now. In the present, near Ely on the Letter M Farm, a man shows Joe, one of those witnesses, a picture of the boy who suffered from the horror from back then; this stranger kills Joe by dousing him with icy water leading to hypothermia.

Crow reporter Philip Dryden investigates the deep freeze deaths that are sweeping the Ely area, especially a long time resident like Joe, allegedly falling asleep drunk with his windows wide open and a sheet of ice covering his corpse. The police insist it is a tragic accident due to personal negligence, but when the dead drunk's long time best friend since they were children at an orphanage also perishes with a sheet of ice on him in front of his door, Dryden suspects foul play not foul weather. He also knows first hand the link that connects the two dead men to him when the three were children.

Aptly titled, wear gloves, a scarf, and a woollen hat because readers will freeze as they feel the temperatures that serve as the backdrop and icy water that is the murder weapon of choice, as Jim Kelly is very descriptive with deep freeze that engulfs England. Philip's investigation into the frozen deaths is cleverly tied to his personal life, which is in an uproar, as his comatose wife Laura begins to regain consciousness for the first time in years. Fans will enjoy Dryden's latest caper, as he moves between the past and the present while trying to avoid becoming the latest cold stiff.