ICE WATER

Peter Bartholomew Mysteries #3

by Sally Cabot Gunning

Peter, besides trying to determine a killer from three suspects, is afraid that Connie, his love, is next on the sniper's list

Genres: Mystery

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

A lifelong resident of New England, Sally Cabot Gunning has immersed herself in its history from a young age. She is the author of six critically acclaimed historically themed novels: The Widow’s War, Bound, The Rebellion of Jane Clarke, Benjamin Franklin’s Bastard, Monticello: A Daughter and Her Father, and her latest novel, released June 2021, Painting the Light. Elected fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society and president of The Brewster Historical Society, she has created numerous historical tours of her village.

Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, and an assortment of short story anthologies.

She lives with her husband Tom in Brewster, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another worthy entry in the "water" series of mysteries. I like Peter Bartholomew even better after reading this book. He is clever, haunted, and indecisive about his love life. He is almost real to me in the way he deals with all things Connie. The mystery is so well crafted that no one could tell who the murderer was. There were myriad layers of the story, not the least of which is the rekindling of the romance between Peter ad Connie. And there are the usual characters such as Sarah Abrew who is wise and grandmotherly. This was a good and satisfying read!

[Doris Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book finishes my reading of this series by Gunning

[Alton Motobu · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of a relationship drama involving breakup of a marriage and possible reconciliation but with guilt and mistrust on both sides summarized succinctly on page 202: "...So she made him miserable when she was around him. So he made her miserable when he was around her. So what?..." - this is exactly what this book is about. Masquerades as a cozy Christmas mystery because events occur in December as Christmas approaches but since everyone is unhappy it is not a pleasant time.

Major irritant: author never identifies where the island is except to say on page 62, "one long and lonely ride to New Jersey and back" and on page 146, "Maine. Vermont. Three hundred miles away from home!" It is a coastal town with fishing as a tourist industry, but neither the state nor a major city nearby is identified.

Also, the killer comes completely out of left field! Appearances earlier in the book give no hint of motive. The author could have chosen any one of the 40 or so named characters since the closest thing to a motive was a lack of Christmas spirit.

[Priscilla Herrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sally Gunning’s Peter Bartholomew mystery series includes ten books, While each is a stand-alone story, I really enjoyed reading all ten in order. The main characters appear and re-appear, and relationships are formed. The “mystery” that riders atop all the separate cases is, will Peter and his ex-wife, Connie, get back together again? Should they? There are other questions that carry through more than one book, like Peter’s sister and her taste in men, and then there are various matters of small town life on Nashtoba Island, off Cape Hook – a locale that has a certain similarity to Cape Cod.

A Christmas party complete with mistletoe, and a high-powered corporation planning a controversial waterfront development that will change the very character of Nashtoba...

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm upset that in the first book it was stated that Pete started Factotum 20 years ago, after he graduated from BC. In the second book, it said he started it at age 17, and in this one, at 16. Perhaps this was a device to reduce his putative age from 41 to 36 and make the marriage details more believable, as well as the timeline of his relationship with Abrew. But it bothered me. I hate internal inconsistencies.

And though the book was interesting, the murderer's identity was too far out of left field.

[Suzanne Skelly]

The tree was bedecked for the holiday party. Peter Bartholomew was outside looking in at his ex-wife Connie kissing Newby Dillingham under the mistletoe. That is when the sniper struck killing the popular bait and tackle shop owner, and scattering the guests, Enlisted by his friend and relative newcomer police chief Will McOwat. Pete is soon hot on the killer's trail.

[Elizabeth Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute addition to the series! There is a sniper loose on the island and an abundance of suspects, and an abundance of motives that keeps you guessing till the end!