Distemper

Alex Bernier #2

by Beth Saulnier

A serial killer declares hunting season in an upstate New York university town. The killer wants to keep the young reporter, Alex Bernier, well-informed, both as a journalist and as a potential victim.

Genres: Mystery

399 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2000

About the author

aka Elizabeth Bloom

Reviews

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I continue on in this obscure 20-yr-old mystery series set in fictitious-Ithaca, NY. In this book, it became clearer to me that the fake town is Ithaca—they talk about it being 1 hour from Syracuse, and mention the town’s university has a big labor law program.

I really do like this protagonist. I think this series would have fared better if it came out in the 2020s, rather than 2000-ish. It feels like good current-day-20-something prose to me. The plots aren’t mind-blowing, but I’m always hanging on the edge of my seat, to find out who did it.

[Toni Kania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun locale -- Ithaca-like upstate NY State with a barely disguised Cornell, Ithaca College, lots of gorges and a Collegetown.

[Galen Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alex Bernier is a reporter for a small daily in an upstate New York college town who finds herself embroiled in a murder case when she finds the body of a dead jogger. Alright read-- fast-paced but cookie-cutter plot.