At Midnight Comes the Cry, Julia SpencerFleming
At Midnight Comes the Cry, Julia SpencerFleming
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
Club: $13.49

At Midnight Comes the Cry
A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery

Author: Julia Spencer-Fleming

Narrator: Suzanne Toren

Unabridged: 12 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/18/2025


Synopsis

New York Times bestseller Julia Spencer-Fleming returns to her beloved Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mystery series

It’s Christmas time in Millers Kill, and Reverend Clare Fergusson and her husband Russ van Alstyne - newly resigned from his position as chief of police – plan to enjoy it with their baby boy. On their list: visiting Santa, decorating the tree, and attending the church Christmas pageant. But when a beloved holiday parade is crashed by white supremacists, Clare and Russ find themselves sucked into a parallel world of militias, machinations and murder.

Meanwhile, single mom and officer Hadley Knox has her hands full juggling her kids and her police work. She doesn’t want to worry about her former partner – and sometimes lover – Kevin Flynn, but when he takes leave from the Syracuse PD and disappears, she can’t help her growing panic that something has gone very wrong.
Novice lawyer Joy Zhào is keeping secrets from her superiors at the state Attorney General’s Office. She knows they wouldn’t condone her off-the-books investigation, but she’s convinced a threatening alt-right conspiracy is brewing – and catching the perpetrators could jump start her career.

NYS Forest Ranger Paul Terrance is looking for his uncle, a veteran of the park service gone inexplicably missing. He doesn’t think much of an ex-cop and out-of-town officer showing up in his patch of the woods, but he’s heard the disturbing rumors of dangerous men in the mountains.

In New York Times Julia Spencer-Fleming's latest novel, as Christmas approaches, these five people will discover their suspicions hang on a single twisting thread, leading to the forbidding High Peaks of the Adirondacks. As the December days shorten and the nights grow long, a disparate group of would-be heroes need to unwind a murderous plot before time runs out.

"[Narrator Suzanne] Toren's accents, tone, and cadence are immediately recognizable for listeners who know these characters, and she does equal justice for those newly introduced."—AudioFile

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books

About Julia Spencer-Fleming

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING is the New York Times bestselling author of One Was a Soldier, and an Agatha, Anthony, Dilys, Barry, Macavity, and Gumshoe Award winner. She studied acting and history at Ithaca College and received her J.D. at the University of Maine School of Law. Her books have been shortlisted for the Edgar, Nero Wolfe, and Romantic Times RC awards. Julia lives in a 190-year-old farmhouse in southern Maine.

About Suzanne Toren

Suzanne Toren has over 30 years of experience in recording.  She won the American Foundation for the Blind's Scourby Award for Narrator of the Year in 1988, and AudioFile magazine named her the 2009 Best Voice in Nonfiction & Culture.  She is also the recipient of multiple Earphones Awards. Her many credits include works by Jane Smiley, Margaret Weis, Jerry Spinelli, Barbara Kingsolver, and Cynthia Rylant. AudioFile also raves, “Toren brings a distinguishing warmth and power to her narrations. Her talents extend to both fiction and nonfiction, and in her recording career of 30-plus years she has given listeners heart-wrenching memoirs, lively history, engaging light fiction, and involving mysteries.” Toren also performs on and off-Broadway and in regional theatres.


Reviews

Goodreads review by PamG on November 03, 2025

If you’re looking for a suspenseful crime thriller set in rural up-state New York, then At Midnight Comes the Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming is a book to consider reading. It features Reverend Clare Fergusson and her husband Russ Van Alstyne. It’s Christmas time and the couple plan to enjoy their......more

Goodreads review by Maren’s Reads on November 20, 2025

It’s so hard to know that this is the series finale of a book I’ve been reading for years. While Fleming has been writing it since the early 2000s, I discovered it twenty years later when the world fell apart, and I needed to escape to something far from daily life. This series and these characters......more

Goodreads review by Erin on November 05, 2025

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review. Expected publication date: November 18, 2025 “At Midnight Comes the Cry” is the tenth novel in the Reverend Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne mystery series of n......more

Goodreads review by Bam cooks the books on November 20, 2025

*4.5 stars rounded up. This mystery-suspense thriller has everything: murder, action, mayhem, evil bad guys (fascist militia men), love, romance, family, religion, all set in the joyful holiday season. I've always enjoyed this series and these remarkable characters and now this latest one ranks as m......more

Goodreads review by Megan on November 10, 2025

4.5 thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy! WOW this was such a perfect cozy, small town mystery/thriller. when I requested this book, it was purely off the vibes and the storyline. I was worried when I looked it up on GR and saw that it was the tenth book in a series. let me tell you: you......more


Quotes

“Julia hooked me with the first sentence of her first book - probably the best first sentence ever! Now in her latest, she has gone full circle with this series, in a tale that is both so gripping and oh so timely. Truly a book for our time.” —Rhys Bowen

"With great outdoor scenes, tight plotting, and appealing characters, this will hold readers’ attention and leave them hungry for more." —FirstClue

"Cleverly constructed around the advent and family, this eleventh episode’s thrills strike deep. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy Nevada Barr and Paul Doiron." —Booklist