
Through the Evil Days
A Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery, Book 8
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $20.24
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Suzanne Toren
About this listen
Now a New York Times bestselling author, Julia Spencer-Fleming rises to the accolade with a powerful, and emotionally charged novel fans have been yearning for.
On a frigid January night, Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne and Reverend Clare Fergusson are called to the scene of a raging fire, that quickly becomes a double homicide and kidnapping. Which is the very last thing Russ needs...Currently he's struggling with the prospect of impending fatherhood. And his new wife is not at all happy with his proposal for their long-delayed honeymoon: a week in an unelectrified ice-fishing cabin. The vestry of St. Alban's Church has called for the bishop to investigate Clare's "unpriestly" pregnancy. She has one week to find out if she will be scolded, censured, or suspended from her duties. Officer Hadley Knox is having a miserable January as well. Her on-again-off-again lover, Kevin Flynn, has seven days to weigh an offer from the Syracuse Police Department that might take him half a state away.
As the days and hours tick by, Russ and Clare fight personal and professional battles they've never encountered. In the course of this one tumultuous week the lives of the Millers-Kill residents listeners have come to love and cherish change forever. Listeners have waited years for Through The Evil Days and Julia Spencer-Fleming delivers with the exquisite skill and craftsmanship that have made her such a success.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
In the Bleak Midwinter
- By: Julia Spencer-Fleming
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Clare Fergusson, St. Alban's new priest, fits like a square peg in the conservative Episcopal parish at Miller's Kill, New York. She is not just a "lady"; she's a tough ex-Army chopper pilot, and nobody's fool. Then a newborn infant left at the church door brings her together with the town's police chief, Russ Van Alstyne, who's also ex-Army and a cynical good shepherd for the stray sheep of his hometown.
-
-
Ice Cold Complex Small Town Police Procedural/Mystery
- By Sara on 12-27-14
-
The Cuckoo's Calling
- By: Robert Galbraith
- Narrated by: Robert Glenister
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, creditors are calling, and after a breakup with his longtime girlfriend, he’s living in his office. Then John Bristow walks through his door with a shocking story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry - known to her friends as the Cuckoo - famously fell to her death a few months earlier.
-
-
Unbelievable debut mystery set in London
- By Tracey on 05-26-13
By: Robert Galbraith
-
A Share in Death
- By: Deborah Crombie
- Narrated by: Michael Deehy
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A week's holiday in a luxurious hotel is just what Scotland Yard's Superintendent Duncan Kincaid needs. But his vacation ends dramatically with the discovery of a dead body in the whirlpool bath. Despite a suspicious lack of cooperation from the local constabulary, Kincaid's keen sense of duty won't allow him to ignore the heinous crime, impelling him to send for his enthusiastic young assistant, Sergeant Gemma James. But the stakes are raised significantly when a second murder occurs....
-
-
series readers, start here
- By connie on 02-09-13
By: Deborah Crombie
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
-
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
The River We Remember
- A Novel
- By: William Kent Krueger
- Narrated by: CJ Wilson
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Memorial Day in Jewel, Minnesota, the body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. The investigation falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife.
-
-
Mediocre!
- By KEK on 09-08-23
-
Case Histories
- A Novel
- By: Kate Atkinson
- Narrated by: Susan Jameson
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Case One: A little girl goes missing in the night. Case Two: A beautiful young office worker falls victim to a maniac's apparently random attack. Case Three: A new mother finds herself trapped in a hell of her own making - with a very needy baby and a very demanding husband - until a fit of rage creates a grisly, bloody escape.
-
-
Trippy book
- By mary on 01-20-09
By: Kate Atkinson
-
In the Bleak Midwinter
- By: Julia Spencer-Fleming
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Clare Fergusson, St. Alban's new priest, fits like a square peg in the conservative Episcopal parish at Miller's Kill, New York. She is not just a "lady"; she's a tough ex-Army chopper pilot, and nobody's fool. Then a newborn infant left at the church door brings her together with the town's police chief, Russ Van Alstyne, who's also ex-Army and a cynical good shepherd for the stray sheep of his hometown.
-
-
Ice Cold Complex Small Town Police Procedural/Mystery
- By Sara on 12-27-14
-
The Cuckoo's Calling
- By: Robert Galbraith
- Narrated by: Robert Glenister
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, creditors are calling, and after a breakup with his longtime girlfriend, he’s living in his office. Then John Bristow walks through his door with a shocking story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry - known to her friends as the Cuckoo - famously fell to her death a few months earlier.
-
-
Unbelievable debut mystery set in London
- By Tracey on 05-26-13
By: Robert Galbraith
-
A Share in Death
- By: Deborah Crombie
- Narrated by: Michael Deehy
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A week's holiday in a luxurious hotel is just what Scotland Yard's Superintendent Duncan Kincaid needs. But his vacation ends dramatically with the discovery of a dead body in the whirlpool bath. Despite a suspicious lack of cooperation from the local constabulary, Kincaid's keen sense of duty won't allow him to ignore the heinous crime, impelling him to send for his enthusiastic young assistant, Sergeant Gemma James. But the stakes are raised significantly when a second murder occurs....
-
-
series readers, start here
- By connie on 02-09-13
By: Deborah Crombie
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
-
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
The River We Remember
- A Novel
- By: William Kent Krueger
- Narrated by: CJ Wilson
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Memorial Day in Jewel, Minnesota, the body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. The investigation falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife.
-
-
Mediocre!
- By KEK on 09-08-23
-
Case Histories
- A Novel
- By: Kate Atkinson
- Narrated by: Susan Jameson
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Case One: A little girl goes missing in the night. Case Two: A beautiful young office worker falls victim to a maniac's apparently random attack. Case Three: A new mother finds herself trapped in a hell of her own making - with a very needy baby and a very demanding husband - until a fit of rage creates a grisly, bloody escape.
-
-
Trippy book
- By mary on 01-20-09
By: Kate Atkinson
-
The White Lady
- A Novel
- By: Jacqueline Winspear
- Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A reluctant ex-spy with demons of her own, Elinor finds herself facing down one of the most dangerous organized crime gangs in London, ultimately exposing corruption from Scotland Yard to the highest levels of government. The private, quiet “Miss White" as Elinor is known, lives in a village in rural Kent, England, and to her fellow villagers seems something of an enigma. Well she might, as Elinor occupies a "grace and favor" property, a rare privilege offered to faithful servants of the Crown for services to the nation.
-
-
Mystery Maven
- By Mystery Maven on 03-24-23
-
Maisie Dobbs
- Maisie Dobbs, Book 1
- By: Jacqueline Winspear
- Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maisie Dobbs got her start as a maid in an aristocratic London household when she was thirteen. Her employer, suffragette Lady Rowan Compton, soon became her patron, taking the remarkably bright youngster under her wing. Lady Rowan’s friend, Maurice Blanche, often retained as an investigator by the European elite, recognized Maisie’s intuitive gifts. The outbreak of war changed everything. Ten years after the Armistice, in the spring of 1929, Maisie sets out on her own as a private investigator, one who has learned that coincidences are meaningful, and truth elusive.
-
-
All ‘round tip top
- By nancy M on 01-10-23
-
Iron Lake
- Cork O'Connor, Book 1
- By: William Kent Krueger
- Narrated by: David Chandler
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anthony Award-winning author William Kent Krueger crafts this riveting tale about a small Minnesota town’s ex-sheriff who is having trouble retiring his badge. Cork O’Connor loses his job after being blamed for a tragedy on the local Anishinaabe Indian reservation. But he must set aside his personal demons when a young boy goes missing on the same day a judge commits suicide—and no one but O’Connor suspects foul play.
-
-
Great New Series
- By Lia on 06-01-18
-
Death at La Fenice
- Commissario Brunetti Mysteries, Book 1
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During intermission at the famed La Fenice opera house in Venice, Italy, a notoriously difficult and widely disliked German conductor is poisoned—and suspects abound. Guido Brunetti, a native Venetian, sets out to unravel the mystery behind the high-profile murder. To do so, he calls on his knowledge of Venice, its culture, and its dirty politics. Along the way, he finds the crime may have roots going back decades—and that revenge, corruption, and even Italian cuisine may play a role.
-
-
Hercule Poirot in Venice...!!!
- By Emil Grancagnolo on 10-09-22
By: Donna Leon
-
When the Bough Breaks
- An Alex Delaware Novel
- By: Jonathan Kellerman
- Narrated by: Alexander Adams
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Morton Handler practiced a strange brand of psychiatry. Among his specialties were fraud, extortion, and sexual manipulation. Handler paid for his sins when he was brutally murdered in his luxurious Pacific Palisades apartment. The police have no leads, but they do have one possible witness: seven-year-old Melody Quinn.
-
-
Changing my ways.....
- By karen on 05-31-13
-
The Stranger Diaries
- By: Elly Griffiths
- Narrated by: Andrew Wincott, Esther Wane, Sarah Feathers, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school English teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she teaches a course on it every year. But when one of Clare’s colleagues and closest friends is found dead, with a line from R. M. Holland’s most famous story, “The Stranger”, left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with the story lines of her favorite literature.
-
-
Good! But...
- By Elle Reich on 04-22-19
By: Elly Griffiths
-
Sworn to Silence
- A Thriller
- By: Linda Castillo
- Narrated by: Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the sleepy rural town of Painters Mill, Ohio, the Amish and "English" residents have lived side by side for two centuries. But 16 years ago, a series of brutal murders shattered the peaceful farming community. Kate Burkholder, a young Amish girl, survived the terror of the Slaughterhouse Killer but came away from its brutality with the realization that she no longer belonged with the Amish. Now, a wealth of experience later, Kate has been asked to return to Painters Mill as Chief of Police. She's certain she's come to terms with her past - until the first body is discovered in a snowy field.
-
-
Surprised me!
- By karen on 09-07-12
By: Linda Castillo
-
A Great Deliverance
- Inspector Lynley, Book 1
- By: Elizabeth George
- Narrated by: Donada Peters
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Into Keldale's pastoral web of old houses and older secrets comes Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton. Along with the redoubtable Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, Lynley has been sent to solve a savage murder that has stunned the peaceful countryside. For fat, unlovely Roberta Teys has been found in her best dress, an ax in her lap, seated in the old stone barn beside her father's headless corpse. Her first and last words were "I did it. And I'm not sorry".
-
-
good debut novel
- By Stevon on 11-11-19
By: Elizabeth George
-
The Cold Dish
- A Walt Longmire Mystery
- By: Craig Johnson
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Introducing Wyoming's Sheriff Walt Longmire in this riveting novel from the New York Times best-selling author of Dry Bones, the first in the Longmire series, the basis for the hit Netflix original series Longmire. Johnson draws on his deep attachment to the American West to produce a literary mystery of stunning authenticity, full of memorable characters.
-
-
Not Your Ordinary Western Novel (Series)
- By Dataman on 09-12-12
By: Craig Johnson
-
Without Remorse
- By: Tom Clancy
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 27 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now a major motion picture starring Michael B. Jordan - watch now on Prime Video! From Tom Clancy, the celebrated author of the Jack Ryan series, comes the number one New York Times best seller that puts CIA operative John Clark front and center...His code name is Mr. Clark. His work for the CIA is brilliant, cold-blooded. and efficient...But who is he really? In a harrowing tour de force, Tom Clancy shows how an ordinary man named John Kelly crossed the lines of justice and morality to become the CIA legend, Mr. Clark.
-
-
Start here if you are new to Jack Ryan.
- By Daniel on 02-07-12
By: Tom Clancy
-
The David Wolf Mystery Thriller Series: Books 1-4
- By: Jeff Carson
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 28 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you love mysteries with action, suspense and a touch of humor and romance, then the David Wolf series is for you.
-
-
Plenty of good listening with four books in one!
- By shelley on 07-22-18
By: Jeff Carson
-
Blood on the Tracks
- Sydney Rose Parnell Series, Book 1
- By: Barbara Nickless
- Narrated by: Emily Sutton-Smith
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young woman is found brutally murdered, and the main suspect is the victim's fiancé, a hideously scarred Iraq War vet known as the Burned Man. But railroad police Special Agent Sydney Rose Parnell, brought in by the Denver Major Crimes unit to help investigate, can't shake the feeling that larger forces are behind this apparent crime of passion. In the depths of an icy winter, Parnell and her K9 partner, Clyde - both haunted by their time in Iraq - descend into the world of a savage gang of rail riders.
-
-
Great debut, looking forward to more from this author
- By shelley on 10-07-16
By: Barbara Nickless
Critic reviews
“Narrator Toren expertly propels the nonstop action of the story.” —AudioFile Magazine
A Long Wait Only to be Disappointed!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A BIG Dissapointment
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Exciting Chases and Ploy Twists
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The characters just aren't likable any more...Clare, who had a serious drinking and drug problem in the last book (which her cop husband didn't notice) was whiny and secretive and in this book Russ is just being mean and condescending.
One of my issues is with the narration...the narrator is good, but too many characters are speaking with the same slow drawl. Most people don't speak that slowly.
It was a good series and I enjoyed the earlier books, but I have to admit I'm glad I'm glad I'm done with it.
Losing Interest in Series
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Julia Spencer Fleming is on a Roll!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Pure Gold
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very good
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
"Through the Evil Days" also adds a darn good thriller to a fine series. There's lots of action and suspense, a real terror of an ice storm, and innocents aplenty in peril. For my taste, there's one or two too many "top this" twists and turns, but the story certainly moves quickly and holds the readers' interest.
Clare and Russ have proven to be a likable, believable characters who complement each other. Their marriage has not brought boredom or total peace of mind to the relationship. I like their feisty individuality and their differences. This volume also throws a great deal of light on the secondary romantic relationship of the series, and this relationship is every bit as interesting and complicated as the one between Clare and Ross. I marvel that Spencer-Fleming is so good at developing these romances while still maintaining a religious/philosophic element and first-class suspense in the series. I will definitely be back for the next adventure!
The narrator is a different issue. Although I like her basic reading voice very much, I find her extreme attempt to change tone for different characters a bit disconcerting. She tries too hard: those overly gruff male and sickeningly sweet female voices are distracting to a point nearing the absurd. There's plenty of drama in the book. I'd prefer a little less overdone narration.
Action, Suspense, Bad Weather!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Eagerly awaiting the next book in the series
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Would you listen to Through the Evil Days again? Why?
Suzanne Toren, the narrator makes you lose yourself in the story with her thoroughly professional performance. Each character comes to life as the story unfolds. Even so, I would not listen to this story again because the end is so unsatisfactory. Two of the characters that Spencer-Fleming makes the reader care about are smashed, metaphorically-speaking, at the very end of the book. I was left flattened with no sequel in sight!What does Suzanne Toren bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Because of Suzanne Toren's narration, as well as fully developed characters via excellent writing on Spencer-Fleming's part, Russ and Claire are living breathing people. Each is clearly distinct as are the other characters in the story.Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
I barely stopped listening, except to be polite to my husband once the story got into full swing. Whew! Sp-Fleming plots one amazing twist after another!Any additional comments?
I've read all of the Russ/Clare series and listened to most of them as well. Clare is such a complicated and sympathetic part of the story that I have been drawn back to the series and continue to enjoy the books. It surely takes some time to produce such well-written books, but, darn it! hurry up with Book 9!Left Hanging
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.