Captive Company

Jere Black, former police officer from Memphis, TN, only lands in Vermont after a girlfriend lured him there upon securing a promising position for herself at the state university, immediately abandoning him to pursue an even better offer in London, England. Barely settled into a new detective role in a small town, he hates every second of the solitary existence in the cold winter hell hole, nonetheless vowing to survive through all four seasons before returning defeated to the city he loves - one boasting the same population as the entire state where he finds himself. His first big case revolves around Gillian Ingraham, a Vermont captive insurance manager from the impoverished Northeast Kingdom, whose estranged best friend, a best-selling children's book author, is murdered as the novel begins. The prime suspect, the writer's husband, also happens to be Gillian's ex-boyfriend from the group's complicated shared history at college in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. Black is forced to navigate not only the delicate eco system that is Vermont's Resident versus Nonresident bias but also the undercurrent of racism that inevitably taints everything throughout the whitest state in the union, all while juxtaposed against his background growing up where the majority, like him, were African American. Ingraham's less than cooperative stance throughout the murder investigation is a frustrating stumbling block for Black, although hardly no more so than the growing sexual tension between them. Could she actually be responsible for the crime - Nurturing a deep hatred for whom she ultimately blames for the death of her entire family in a horrific auto accident? Trapped in a remote cabin working together to secure a key piece of evidence, is it too late to save their lives? Captive Company offers up a great read on any cold (or hot) night - enjoy!