A thirty-year old case. A body discovered in the snow.For one grieving detective, it’s going to be a long, cold winter.After the passing of his wife, Major Crimes Detective Dallas Nash is handed a cold case to ease him back into the job.Three decades prior, a teenaged girl was strangled to death. Upon examining her file, Nash makes a startling revelation—as a teenager, he saw the girl shortly … a startling revelation—as a teenager, he saw the girl shortly before that fateful day.
Soon, Nash is dispatched to a separate wintery crime scene. Amid a heavy snow fall, there are no witnesses and no suspects to the murder.
As the temperature remains freezing under a heavy gray sky, can Dallas Nash find two killers—one of which has remained hidden for thirty years?
The Long Cold Winter is the second book in The 509 Crime Stories, a series of novels set in Eastern Washington with revolving lead characters. If you like raw emotion and police procedurals, then you’ll love this story of a heartbroken detective searching for his way back from personal tragedy.
Pick up The Long Cold Winter and discover this exciting new series today!
more
This is the first book I’ve read from this author. It was such a great read that I’ll be looking for more of his work!
One thing to note is that the books in this series have revolving lead characters. But this story was so well-written, I can overlook that even though I prefer getting to know my characters.
In this book, Detective Dallas Nash has lost his wife. The way he grieves really pulls you into the story and tugs at those heart strings. And the way he attacks the cold case he’s assigned – well, the descriptions of how his mind is working (or not!) is so well done, it’s hard to put the book down.
I could relate to this book on so many levels. Having lost my significant other over 15 years ago, I could relate to Dallas when his wife was killed in a car accident. I liked that the author had this happen in the dead of winter during the holidays. I thought it was a great touch to have Dallas grieve during the winter holiday season, which is a depressing time for most people without experiencing a loss. I handled it differently, after his death, I gave away most of his clothing immediately. The cases that Dallas solved were interwoven throughout the story. What a fantastic read. A wonderful edition to the 509 story.
I am looking forward to reading the next story in this series.
So happy I gave this book a go. This is the only book I’ve read in the series – so far. The wintery atmosphere, the writing style, the main character, and the unfolding of the story made it thoroughly entertaining. There was such a sense of realism in the detective grieving the loss of his wife, and the songs that popped into his head. The story easily sweeps you away!
Conway does a lot right here. He handles two separate mysteries, one new and one very cold case, while letting us share the grief of Detective Dallas Nash throughout the investigation. Recently a widower, Nash’s grief is palpable on every page. This runs the risk of dragging down the tale or becoming too much, but the way Conway handles it causes just the opposite. Nash’s journey through his grief is one the reader experiences and explores as much as Nash does, and the novel device of Nash waking with music in his head keeps this experience fresh (as well as adding another small mystery).
In the end, this book is an excellent police procedural in its own right, and fans of that genre will be well pleased on that count. But The Long Cold Winter goes even further to capture the heart-wrenching internal journey that we usually only find in noir or detective stories. I found it to be emotionally engaging, and it left an impression on me that hasn’t faded yet.
A fantastic entry in the 509 series!
The Long Cold Winter by Colin Conway
A 509 Crime Story #2
Grief is a miserable beast that is not easy to tame. Homicide Detective Dallas Nash is not really ready to return to duty solving homicide cases after losing his wife BUT his sense of duty and commitment to the team sees him back at his desk just after Thanksgiving. As he battles depression, spends time at his wife’s grave, deals with songs that come to him in the night and deals with well and not so well wishers he is given a cold homicide case and then a new murder to tackle. Little does he realize that some of the murders will eventually overlap and that he will be able to solve all of the cases he has been assigned by the end of this book. Work does help somewhat with his grief but it is no panacea…by the end of the book he is still not finished with his grief. I hope that in book three we will find out how he is doing.
What I liked:
* Dallas – he was “real” in his emotions and interactions – he was not perfect but he was human and very believable
* Police procedural aspects of the story: how Dallas thought and went about solving the cases
* The dips into the past
* Glimpses of police interactions on the job
* Learning that 509 was not a call sign but an area code
* The support system in place for Dallas when he is ready to reach out
What I did not like:
* The people I was meant NOT to like
* The fact that sometimes people can get away with murder for decades
* The way some manipulate others
* It seems I disliked exactly what I was meant to dislike.
I have not read the first book in this series but plan to as soon as I can even though it is not essential to read it before reading this book. I believe this is an intriguing series and look forward to reading more as it is written.
Thank you to the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.
5 Stars
Dallas Nash had recently returned to work after his wife’s tragic and sudden death. An emotional mess, he awakes most days with a song in his brain, deciding it is Bobbie’s way of communicating with him. A cold case from 30 years before crosses his desk, and a flash of a memory plus a hunch sets the course for the detective to investigate the case. Simultaneously, a new homicide drops on his desk thanks to the department detective rotation. As the long and depressing winter continues he skips Thanksgiving and Christmas using the excuse of work, as he is unable to deal with his loss and unwilling to pack away all he has left of his wife – her clothes.
I found the police procedural portions engaging and was interested in both cases and their outcomes. Probably because I’m a female, I found his “guy” way of avoiding mourning his wife difficult. Still, Nash is a likeable character, and I appreciate the author avoiding the old stereotype of having the character drink his way through his sorrows. Well done, and clever police work.
This book is about a police officer looking into a cold case. The people involved keep getting killed.
This was a good mystery but i really don’t like to spend time in the mind of a person who is grieving over losing a spouse. This is painful and unpleasant. T’would have been better in third person, imho.
Didn’t like the way it ended
It was ok. Plot kept me going but it wasn’t a can’t put down book
The personal story of the detective who lost his wife and is grieving is interesting. The whodunnit part of the crimes is clever and well developed. So although this won’t be the greatest crime book one has read, it is enjoyable.
Absolutely out of the ordinary characters and plot development. I would love to see more from this character; he’s an original, and charming and stand-offish. The plot had me staying awake at night to finish.