The Long Cold Winter, Book Two of the “509 Crime Stories” by Colin Conway is a gripping mystery novel that takes place in Spokane, Washington, 2017.

Detective Dallas Nash is a recent widower and it’s all he can do to get out of bed. He’s called back to work, but his heart really isn’t into it. Yet he knows he should, he needs to put his mind on something other than his terrible loss. On the way to work he visits his wife’s grave, and again feels the pain of losing her.

To ease him back into working Major Crimes, his supervisor assigns Dallas a cold case. It’s a murder dating back to 1987. Going over the file, Dallas realizes he recognizes the victim–a girl who went to the same high school. He even remembers cruising Spokane’s main drag with friends on a Friday night and one of the fellows, a friend of a friend, points out the girl and says that she’s his girlfriend.

Before he can begin working the case, he’s called out on a murder just discovered. A snow-covered body lies in an open field. The detective has no witnesses and no suspects. So now he has both a recent murder and a thirty-year-old murder to solve.

Author Colin Conway does a good job of describing the mind of a detective. It’s winter in Spokane and Detective Nash spends much of his time battling snow and slush. It’s hard enough working in these conditions, but even tougher when battling depression over losing his beloved wife. Yet he pushes on with surprising results.

People who like mysteries will enjoy this highly suspenseful novel. Those who attended high school or college in the late eighties and early nineties will probably recognize the music titles that haunt Detective Nash. I enjoyed the jargon between the detectives, and learning about the police procedures used in solving cases. Many of the references to the Spokane area were familiar to me. Although I live in the western part of the state, we’ve spent a lot of time in eastern Washington, which constitutes nearly two-thirds of the entire state. The author does a good job of creating a sense of place and time.