Jules Clement, erstwhile archaeologist and currently sheriff of Montana's Absaroka County, has just the right touch of irony to guide readers through the social, criminal, redneck, and alternative subcultures of Blue Deer. When the snow melt reveals the frozen body of Anna Baden a few feet from her front door, Jules suspects more than alcohol was to blame; he's sure her husband, Leon, manager of the Bachelor bar and proprietor of the adjoining second-hand store, had something to do with it. And there's something strange about Leon's connection with the niece of Halsey Merriwether, the rich old eccentric whose collection of treasures Jules has been inventorying. Halsey also owns the Hotel Sacajawea, which is being renovated for the long-awaited nuptials of Alice and Peter, Jules's best friends in Blue Deer. In not-so-short order a naked floater surfaces in a river, the head of an unidentified John Doe pokes up out of a snow bank, and a carpenter working on the renovation seemingly commits suicide by jumping into a swimming pool at the hotel. In his fourth outing (An Unfortunate Prairie Occurrence), this laid-back lawman connects the dots between the murders, gets Peter to the wedding on time, and finds himself falling in love with sweet Caroline, his deputy. More of a leisurely jaunt with a witty companion than a police procedural, Blue Deer Thaw will please Harrison's many fans, who appreciate her deft hand at characterization and her love/hate relationship with the southwestern corner of Montana she calls home. --Jane Adams