Icy clutches

In search of peace and quiet, Gideon has accompanied his wife, Julie, to a forest rangers’ conference in Glacier Bay, Alaska. Also there is Audley Tremaine, the scientist who led an ill-fated expedition to the area 30 years before, in which three graduate students were killed in an avalanche. Audley has written a book about the incident, and he’s in Alaska to review the manuscript with relatives of the deceased. The book contains plenty of juicy revelations about the victims, and it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that Audley’s days are numbered. When the bones of two of the grad students turn up at the avalanche site, Gideon’s examination proves that one was dead before the snow even hit. So much for his restful vacation; Gideon now finds himself with two crimes to solve — one old, one new. “Icy Clutches” suffers a bit from an overreliance on coincidence, but on the whole, Mr. Elkins’ light touch and his hero’s slightly self-deprecating charm make this a marvelous mystery.