Semi-retarded, Jonathan Hamilton makes a call that is forwarded to the volunteer Fish and Game Warden for response since all other officials are out of town. Warden McClure responds to the scene to find Jonathan’s grandparents hacked to death. Expert handling of a crime scene is a skill not normally found in volunteer game wardens. This, coupled with Jonathan’s diminished capacity, creates a variety of potential loopholes.

But some of these loopholes close quickly when the town unites in believing that Jonathan committed the crimes and that his statements amount to a confession. Add to this mixture a slick, ambitious district attorney, a judge who seemingly has already made up his mind, and the fact that the double murder makes the crime a capital offense in the newly legalized death penalty in New York, and the result is a less than level playing field.

Matthew Fielder is a criminal defense attorney who dropped out of the rat race of New York City and built a cabin within 100 miles of Flat Lake. He is a graduate of the much-vaunted “Death School” that qualifies him to be appointed to defend in criminal cases that involve the death penalty. Although initially reluctant to take Jonathan’s case, he quickly becomes involved and assembles a team to assist him in developing a defense.

Fielder is not exactly a random choice for a surname by the author, as baseball analogies are common within the book. The most dramatic one is inherent in the theme: what it means to be the “visiting team” in a town already committed to the guilt of your client. From this premise we run the gambit ending quixotically enough with a “Fielder’s Choice.”

The author, a criminal defense attorney who lives in upstate New York, excels in two areas in this book: weaving the landscape and the people within it into unrelated segments that suddenly fit together in the end and an exceptional command of the nuances of the criminal justice system -- something very refreshing in a legal thriller.

For my taste, though, the writing style is ponderous and the ending too rushed. The story is told anonymously in the manner of a newspaper reporter chronicling events. What you learn about each character is only what is observed by this omniscient eye with the exception of what the dialogue reveals. If this style bothers you, avoid this book. But if the dispassionate rendering of a complex legal thriller appeals, then Flat Lake in Winter is a definite recommend.

--Thea Davis