I must say that this book is a MAJOR disappointment. I've read every other book that Feist has written and this is by far the worst. First the murder doesn't happen until near the end of the book. Second, the majority of the novel deals with the weather conditions of LaMut when the blizzard hit. I know it was probably cold but do we really need endless pages describing people not wanting to go out in the cold and standing around giving everyone the "evil eye" . Speaking of standing around that's all about what everyone does, stand around and try to figure out who's friends and who the next big shot is going to be. Finally of the main three characters talk about stereotypes...let's see we have the smart one, the big one , and and average guy who tries to be nice. If you are a Feist fan and want to read it all, go ahead but be warned.