Ice Shear: A Novel

By M. P. Cooley

A small town cop’s murder investigation turns deadly when she uncovers a web of politics and drugs linked to an outlaw motorcycle gang in this gripping debut suspense novel for fans of Winter’s Bone, Frozen River, Breaking Bad, and Sons of Anarchy.

As a cop on the night shift in Hopewell Falls, New York, June Lyons drives drunks home and picks up the donuts. A former FBI agent, she ditched the Bureau when her husband died, and now she and her young daughter are back in upstate New York, living with her father, the town’s retired chief of police.

When June discovers a young woman’s body impaled on an ice shear in the frozen Mohawk River, news of the murder spreads fast; the dead girl was the daughter of a powerful local Congresswoman, and her troubled youth kept the gossips busy.

Though June was born and raised in Hopewell Falls, the local police see her as an interloper—resentment that explodes in anger when the FBI arrive and deputize her to work on the murder investigation. But June may not find allies among the Feds. The agent heading the case is someone from her past—someone she isn’t sure she can trust.

As June digs deeper, an already fraught case turns red-hot when it leads to a notorious biker gang and a meth lab hidden in plain sight—and an unmistakable sign that the river murder won’t be the last.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jul 22, 2014
• ISBN: 9780062300713

M. P. Cooley

M. P. Cooley's crime novel Ice Shear was named one of O, The Oprah Magazine's Best Books of Summer 2014 and was called "an excellent debut" by Publishers Weekly in their starred review. A native of upstate New York, Cooley currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Reviews for Ice Shear

[joyanne-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a good police procedural story which has always been an interest of mine. Former FBI agent, June Lyons, works for the local PD and is assigned to a case that blows your mind... a meth lab, biker gangs, and of course murder which just so happens to draw in the FBI because of the the deceased's family. Kept me tied to the book for sure. I wanted to know who the informants were and what the FBI agents were hiding. The only thing that bothered me some of the characters weren't fully developed but not enough to keep me from enjoying the book.I received a copy of this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[icewineanne · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I read the first 125pgs & thought, where is this going, why am I reading this...............it's not particularly well written or even interesting so I decided to quit - too many other great books out there, waiting to be read. My advise (in spite of all of the good reviews) is to give this one a pass, read a Peter James or Tana French novel instead.

[lisasez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Smart and funny, and believably observant about all around her, June Lyons is the type of person you want on your side, and even to share a beer with! M.P. Cooley has written a complicated mystery that leaves you thinking about the characters and the choices they made well after finishing the book. Easy reading, satisfying ending!

[msbaba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Mystery readers must be some of the most discriminating and savvy readers in the fiction world! I love a good mystery, but it is not a genre I read often. When I do, I totally throw myself into the game. I want my mysteries to be complex and authentic. I want to like the main character and get to know this person from the inside out. Then of course, I want there to be tons of realistic clues to throw me off track and stretch my mind to solve the crime. “Ice Shear,” by M. P. Cooley, did all that and more. It’s an intricately plotted and fast-paced mystery by a skillful debut author. There are lots of possible culprits to put readers off balance while working through the evidence. In the end, this book outsmarted me; I didn’t solve it. But I wasn’t disappointed when I found out who the murderer was and the motivation behind the crime. It made sense and made me go back to see how I might have missed some clues…and naturally, I did. I like my mysteries difficult and psychologically convoluted. This one fit the bill.What I loved best about this book was the main character, June Lyons. She’s smart, compassionate, and insightful. Her husband’s death more than two years earlier caused June to leave a promising FBI career and return to her small hometown of Hopewell Falls, New York. There, she settled into a less-demanding job as a local cop. The move gave her the opportunity to live in her childhood home with her retired father. He’s an ex-cop and the perfect caretaker for her young daughter, Lucy.Police work in Hopewell Falls has not been very exciting—mainly handling local drunks and domestic disputes. But as the book begins, two gruesome homicides happen within days of each other and June is swept up in a whirlwind of official business. Because both murders involve the family of a prominent U.S. Congresswoman, the FBI takes over the case. They recognize and appreciate June’s former agency training and deputize her on the spot. As a result, she’s pulled in to work the case directly alongside the agency’s chief investigator. Naturally, sparks fly with the local police chief.The case quickly develops into a major federal crime investigation involving one of the nation’s most notorious motorcycle gangs. Is it possible this West Coast gang is trying to bring its meth production and distribution activities east to Hopewell Falls? How is the Congresswoman involved? Why does her FBI partner keep saying that the local cops don’t have the security clearance to hear certain significant evidence in the case? This is a story that focuses on the intense emotions and hidden motivations found within families. It’s about fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, and especially about siblings. Revenge, retribution, greed, corruption, jealousy, power…what is the motivation behind these murders? Who did it and why?I had a few minor problems with this mystery which kept me from rating it a full-throttle five-star gem, but if I tell you about them, it would definitely give away too much of the plot…and the plot is all the fun, right? Trust me; the book is terrific and certainly worth a try. I predict a good future for this new author.