ICE by Lauren Carr

Book Details:



Book Title: ICE by Lauren Carr

Genre: Mystery, Crime Fiction, Police Procedural, Cozy

Publisher: Acorn Book Services

Release date: April 25, 2018

Narrated by: Mike Alger, Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins

Content Rating: PG (It's a murder mystery and there is mild violence. Very mild swearing no F-bombs. No on-stage sex scenes.)

Book Description:



The clues for a close-to-the-heart missing person’s case heat up when Chris Matheson starts chipping away at the ice on the cold case.

When Sandy Lipton and her unborn child disappear, the court of public opinion finds young Chris Matheson guilty. Decades later, the retired FBI agent returns home to discover that the cloud of suspicion cast over him and his family has never lifted. With the help of a team of fellow retired law enforcement officers, each a specialist in their own field of investigation, Chris Matheson starts chipping away at the ice on this cold case to uncover what had happened to Sandy and her baby and the clues are getting hot!



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My Review:
I am a huge Lauren Carr fan. I have read and listened to several of her books. I love her writing style. She involves, family, friends, and pets in all of her books. The books re basically clean reads, there are a few colorful words but not enough to put anyone off, and no sex scenes. She even cleans up some very grisly murders, by giving you just enough description to give you the idea but leaves the blood and gore out. Her books are to me re good for all ages above middle grade.

Ice is book 1 in her new New Series featuring Chris Matheson and Cold Case Files. Chris is a retired FBI agent. He and his 3 daughters move back to his hometown and back in with his parents after the death of his wife.

    Twenty four years ago when Chris was young, Sandy Lipton and her unborn child disappeared. Everyone in town believes the child was his and he had something to do with the disappearance. Now 24 years later there are still some in the town who still believe he had something to do with the it. 

After agreeing to go to a book club which he finds out is a bunch of retired Law Enforcement officers that call them selves the Geezer Squad. The Geezers all jump in to help Chris solve the case whether he is guilty or not. 

There are several twists and turns with this book just as are will all of Lauren's books. I think I am really going to enjoy this new series. I love Cold Cases.

The book is narrated by Mike Alger. he actually narrates several of Lauren's books. I love the way he drags you into the story and keep my attention. He adds lots of emotion to the character voices as well as the story narration. 

About the Author:

Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries—over twenty titles across three fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns!



Now, Lauren has added one more hit series to her list with the Chris Matheson Cold Case Mysteries. Set in the quaint West Virginia town of Harpers Ferry, Ice introduces Chris Matheson, a retired FBI agent, who joins forces with other law enforcement retirees to heat up those cold cases that keep them up at night.



Book reviewers and readers alike rave about how Lauren Carr’s seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery, suspense, crime fiction, police procedurals, romance, and humor.



​Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, and three dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.



​Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Instagram

Lauren Carr Interview for ICE

1. Lauren, your upcoming new release ICE doesn’t involve any characters from your three popular mystery series. What inspired ICE and the Chris Matheson Cold Case Mysteries?

A true crime documentary inspired the premise for ICE. In this documentary, a group of former students gathered together to investigate the murder of a nun they had as a teacher. Now in their fifties and sixties, each student brought their own unique talents to the investigation.

As a mystery writer, I thought, “What if …” As I started my research, I discovered that there are quite a few police departments that bring in retired law enforcement officers to tackle cold cases.

But then, I needed a protagonist to be the center of this team who call themselves the Geezer Squad. Living close to Washington, I have met more than one law enforcement or federal employee who’ve retired in their mid-forties because they started working right out of high school. As a result of his “youth,” Chris is the outsider on the team and learns quite a bit from the Geezer Squad.

2. Tell us a little bit about your protagonist Chris Matheson.

The sudden death of his wife, killed during a terrorist attack in France, and the death of his father prompts Chris’s retirement as an investigator with the FBI. He moves back home to the family farm to live with his mother, who helps him to raise his three young daughters.

Notice that Chris is surrounded by women since he’s raising three little girls and lives with his mother, who is also dealing with the loss of her husband. But there is one male in his family for him to lean on. That’s Sterling, another retiree. He’s a law enforcement K-9, who recently lost his handler in an ambush.

3. Tell us about the Geezer Squad.

The number one rule of the Geezer Squad is never talk about the Geezer Squad.

The Geezer Squad is a private team of detectives who work under the cover of a book club, which meets at the library where Doris is the director. The squad was founded by Chris’s father after he got kicked out of his wife’s club. After a couple of meetings, the group decided to combine their skills and talents to reopen the cold cases that keep them up at night.

They have to keep their investigations secret because most of the squad members have families who would disapprove of them returning to doing investigative work. That’s why you never talk about the Geezer Squad.   

4. Do you expect to keep Chris Matheson relatively unchanged from book to book, or do you expect to develop him over time?

Very Very much so. Since these upheavals in Chris’s life are still quite fresh in ICE, there’s lots of room for his character to grow. One interesting area is his love life. In ICE, Chris reconnects with his high school sweetheart, Helen, a lieutenant in charge of the homicide division of the state police.

5. Most of your protagonists are male. What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex?

Keeping the difference between men and women in my head. I know. It’s a no-brainer that men and women are different. Not only physically, but they think differently as well. I approach my characters as people first—not a sex. My protagonists are men because I love men. I love spending my time with men. I love talking to men. I even married one. I like to think I understand them—as people. It was another writer who pointed out to me that sometimes my male characters may “talk too much.” By that, she meant that generally, they discuss their feelings more than most men would. Whenever I looked at my husband and son, I had to agree. So I try to keep a close eye on that.

6. What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

Oh, that is a hard question. Writing is who I am. It’s what I do. To answer this, I’ll go based on what I’m doing when my family is most fearful for their lives. It’s getting the words from my head to the keyboard and the hard drive.

You see, I am actually working on my next book in my head while my last book is being edited. I don’t actually sit down to the laptop until I have everything figured out. The victim. How they are killed? Who is the killer? Why? How are they caught? I have that all in my head before I sit down to write. At that time, nothing is written. Now, I am anxious to get it written. But then, life steps in. I have dogs who want walked. A husband who has a nasty habit called eating to survive and he can’t cook. My body needs sleep. All of this interrupts the flow of the words and when they are really coming—I can become quite frustrated.

It’s also my favorite part of writing because I enjoy composing the mystery—I just hate the interruptions.

7. How long on average does it take you to write a book?

Every book is different. Generally, I schedule four months from the time I sit down to start writing it to the time that it is released. That is not counting the couple of months that I am forming the plotline in my head.

8. What is next for you?

I am working on two books that I expect to be released early summer and another this fall.  

Look for the third Thorny Rose Mystery early this summer. Murder by Perfection.

Frustrated with their busy schedules, Murphy Thornton and Jessica Faraday attempt to find togetherness taking a couple’s gourmet cooking course at the Stepford Kitchen Studio, taught by Chef Natalie Stepford.

As if spending her date night cooking isn’t bad enough, Jessica is further annoyed when the beautiful, talented, successful businesswoman starts paying too much one-on-one time with Murphy. When Natalie ends up dead, the Thorny Rose detectives find togetherness doing what they do best. As they peel back the layers of the Stepford marriage, they discover that the pursuit of perfection can be deadly.  

But wait! There’s more! Look for a Mac Faraday Mystery this fall! The next installment in the Mac Faraday Mysteries will be coming out just in time for Christmas - A Murder for Christmas (working title).

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