Ice Cold -- Tess Gerritsen

In this latest thriller from Tess Gerritsen, Boston pathologist Maura Isles and police detective Jane Rizzoli are taken far away from their usual habitat. Isles is in Wyoming at a medical conference. She's unsure about her relationship with priest Daniel Brophy, and she accepts an invitation from a guy she met in med school, an invitation that winds up with them and three others stranded in a wilderness cabin in the depths of winter.

The cabin is part of an isolated village known as Kingdom Come, established by a charismatic religious cult leader whose male followers have numerous child brides. But there's no one in Kingdom come now. All have disappeared. Cell phones don't work there. One of the people along with Isles is seriously injured and dying. They need help. And someone's watching them.

Back home in Boston Jane Rizzoli gets a call to let her know that Isles is missing. Rizzoli and her FBI agent husband go to Wyoming. A fruitless search ensues, and they leave. Then they get a call saying that Isles's body has been found.

This books combines the wilderness survival thriller with a mystery, grim and gory forensics, and an anyone-can-die-at-any-time plot. Good stuff. The final paragraphs hint that we might be seeing a spin-off with a couple of the characters, or maybe they'll just appear with Rizzoli and Isles. That would be fun.

There's a new TV series featuring Rizzoli and Isles starting on TNT tonight. Check it out.