Wow! An intelligent debut mystery that involves a bunch of well-developed characters who almost skate right off the page. I know absolutely nothing about ice hockey but I was swept up in this snowbound page-turner and couldn't put it down until I reached the last page. Well done, Mr. Gruley. I'm waiting for the next one.... ( )

The small town Michigan setting was realistic, as was the hockey dialog. Starvation Lake was well written and entertaining. My only complaint is that there were too many characters to keep track of and the numerous back stories were a distraction. ( )

A well paced mystery with a good storyline. Would benefit from more character development. It is the first in a series so perhaps the characters will be developed in subsequent books. ( )

WOW! What a debut work. Gruley has absolutely captured a small Michigan town, and it's inhabitants. If you are not a fan of hockey (as I am not), you'll learn a lot about it. But the best thing about Starvation Lake is Gruley's absolutely spot on inhabitants of this book. And I use "inhabitants" rather than "characters", because they come alive. I personally hate a book with 2 dimensional characterizations. I can't wait until Gruley comes out with the next Starvation Lake story. I'd be willing to bet that it won't be a direct to paperback, but a real hard-cover for Gruley next time. I wonder what Gus, Darlene, Dingus and Soupy will be up to then. ( )