Dust to Dust is set in the middle of a Minneapolis winter. If you’ve ever experienced a winter in the upper Midwest, you know how this book feels. People pull in on themselves. Every house is hunkered down to protect itself from the elements. The nights are long, and sunlight is at a premium. The setting underlines the strong characterization in Tami Hoag’s latest.

If I wanted to classify Dust to Dust as a part of any subgenre of the mystery field, I would call it a police procedural. Something closer to NYPD Blue then to Profiler, if that will give you a frame of reference. It’s set in Minneapolis and features Detectives Nikki Liska and her partner Sam Kovac. The two are homicide detectives who have been called in on the death of a gay police officer. The powers that be insist that Andy Fallon’s death was a suicide by hanging. Since he is the son of a legendary police officer, the papers are told that his death was an accident. Everyone wants the case to go away, except for Liska and Kovac. As they tell themselves, they really work for the victim of homicide, not for the police brass, and though they’ve been told the case is closed they’re not letting the matter rest. Too many people had reason to want Andy out of the way.

I won’t be saying much else about the details of the plot in this review, for a couple of reasons. First of all, if I mention too much else, you’ll get hints to the mystery. Secondly, the mystery to my mind acts more as a backdrop for a character study, then as the primary focus of the book. This book is all about Liska and Kovac, who are perfect reflections of the isolating setting they’re operating in. Each is facing personal demons. Almost every character in this book exists in some kind of isolation. Emotional loneliness is omnipresent.

The character development is the strongest element in this book, but it also presents difficulties for the reader. I was so drawn to Nikki and Sam. They’re strong, resourceful cops who are as honorable as any you’ll find in a detective novel. They can’t say for sure what’s wrong with the suicide scenario for Andy Fallon, but they won’t let it drop until they know. The problem comes from that emotional isolation I mentioned earlier. These two are partners, yet they spend very little time together. Certainly I didn’t expect a romance between them, but they’re almost never in the same chapter. They are pursuing the Fallon death, and other things that become offshoots of the primary investigation, but they are rarely working together.

The writing works. The mirroring of the characterization and setting worked. But I still didn’t love this book. Because both Sam and Nikki are facing their demons alone, the novel has a disconnected feel. I’m certain this was deliberate, but it made the story hard going as the isolation increased exponentially.

I’m not grading the book lower because of the tone; I think the author meant it to feel this way. I’ll return to the mystery to explain why the grade is not higher. Because Nikki and Sam investigate so much by themselves, the actual investigation suffers. If they had been working in tandem the case probably would have been solved sooner. The plot is dragged out because Sam and Nikki, and everyone else for that matter, act as lone wolves. The book’s greatest strength contributes to one of the problems.

The mystery itself ends up going off in too many directions. What starts as a very streamlined and engrossing plot soon diverges into too many smaller investigations – it was hard to follow. One other small problem with the mystery is the brief passages that appear throughout the book, starting with the prologue. These passages make it immediately clear that Sam and Nikki have reason to wonder about Andy Fallon’s death. The mystery would be stronger if the reader didn’t know so immediately that the two detectives are right in their suspicions. If we weren’t sure, the suspense would have been greater.

I loved Nikki Liska and Sam Kovac and I’m sure many of you will as well. But this book will have to catch you in the right mood. Know off the bat that this is not a happy book; gritty police procedurals rarely are. But if you can handle the tone and want to read a story about honorable people struggling to right wrongs against almost overwhelming odds, pick this one up. Though the mystery is just so-so, the characters and writing will grab you.