It is winter in New York and the weather is getting colder. The CSI NY team are called to investigate two murders. The first crime scene reveals the body of a middle-aged man lying half in/half out of an elevator in an Upper East Side apartment block. Although the victim has been shot there are no bullets, no DNA evidence and no apparent motive for the crime. The only lead seems to be the fact that this particular elevator only leads to the top 4 or 5 storeys of the block – the Penthouse and other large, high quality apartments.

The second murder is that of a witness killed while in protective custody and with two police officers in the next room. Neither officer saw anything suspicious and the only apparent access to the room is via a tiny bathroom window, no more than 14 inches in size.

Dead of Winter is the first CSI NY TV tie-in that I have read, and, I must admit, I was initially a little concerned whether the characters would be faithful to those in the TV series. I have read other TV tie-ins where it is blatantly obvious that the author has not seen any of the TV episodes and is writing from a guide provided by the publishers. (In one such book the author actually got the name of one of the main characters wrong!)

However, in the case of Dead of Winter, Stuart Kaminsky has written characterisations that feel pretty faithful to those on the TV. The relationships and interplay between the characters feels natural and you can almost picture each individual scene as the story plays out. The only thing that is different is the treatment of the scientific explanations. In the TV series the science-bits are shown with a particular style (the camera often seems to follow the weapon into the body of the victim). This is almost impossible to portray in words alone as the TV effect is almost entirely visual, but this is a minor difference.

Altogether this is a great crime novel and should be enjoyed by fans of the series and other readers alike. If this particular book is a typical example of the rest of the series then I look forward to reading some of the others.

Synopsis
New York is known as the city that never sleeps. On its constantly hustling, bustling streets crime never sleeps either; and nor do the ever-vigilant crime-fighters who strive to solve its murder cases and bring perpetrators to justice using the very latest in forensic investigative techniques. Now, high-tech science comes to the Big Apple as Detective Mack Taylor (Sinise) and his partner, Detective Stella Bonasera (Kanakaredes), lead a team of dedicated, case-cracking experts in the gritty, kinetic city.