Winter Frost

A Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery, Book 2

By: Lauren Carr

Narrated by: Mike Alger

Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's Summary

It all started with a chance encounter in the city with Blair, his late wife. 

Chris Matheson and the Geezer Squad, working under the guise of a book club, dig into the events surrounding his late wife’s supposed death halfway around the globe. A state department employee shoots himself in the back three times. A CIA operative goes missing. A woman is targeted by an international assassin three years after being declared dead in a terrorist attack overseas. 

Nothing is as it seems. 

In his most personal cold case, Chris fights to uncover why the state department told him that Blair, the mother of his children, had been killed when she was alive. What had she uncovered that has made her a target? Who terrified her so much that she had gone into hiding, and why are they now after him?

©2019 Terri Lynn Zaleski (P)2019 Terri Lynn Zaleski

Awesome Plot!

Lauren Carr has created an amazing book in Winter Frost. I loved how the book is full of unexpected twists, great imagery, and fitting humor. Chris has believed his wife has been dead for over 3 years, and when he’s ready to move on, his life is turned upside down. This book is both a standalone listen and part of a series. I really enjoy how the author has developed the characters and included realistic details. Her descriptions of the German Shepherd’s antics are spot on. The Geezer Squad sounds like such a fun book club! They add to the story too. This book has so many endearing characters. I love how some of them are incorporated from other books by this author. It’s like catching up with old friends. Mike Alger performance of this book is perfect. He adds the right emotions and has distinguished voices for the various characters. I requested this review copy audiobook and have voluntarily written this review. I will most definitely listen to more books by this author.

loved this book so funny the dog were funny to

really enjoy the dogs and all the characters in the book loved the narrator Looking forward to the next book

My favorite Lauren Carr book yet

Lauren Carr has knocked it out of the park this time. I enjoyed every second of this book, not that I don't enjoy all of her books. This one for some reason was just really great to me. Winter Frost has it all, Spy's, murder, espionage, undercover agents, faked deaths, a touch of romance, and the Geezer Squad. I love that Lauren does not overwhelm us with graphic language and sex scenes. These things do not need to be added to make great books. I love Lauren's writing style, her books are fast paced and not filled with descriptions of people, places, and things that bring nothing to the story.

Chris Matheson buried his wife or at least thought he had 3 years before. Until he runs into her face to face one day. While still in shock over Blair being alive a few days later Chris learns she really has been murdered this time, and in their old back yard. Chris and the Geezer Squad set out to answer a lot of questions. Why he was told she was dead to begin with. What she uncovered to fake her death and to end up murdered for real this time. And why is his family is being targeted by hired killers. As the mystery unravels so does the hurt of Blair leaving them in the first place.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Winter Frost

In this second installment, Winter Frost continues Lauren Carr’s A Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery series. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, Ice, and this one did not disappoint me. Readers can read this one as a stand alone but I would recommend to read Ice first before starting this one. It gives more of a back story of Chris Matheson, his family and his friends.
Winter Frost involves the main character from Ice, Retired FBI agent, Chris Matheson, and his investigative team, the Geezer Squad. They go undercover as a book club to find out the death of his late wife and mother of his children, Blair, on the other side of the world. What they discover completely through me for a loop. I had no idea they would find what they did! I would have never predicted what would happen next. Which involves, federal government employees from going missing to getting shot in the multiple times, foreign terrorists attacks and faked deaths.
Winter Frost is another fun and entertaining read. It is full of colorful characters, including highly intelligent canine, Sterling. He is just so funny that made me laugh all the way through. The plot has action, adventure, mystery and suspense.
I would give Winter Frost one hundred stars if I could. I highly recommend this book. It is not one to be missed! If the reader is a audiobook fan, the narrator for this one does an awesome job with his performance bringing the pages to life. I hope there will be more in the series in the future.
I received this book from the publisher. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.

lots of action

this book has lots of action, lies, spies, and dirty government secrets. the narrator is awesome and I got a kick out of the pets. There's violence but not graphic, a little bit of cursing, no adult content. in all an excellent audio book.

Great characters

I chose to listen to this book after receiving a free copy of the audiobook. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. I’ve read several of Lauren Carr’s books including the first Chris Matheson novel, ICE. I enjoy her books and I like how the characters from different series are intertwined.


Chris Matheson’s wife Blair died overseas, and he has moved on and is dating his childhood sweetheart, Helen. On what is supposed to be a special date night, Chris sees his dead wife! He follows her but instead of catching up to her, he kills a hitman who was after Blair. Now Chris and the Geezer Squad are on the case along with Murphy, a character from another of Lauren Carr’s series.


Winter Frost is fast-paced and full of action and mystery. The characters are great, especially Chris’s mom, Doris, and his dog, Sterling. Doris is one of a kind and takes matters into her own hands when she needs to, sometimes with hilarious results. Sterling is a smart dog and can even change radio channels and win at card games.

I like the narrator. He's narrated a lot of these books (if not all). He's got a good voice and has good pace and timing.


If you like a good mystery with unique characters, a lot of action, humor, and a touch of romance, you’ll enjoy this book. Even though it’s the second book in a series, it stands on its own.

Incredibly complex series of plots and sub-plots

Whoa! WINTER FROST: A Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery starts off with a bang – literally, as the first of many deaths happens in a book with a high body count and a lot of action. For readers like me who are familiar with and fans of book one in the series, ICE, you’ll be delighted that the same endearing cast of characters returns in all its glory. If you haven’t yet jumped on this series, get to it, but don’t be concerned about starting here. Each of the books stands alone, but I do feel like you get a leg-up by having read book one first.

“It was bad enough that his date with Helen had been ruined by him being forced to kill an international assassin threatening to kill the wife he had thought was dead.”

Yeah. That is how WINTER FROST rolls. Don’t daze-out while you’re listening to this story or you may never find your way back. Author Lauren Carr has designed an incredibly complex series of plots and sub-plots that totally come together to provide a fabulous story – even if I was a bit lost some times. I feel like I might have done better reading this one with my eyes because part of the complexity lies in the cast of characters, and in this book, the groupings of them: there are a couple of good guy/gal groups and a couple of bad guy/gal groups, and there are a couple of secret organizations, and there are an abundance of people involved in each of them, so it’s hard to keep them straight when listening to the story. (I believe that in the print copies, Carr provides a list of the characters at the start of the book – that would be super helpful.)

“Helen didn’t know whether to be impressed or frightened by the 65-year-old librarian. Within two minutes of learning about the two unidentified men in the SUV, Doris had concocted a plan to capture them. She’d read it in a book, though she couldn’t remember the author or the title. She did recall that it had a red and black cover.”

Regardless of my confusion with the new characters, the familiar and favorite characters kept me grounded in the story. Doris, our main character’s sassy mother, kept me laughing and is so realistically written that I truly feel like she exists in the world. What a hoot! Additionally, the Geezer Squad “book club” is back and is the backbone of getting to the root of the mysteries and kicking butt and taking names in the process. Also returning to the spotlight is the fabulous retired police dog, Sterling, whose scenes are always spiked with a comic element.
“Politics is like carbon monoxide. As soon as politics touches anything, it drains every ounce of life and sanity from it.”

Chilling chase scenes, multiple crises, explosions, death, destruction, and general mayhem are all placed within the context of some rotten political shenanigans where the name of the game is powerful people doing whatever it takes to stay at the top and having fixers to clean up the messes. With this angle, Carr hits pretty close to what’s in the headlines with WINTER FROST. With the exception of some odd, heavily religious moments that seemed to come out of nowhere, WINTER FROST is solid and well written.

Readers will be slammed from side to side as the story takes its corners quickly and sharply. Just as you catch your breath, there’s a serious mic drop moment with only thirty minutes or so left in the eight plus hour audio, and then the loose ends are rapidly tied and issues resolved as the story pulls into park. There’s no way I’ll miss reading the next book in this series. Hooked.

ABOUT THE NARRATION. Narrator Mike Alger returns and does another terrific job of voicing the massive cast of characters. There is a fair amount of internal monologue, and some effects have been added so listeners can easily distinguish it from regular dialogue. Alger’s pacing is good, and he does every voice, from sultry secret agent to geeky tech guy, with style. I listened to the audio at 1.25x speed due to my typical audio impatience.

Thank you to iRead Book Tours and the author for providing me an audio book download in exchange for my honest opinion – the only kind I give. This full review and other special features on Hall Ways Blog.

Edge of your Seat Listening

I absolutely love listening to Mike Alger read these thrilling stories. From the voice of Nigel to the contributions of Sterling and Monique, to the echoey sounds of retrospection, this is a nonstop heart pounding mystery adventure.
What happens when the wife you thought was dead for years is spotted waiting for a train? And you are forced to kill an international assassin to save her life? How do you explain that to the authorities, who may not actually BE the authorities?!?!?
Bringing together some of the younger and still active members of those unnamed government agencies (and friends, family, etc) plus a group of senior crime solvers, you have to pay close attention to find out who is who and on whose side.
What did Blair see and know that required her to leave her family and make others think her husband Chris was not always a good person. When she is killed for a second time...
Politics and espionage and treachery on all levels, including gossipy neighbors, this is a series that will thrill crime readers who enjoy military tales and technology and complicated plots.
Hitting close to home for readers of any of Lauren Carr's series, you will be on the edge of your seat many times before this book is finished.

Bittersweet

Lauren Carr does is once again. This book Winter Frost is filler of mystery. It will pull you into the story from the first page to last page. I loved it.

As we know Chris, and his family. We also have Helen and her daughter. We running into and meet Chris supposed dead wife Blair. We also have Murphy join forces with Chris Matheson. I love that the author did this. Bring Murphy and Tristan into the mix. They were more of sub characters but almost like the main characters.

The story was really told well. I can say the narrator did wonderful. I hope to see more mix of the other series like having Chris be brought in with his book club into the other series. I was really surprised and happy when I heard Murphy name when he was helping with Chris escape. We have action from the beginning to the end.

If you have not picked up Lauren Carr books you are missing something. Pick any of her books and you will be hooked. I can not wait to read more. So glad to have two more to read or listen to this time around. Mystery lovers and Crime and detective loves would love these books and series.

Lauren Carr is AMAZING

I want to be a member of the old geezer club! This is a kind of club I would get along with. I loved that this connected to Mac’s books. Lauren Carr is so talented. And it wouldn’t be a Lauren Carr book without the human like animals. These pets are so smart and interact as if they are a human. The card counting dog is my favorite. I can’t wait for the next one!

Easy listening

quite entertaining and good characters, love the animals ! sterling reminds me of my own dog.

Winter Frost

Winter Frost will keep you on the edge. Cold cases heat up and the body count stacks up. But the plot will keep you turning the pages to the end. Well written and full of action