Hallowed murder / Ellen Hart.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"Hart's crisp, elegant writing and atmosphere [are] reminiscent of the British detective style, but she has a nicer sense of character, confrontation, and sparsely utilized violence....HALLOWED MURDER is as valuable for its mainstream influences as for its sexual politics." MYSTERY SCENE Book one in the Jane Lawless murder mystery series, of which Sandra Scoppettone says: "Ellen Hart is a writer to watch and so is her lesbian sleuth." The police think Allison drowned, but her University of Minnesota sorority sisters insist it was murder. That's when almunae advisor Jane Lawless steps in to find the truth. Abetted by her irrepresssible sidekick Cordelia, Jane searches for clues, and what she finds is as chilling as the Minnesota winter--for in those icy drifts, at a lonely vacation house, she risks everything to ensnare a cunning killer....