Scars

Our Ragtag Daily Prompt for today is SUSPENSE — which gives me the chance to tell you about a couple of books I’ve read lately.

SCARS
By Canadian writer Dr. Kevin Dautremont

One of the best Christian mystery books I’ve read, comparable to Dan Walsh’s mysteries. I enjoyed the writing style, somewhat like that of James Patterson, where the events are told in quick, intense spurts. I had no trouble following as the writer took readers from one character to another, revealing their feelings and motives, neatly weaving in the back-story for the various main characters and showing their interactions, good or bad.

Doctor Derek Kessler has moved to Montana to try and put behind him the accident that took the lives of his wife and young daughter. “Where was God that day? Why did He allow them to die?” Like gray clouds, the questions still hover, challenging his faith. Rebecca Andrychuk is a tough lawyer with issues from her troubled past, a broken relationship with her father and her mother’s suicide. The Sheriff has his own wounds; however, behind his pugnacious front and personal biases he wants to know the truth.

I found the story well plotted, not a thriller but a moderate level of suspense, moving along at a steady pace toward the surprising ending twist. The story is complete as is, but I was sorry to reach the end. Having gotten to know these main characters, I’d like to read more about each of them and would welcome a sequel.

THE AMAZON.COM LINK for SCARS

The first book in the Freddy Pilkington-Soames series. Very well written! No high suspense, but the story grabs you from the first page and keeps you reading. The victim, Ticky Maltravers, is supposedly adored by everyone—but the fact is, no one really likes the self-centred fellow. After a dinner party with some of his supposed admirers he dies on the way home. Worse, he shares a cab with Freddy’s mother and collapses almost on her doorstep, making her look guilty of some mischief. She enlists Freddy — horrified and very annoyed — to take his body home somehow so no one will accuse her.

Realistic attitudes for that era, yet the dialogue is more of a parody on the thinking of the upper crust snobs before the Great War. “Police are a nuisance asking questions and they have no right to bother us this way. It should be obvious that none of us could possibly be guilty. We just don’t do that sort of thing.” And Freddie, nosing around asking questions, makes himself the biggest nuisance of all. He may be a humble reporter at the daily paper, but he has an air of Lord Peter Wimsey about him.

I’ve also enjoyed a couple of the Angela Marchmont Mysteries by this same British author; A Question of Hats is a good one. These and the Freddy Pilkington-Soames Adventures are traditional English whodunits set in the 1920s and 30s.

THE AMAZON.COM LINK for BLACKMAIL IN BELGRAVIA