Burying The Hatchet by Chris Well
Earl Walker is an elderly, wheel-chair-bound, amateur sleuth who is determined to prove the innocence of his new pastor. When Earl’s new pastor meets with a psychic for a public meeting, the pastor leaves the room and the psychic is found dead – the pastor is arrested for the crime.
Earl is feeling his way through Christianity and detective work in this novel. He’s a Christian, but still new to the scriptures. In his heart, he feels his pastor is innocent of this crime, and he’s determined to prove this fact. In the midst of his detective work, Earl is falling in love with Gloria, a dear elderly friend. He also consorts with a young woman named Jenny whom he nicknames “College”. As the threesome attempt to solve the murder, they keep running into the town’s deputy who accuses them of interfering with a federal investigation.
A lot of other things happen in this story – some church members want to oust the pastor since he’s been arrested for killing a psychic. There’s an author (Page) in town who’s trying to get the lead for his next book and Earl joins forces with Page since Page has already done a lot of research about the serial killings of elderly people in the area.
This book was a light, slightly humorous, enjoyable read. It also was interesting to read a novel from the viewpoint of an elderly person. I don’t see a whole lot of novels being published with older protagonists.
Ironically, this book touched upon some subjects that I’ve been blogging about lately. The disappearance of Philip was mentioned as well as the dangers of psychics.
Overall a good read that I’d highly recommend.