Back on Murder, by J.Mark Bertrand

J.Mark Bertrand is an American writer and a cyber-friend who I've known for some years now. I can't remember how we first got in touch with each other. He's an author, and the very day that we left for Britain a copy of his book "Back on Murder" appeared in our mail-box, wonderfully wrapped in newspaper such that a random, scary face was gazing at the postman (and at us).

So we took it with us in the car and Pat read it aloud to us as we drove. Mark loves good pens and well-bound Bibles, so I imagined how he'd like the thought of his book being read aloud to a family on a 'road trip'.

The book's a delight. It's a fairly straightforward American detective novel in the "noir" tradition, and it's an honest book, not a pastiche or a self-conscious clone. The hero is troubled, not too easy to identify with. The plot is complicated and everything is in there - a rather disturbing church, young girls up to who-knows-what, drugs, bent cops, a funky youth-pastor who may not quite be what he seems...

Hearing the book read aloud worked very well. It sounded right. You can get the book from Amazon here. Recommended if you like detective fiction.

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