A small church has outgrown it's leased property and has been given land to build a new sanctuary. But mysterious events conspire to stop the church being built, including personal attacks on the pastor and his members, and murder. The police are skeptical of the pastor's theories about what has happened, so he becomes a sleuth to solve the mystery.
Excerpt
From Chapter 2...
“Thomas, you really think that someone deliberately poisoned people at your church?” Larry’s voice was quietly incredulous.
“What else am I supposed to think? No one was throwing up, it was only diarrhea. They all had major cramps. For almost everyone, it was over by midnight Sunday.” He shifted the phone against his ear for comfort, and discovered how tense he was across the shoulders. “How does it sound to you?”
The phone line was quiet except for the sound of the recorded music from the drugstore’s public address system that filtered through. Reluctantly, Larry said, “It sounds like someone deliberately poisoned them with the laxative.”
Thomas thought for a moment and then asked, “Larry, do you have it in print, what this laxative will do, how effective it is, and all that?”
“Sure, in the PDR—the Physician’s Drug Reference. I can copy the page for you, if you like.”
“Good. Please do that, and I’ll pick it up on my way to the police department. I’m going to turn these boxes over to them and let them deal with it. I’m no detective!”
Professional Reviews
Blinded By Darkness
Blinded By Darkness
Author: Tony Burton
ISBN: 0977840247 / Publisher: Honey Locust Press
Page Count: 200
A page-turner with a steady pulse, Blinded By the Darkness will be treasured by mystery readers of all ages when crime and murder intrude on a rural church setting catapulting Pastor Thomas Wilson into a struggle for his life and the future of his church.
Author Tony Burton blends a balance of mystery, action and suspense in this slice of life setting in a rural community where circumstances thrust Pastor Thomas Wilson into a whodunit when severe stomach cramps send 20% of his small congregation scurrying for the nearest restroom. The mysterious illness halts a fund-raising event meant to kick off plans for building a new church, and drives Wilson to his knees in prayer. Evidence leads the Pastor to suspects within his congregation while the church races against deadlines imposed by the man who donated the land for the new building. A reluctant detective, vandalism to the church and Pastor’s personal property combined with the suspicious death of one of his parishioners raises questions, which catapults Pastor Wilson to risk his life to search out the truth and protect his flock.
I highly recommend this unpredictable book for mystery lovers. The Christian theme is a bonus for those who prefer this component.
Reviewer: Author, speaker, freelance writer and reviewer Donna Sundblad’s love of writing reaches out in varied directions. Author of the writing book Pumping Your Muse and a fantasy novel Windwalker, Donna also serves as the Fantasy Topic Editor and Creative Writing Topic Editor at Inspired Author and teaches online writing classes at Writer's Online Courses. For more details, visit her website at http://www.theinkslinger.net.
Review of Blinded By Darkness
Review of
Blinded By Darkness
by Gloria Feit
The peaceful calm of a small Southern town and its church members is disrupted when several occurrences take place: 3 dozen parishioners are sickened after a church potluck dinner; the church itself is vandalized; one of the church members, a man who has donated property on which a badly needed new church building is to be constructed, is killed in a suspicious ‘accident;’ the tires of the Pastor’s vehicle are slashed; and someone tries to run him and his wife off the road, and succeeds.
Although Pastor Thomas Wilson hates to suspect any of the church members of being behind these events, it is becoming obvious that that is indeed a possibility. The church council had approved the building of the new church, but not everyone agreed that the large expenditure entailed was necessary. And there are some whose interests would be better served if a proposed commercial establishment was erected on the site instead. Pastor Thomas resolves to try to the get to the bottom of these increasingly violent incidents before they escalate further: “Lord, give me wisdom, and help me to understand this puzzle. I’m no detective, but if I’m to minister to my flock, I have to know who to trust and who I can’t trust. And I have to know how to minister even to those who are killers.”
Blinded By Darkness is a quick, eminently readable novel, with all mysteries resolved and an ending that put a smile on my face.
Book eight in my Belinda Lawrence Classic Mysteries. Mysteries confront amateur sleuths, Belinda Lawrence and Hazel Whitby in the Somerset village of Milford.
Among the eccentrics is the shadowy Madam Malefic.
