B. G. Holcomb was the countrys leading radio and television evangelist until a TV expose of a phony healing brought the ministry to its knees. Having lost his wife, his daughter and most of the people he thought were his friends, B. G. spends the next twenty years in self-imposed obscurity until his lifeless body is discovered in a cheap motel room, alone and forgotten. Max Needleman, a freelance writer who cannot forget his own childhood encounter with the former evangelist, happens across a notice about B. G.s death in the newspaper and is drawn to find out more. A cryptic message scribbled in the margin of a Bible found next to the body makes the detective in charge of the investigation suspect murder in spite of the fact that there is no evidence to suggest that B. G. died of anything other than natural causes. Max manages to find Forrest Taylor, B. G.s last remaining friend, but while the alcoholic Taylor acts as though he wants to help, its obvious that he knows things he doesnt want to talk about. Its only after B. G.s ex-wife shows up that Max and the police find out about Tony Pellerman, the son of B. G.s ex-partner, who not only has a possible motive but was staying in B. G.s motel the night of the murder. While the police are rapidly losing interest in the case because of the absence of any hard evidence, Max finds himself more deeply absorbed in spite of his wifes objections and his editors demands. He not only wants to understand B. G. but Tony, as well, the man B. G. had come to love like a son but who had come to hate B. G. with unrestrained intensity. In the end, B. G.s death manages to match his life, a mlange of miracles and ambiguities, uniquely satisfying to some, empty and preposterous to others.
