Richard Tracy

Richard Tracy is a retired detective who gardens and runs marathons. His adult children have convinced him to join them on the Texas MS 150, a bike ride to raise money for MS research because anyone who runs marathons will have no trouble riding 150 miles in two days. Mary Beth Austin is a retired chef who is a gardener and a serious bicyclist. While riding in the MS 150, they meet and fall in love. Both want this relationship to mature into marriage so that they can spend their golden years gardening together, but at the finish of the event, they are engulfed in an explosion. Richard wakes up in a hospital, but Mary Beth has disappeared without a trace except that the EMT who treated Richard said that a man wearing an old Marine Corps uniform took her by the hand and lead her away. A platoon of mental patients, some escaped from lock wards, think it is still 1969. They believe they are in Laos, separated from their units. They are marching east to rejoin US forces. They want revenge for fallen buddies and are prepared to attack any target of opportunity they encounter. They mistake the stream of bicyclists on the MS 150 for a bicycle convoy headed north on the Ho Chi Min Trail to pick up more supplies to take south. In the aftermath of their attack on the MS 150 riders, the sergeant recognizes his wife, Mary Beth, and "rescues" her from the North Vietnamese. The sergeant does not remember that because of his head wound they are not divorced, he only thinks the North Vietnamese have captured her and he must take her safely back to the US. Richard must risk his life to locate and rescue Mary Beth.

This is book 3 of THE RICHARD TRACY SERIES about a retired detective and his wife, a retired chef. The dog next door frequently digs under the fence between the yards. When Theodore digs up a human bone in Richard's yard, the troubles begin. Circumstantial evidence makes it appear that Richard buried the body there. Thus he is charged with murder. The situation is further complicated by a piece of evidence that, while it incriminates Richard, does not seem to be valid. Perhaps someone planted it at the murder scene. While Richard's wife and his lawyer work to discredit the planted evidence, Theodore spots a man who he had seen in the yard at midnight during the investigation. Theodore holds the man until the police can find incriminating evidence on him. This free Richard.