Mercy and Justice Mysteries

The controversial Reverend Dexter Huckleberry begins to lead protests outside the Hoot-n-Holler, claiming that the bar is a hangout for homosexuals and other "undesirable elements." When Huckleberry is found in his office beaten to death, suspicion falls on the last person to see him alive--an ex-Marine friend of Steve Austin who had a very public confrontation with the victim days before.

When the body of Gwen Tolson's mother is found near Anna's house, a fifty year old secret may hold the key to finding her killer.

Enjoy this Small-Town Murder Mystery Featuring A Unique Sleuthing Couple After almost two months away, I'm so glad to be back to work at Saint Clare's. True, I'm not back to celebrating Mass on a regular basis. But I'm in the office and able to help the people of my parish. I was expecting them to come to me with their problems. But I wasn't expecting them to come offering to help me. So when Martin Maycord proposes a weekend retreat at a mountain lodge owned by a friend of his as a way to help Steve and Bridget Austin get caught up with preparations to have their marriage sacramentalized in the Church, I'm more than eager to accept. Helen and I go off with our friends, expecting a nice weekend in the mountains. We don't expect having to investigate a murder. What's worse, one of our friends is the prime suspect. But what's even worse, I know something about the whole thing, and I can't tell Helen . . . After almost two months away, I'm so glad to be back to work as Chief of Police. It's been rough being away from my people, and I know I have a long way to go to rebuild their trust, but I'm committed to doing just that. But when the opportunity comes up for me to accompany Tom on the retreat organized by Martin Maycord, I just can't turn it down. Especially since it gives me the opportunity to help one of my favorite officers. So Tom and I go off with our friends, expecting to relax while Tom helps Steve and Bridget prepare for their marriage in the church. I didn't expect to wind up investigating a murder. What's worse, one of our friends is the prime suspect. But what's even worse, Tom knows something about the whole thing, and can't tell me . . . The Revealing Retreat is the eighth novel in the Mercy and Justice Mysteries, a contemporary small town mystery series. The series is a sequel to the Father Tom Mysteries that began with The Penitent Priest and includes the same cast of characters. It features Father Tom Greer, a Catholic Priest who is also an amateur sleuth in the tradition of Father Brown, and his wife Helen Greer, female Chief of Police and detective in the tradition of Kinsey Millhone.

Enjoy this Contemporary Small Town Sleuthing Couple Murder Mystery On a stormy night in Myerton, a desperate woman in the throes of labor collapses on Doris Trent's doorstep. Finding no pulse, Doris calls 911 and then takes desperate measures to save the unborn child. When the autopsy casts doubt on Doris' version of events, the respected midwife finds herself under a cloud of suspicion.The Deadly Delivery is the twentieth novel in The Mercy and Justice Mysteries, a contemporary small town mystery series. The series is a sequel to The Father Tom Mysteries that began with The Penitent Priest and includes the same cast of characters. It features Father Tom Greer, a Catholic Priest who is also an amateur sleuth in the tradition of Father Brown, and his wife Helen Greer, female Chief of Police and detective in the tradition of Kinsey Millhone. Susan Mathis was born in and grew up in an extremely small town in Alachua County, Florida where her family has lived for more than 100 years. When Susan was still very young, James (J.R) Mathis was born in a somewhat bigger small town about 100 miles south of where she lived. Within a decade, James' small town would become part of Orlando, the biggest tourist destination in the United States. He was not amused. That is how, while Susan was running barefoot, swimming in lakes full of alligators and feeding chickens, James was sitting in his bedroom reading books faster than his father could bring them home from the library. Were James and Susan to write their love story, it would definitely be an enemies-to-lovers trope. They met in the library where he was working. He found her demands for books that he had to pull and bring to her so unreasonable that he actually turned her into the head librarian. She in turn was so anxious to drive him away that when some friends secretly set them up she laid out an entire speech about how miserable her life was (she is typically very upbeat). Little did she suspect that he had a passionate attraction to misery and they were married just over a year later. Fast forward 26 years, three children, four grandchildren and 20 years of James working for the Federal government. He was diagnosed with a highly treatable but still very scary form of cancer. As so often happens, this brush with mortality inspired him to do something he'd always wanted to do, write a novel. After the publication of the second Father Tom Mystery, Susan joined him as coauthor. As far as the Mathises are concerned, writing together is the most fun a couple can have sitting at a computer.

Enjoy this Contemporary Small Town Sleuthing Couple Cold Case Murder Mystery In his limited spare time, Father Tom has been working on transcribing the diary and letters of Father Liam O'Connor, who served as Saint Clare's pastor in the late 1920s and early 1930s, preparatory to writing a biography of his predecessor. At Anna's not-so-gentle urging, he gives a talk on his research to the monthly meeting of the Myer County Historical Society, mentioning that the young priest died suddenly in his sleep. After his talk, Father Tom is approached by Esther Beasley, an elderly member of both Saint Clare's and the historical society. She claims that her grandmother worked as Father O'Connor's housekeeper and took a bottle from his bedside table containing the last thing the priest drank before he died. He also asks if she can meet with Father Tom soon, since she has something important to tell him.But before Tom can meet with Mrs. Beasley, she's found dead in her home, the victim of an apparent robbery-gone-wrong. Strangely enough, the only thing stolen was Father Liam's bottle. The missing bottle is odd, but then Mrs. Beasley's daughter mentions an old family story to Father Tom. According to it, Father Liam didn't die in his sleep of natural causes. Tom comes to believe her death is related to the missing bottle, but Helen's unconvinced. Then someone breaks into the Rectory and steals Father O'Connor's papers and Father Tom's laptop . . .The Priest's Pen is the twenty-first novel in The Mercy and Justice Mysteries, a contemporary small town mystery series. The series is a sequel to The Father Tom Mysteries that began with The Penitent Priest and includes the same cast of characters. It features Father Tom Greer, a Catholic Priest who is also an amateur sleuth in the tradition of Father Brown, and his wife Helen Greer, female Chief of Police and detective in the tradition of Kinsey Millhone. Susan Mathis was born in and grew up in an extremely small town in Alachua County, Florida where her family has lived for more than 100 years. When Susan was still very young, James (J.R) Mathis was born in a somewhat bigger small town about 100 miles south of where she lived. Within a decade, James' small town would become part of Orlando, the biggest tourist destination in the United States. He was not amused. That is how, while Susan was running barefoot, swimming in lakes full of alligators and feeding chickens, James was sitting in his bedroom reading books faster than his father could bring them home from the library. Were James and Susan to write their love story, it would definitely be an enemies-to-lovers trope. They met in the library where he was working. He found her demands for books that he had to pull and bring to her so unreasonable that he actually turned her into the head librarian. She in turn was so anxious to drive him away that when some friends secretly set them up she laid out an entire speech about how miserable her life was (she is typically very upbeat). Little did she suspect that he had a passionate attraction to misery and they were married just over a year later. Fast forward 26 years, three children, four grandchildren and 20 years of James working for the Federal government. He was diagnosed with a highly treatable but still very scary form of cancer. As so often happens, this brush with mortality inspired him to do something he'd always wanted to do, write a novel. After the publication of the second Father Tom Mystery, Susan joined him as coauthor. As far as the Mathises are concerned, writing together is the most fun a couple can have sitting at a computer.

Enjoy These Contemporary Small Town Mysteries Featuring A Unique Sleuthing Couple. This is a collection of books 4-6 in The Mercy and Justice Mysteries. This series is a sequel to The Father Tom Mysteries that began with The Penitent Priest and includes the same cast of characters. It features Father Tom Greer and his wife Chief of Police Helen Parr Greer, a sleuthing couple committed to the pursuit of justice tempered with mercy while solving mysteries old and new. The Cardinal's Conscience (Book 4): When the body of Gwen Tolson's mother is found near Anna's house, a fifty year old secret may hold the key to finding her killer. The Conned Cougar (Book 5): Father Tom and Helen travel to Bellamy, Florida, when Tom's mother Nola is accused of murdering her twenty-four year old lover, Trevor. While trying to find the real killer and clear his mother's name, Tom and Helen discover that the dead man had a lot of secrets--and those secrets each had a motive for murder. Along the way, Helen comes face to face with a woman from Tom's past, and Tom once again has to face the demons from his childhood.The Sorrowful Son (Book 6): Abraham Asher drops dead of an apparent heart attack at the end of the Myerton Softball League's All-Star Game. When Helen receives evidence he was poisoned, she begins to hunt for a killer.

Enjoy These Contemporary Small Town Mysteries Featuring A Unique Sleuthing Couple.This is a collection of books 13-15 in The Mercy and Justice Mysteries. This series is a sequel to The Father Tom Mysteries that began with The Penitent Priest and includes the same cast of characters.The Detective's Dilemma: The Myerton High School Mules football team are coming off their first winning season in years and looking forward to an even better one. The team is in great shape, and under their second year coach they're really coming together as a team.But all is not well with some of the players. Several of them were involved in incidents where the police were called. A couple of players were arrested for petty theft. Overall, members of the team are bigger and more aggressive than anyone remembers them being.All of this has Helen concerned. But what concerns her more is the peculiar behavior of her chief detective, Dan Conway. He seems distracted, and has gone out of his way to downplay the incidents involving members of the football team.During all of this, Doctor Martin Maycord finds evidence of a potentially dangerous new drug being used by Myerton's young people. Helen asks Dan to look into it.Then Martin is hit by a car in front of the hospital. What happens next not only threatens the future of the football team, but Helen's relationship with Dan.The Cardinal's Clock: It's an eventful October for Father Tom and Helen. It begins with the wedding of Father Tom's mother Nola to her fiance, former strip club owner Stu Landry. The two septuagenarian newlyweds have no sooner embarked on their honeymoon than Saint Clare's Parish plays host to the Cardinal Archbishop of Baltimore Walter Knowland, making his periodic visit.It should be a welcome homecoming for the Cardinal, who spent his high school years in Myerton. But there's a cloud hovering over the visit. A special state grand jury issued a report, documenting decades of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese. While the report makes clear that the Archdiocese under Cardinal Knowland has mended its ways, he's bearing the brunt of the criticism. He's also received death threats. With this in mind, Helen assigns her newest officer Gwen Tolsonwho also happens to be the Cardinal's granddaughterto his security detail.During a tour of the Unclaimed Blessings Thrift Store, a large urn falls from a loft, narrowly missing the Cardinal and injuring Gwen. That combined with the firebombing of the Archbishop's Residence in Baltimore convinces Helen that he's in danger. She begins to hunt for the person responsible.But then an elderly volunteer at the thrift store, Eliza Ross, is murdered. At first it looks like a robbery gone wrong. But it's soon clear to Helen that someone staged the scene to make it look like a robbery. This raises two questions: who'd want to kill her, and why?In addition, someone breaks into the Rectory and steals an antique clock the Cardinal got at the store. When the clock is found tossed in a dumpster, Tom and Helen are faced with another mystery: who would steal the clock just to throw it away? And what was hidden in the secret compartment someone cut into the base?In the midst of all this, Gladys goes into labor early . . . and one of the triplets may not make it . . .The Arrested Angel: A multivehicle crash on the interstate near Myerton leaves several people dead, including the man who caused the accident and a friend of Dominic Trent. The authorities quickly determine that the now-dead driver was both a minor and drunk at the time. Dan and Helen arrest the liquor store owner who sold him the alcohol. But selling alcohol to a minor is a misdemeanor, and the store owner is soon released. When the store owner is later found beaten to death, suspicion falls on Dominic.

Enjoy These Contemporary Small Town Mysteries Featuring A Unique Sleuthing Couple. This is a collection of books 7-9 in The Mercy and Justice Mysteries. This series is a sequel to The Father Tom Mysteries that began with The Penitent Priest and includes the same cast of characters. It features Father Tom Greer and his wife Chief of Police Helen Parr Greer, a sleuthing couple committed to the pursuit of justice tempered with mercy while solving mysteries old and new. The Chief's Choice (Book 7): When Father Tom has a serious health crisis and she makes a mistake on the job that has tragic consequences, Helen takes a drastic step that could change their lives forever.. The Revealing Retreat (Book 8): When a man is found murdered at the mountain lodge where Father Tom is running a marriage retreat for Steve and Bridget, suspicion falls on the former Army Ranger.The Nightmare Nativity (Book 9): The discovery of a dead body the night of the dress rehersal threatens to derail the Saint Francis Center's living nativity.

Enjoy These Contemporary Small Town Mysteries Featuring A Unique Sleuthing Couple. This is a collection of books 1-3 in The Mercy and Justice Mysteries. This series is a sequel to The Father Tom Mysteries Father Tom Mysteries that began with The Penitent Priest and includes the same cast of characters. It features Father Tom Greer and his wife Chief of Police Helen Parr Greer, a sleuthing couple committed to the pursuit of justice tempered with mercy while solving mysteries old and new. The Honeymoon Homicide (Book 1): The murder of the deacon of Saint Clare's Catholic Church interrupts the honeymoon plans of Father Tom Greer and his new wife, Chief of Police Helen Parr Greer. The Maligned Marine (Book 2): When a controversial minister is found beaten to death in his office, suspicion falls on an ex-Marine friend of Steve Austin who had a run-in with him days before.The Sister's Secret (Book 3): A daring daylight robbery at the annual luncheon of the Myerton Historical Society puts Helen and her chief detective Dan Conway on the trail of a gang of thieves. Meanwhile, Father Tom's concerned about the odd behavior of Sister Maria.

Enjoy These Contemporary Small Town Mysteries Featuring A Unique Sleuthing Couple. This is a collection of books 10-12 in The Mercy and Justice Mysteries. This series is a sequel to The Father Tom Mysteries that began with The Penitent Priest and includes the same cast of characters. It features Father Tom Greer and his wife Chief of Police Helen Parr Greer, a sleuthing couple committed to the pursuit of justice tempered with mercy while solving mysteries old and new. The Heavy Hearts: When the mother of Vincent Trent's fiancee Sally Mayfield is murdered, suspicion falls on the young man who was seen running from the scene. The Cabin Corpse: Father Tom and Helen are in the market for a small mountain getaway outside of town. When they stumble across the body of the wife of the owner of the cabin they're viewing, Father Tom and Helen begin to hunt for her killer.The Rosary Revenge: With Dan and Miriam on a much-needed vacation, Father Tom and Helen are babysitting the Conway children. All goes well until Catherine finds something that leads Helen to a dead body hidden in the backyard of the host of the weekly Rosary Mom's meeting. Father Tom and Helen, joined by the precocious eight-year-old, investigate the crime.