Blood Oath: A John Jordan Mystery; Book 11

Lister’s 11th John Jordan mystery (after Blood Cries) starts slowly, but builds to a powerful conclusion. John and his attorney wife, Anna, have settled in Wewahitchka, Fla., where he works as a prison chaplain and as an investigator for the county sheriff. A pleasant afternoon with friends at a town festival turns tragic when 19-year-old Shane McMillan, who’s training to be an Army Ranger, disappears. When the ensuing search for Shane is unsuccessful, suspicion falls on his girlfriend, Megan Stripling, with whom he was about to break up. Megan later becomes a target on social media, where she’s dubbed the Apalachicola River Ripper. Meanwhile, the authorities fish the brutalized body of a teenage girl, attached to a cross by barbed wire, out of the river. Jordan fears that the girl’s murder and Shane’s disappearance are linked. Some family drama involving John’s erratic ex-wife, who threatens to take their daughter out of state, dilutes the tension. The clever solution will surprise most readers. [em]Agent: Amy Moore-Benson, AMB Literary. (Dec.) [/em]