cover image Company Orders

Company Orders

David J. Walker. Allium (www.alliumpress.com), $16.99 trade paper (324p) ISBN 978-0-9831938-5-2

Walker (The Towman’s Daughters and five other mysteries in the Wild Onion series set in Chicago) remains, at least initially, in the Windy City for this tepid stand-alone. On the rise in the Catholic Church hierarchy, Fr. Paul Clark has his world turned upside down by the re-emergence of long-buried events from his youthful past, leading him to make a Faustian bargain with the intimidating Ann Swanson, who may be a CIA agent. The deal begins to unravel when a fellow priest discovers something fishy going on at the archdiocese’s Fair Hope Clinic in Guyana, and brings his suspicions to Clark. As events spiral out of his control, Clark finds himself relieved of his priestly duties and under suspicion of murder, with a dangerous trip to Guyana his only chance to find an answer to the mystery. Wooden characters and all-too-obvious plot contrivances never allow this thriller to lift off. (Sept.)