Back on Murder (A Roland March Mystery, #1) by J. Mark Bertrand

Back on Murder (A Roland March Mystery, #1) by J. Mark BertrandRoland March used to be a rising star as a homicide detective, but after a family tragedy knocked the wind out of him, so to speak, he’s lost the respect of his colleagues and been relegated to working the bottom of the barrel cases in his department. Until, that is, he sees some evidence at a crime scene that nobody else catches. Grafted into the investigation, March’s instincts lead him to connect two seemingly unrelated cases—a drug-related murder/kidnapping in the hood and a high-profile missing person case involving the daughter of a megachurch pastor. March and his new partner continue to dig, and he eventually uncovers evidence of internal corruption by his arch-nemesis in another department.

This is a somewhat stereotypical police murder mystery, or at least it felt that way. I have read very little in this genre. There are the standard bromides by characters musing about what makes good cops good (yet flawed) and bad cops bad, why they pick their profession, etc. It moves along pretty quickly, and the character development is alright.

The book was published by a Christian publishing house and, while some of the characters are indeed Christians, the first-person voice is definitely not one, and doesn’t seem terribly interested in religion, either. There is no preaching or moralizing in the story, and other than the lack of language or graphic sex, there’s little to characterize it as “Christian.” I mean that in a good way.

Reading the synopsis of the next Roland March novel did catch my interest, so I guess the author succeeded with Back On Murder. It’s good but not great.

Back on Murder by J Mark Bertrand Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition (currently Free), Audible.com Audiobook Audiobook is discounted to $3.49 with purchase of Kindle Book. Kindle Book is lendable, if you want to borrow it leave a comment below.

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