Dead Fall

I'm pleased to say that my mom, yes my mom, has contributed a few words on a Patricia Rushford mystery she recently read. The best part about the piece is that it was unsolicited. So there are some people out there who enjoy reading and writing about it for its own sake. This is an attitude we try to foster at TKR. Alas, often to no avail. - RD

Patricia Rushford is a fine Christian fiction author. Her murder mysteries are compelling, intriguing and capture the reader’s attention from beginning to end. As the book jacket reads, “Patricia Rushford is an award-winning author, speaker, and teacher. She is also a registered nurse and holds a master’s degree in counseling. She is a prolific writer with numerous articles and over forty books to her credit…..”

Dead Fall is the second book in the McAllister Series, which was co-authored by Harrison James, whose career has placed him in a major supervising role in a metropolitan police department, to give the mysteries further credibility. We read, “His career accomplishments include work as an undercover narcotics agent, as a detective investigating hundreds of homicide and sexual and physical abuse cases, and enforcing big-game poaching and back-country investigations. James has also appeared in several reality police/crime television series.”

The authors spend time developing the characters with a little romance to balance the grittiness of the plot. The first few pages set the scene for the potential crime with a missing young man in the Oregon wilderness. With all of the characters, including a suspicious girlfriend and other suspects, in place, detectives “Mac” McAllister and his partner Dana Bennett from the Portland, Oregon State Police Department set out to solve the mystery of the young man’s disappearance. Along the way, mysterious bodies are uncovered to complicate the story. The reader has to ponder over the evidence along with the detectives to decipher the clues and determine if the young man was actually murdered and who the culprit might be.

The book is enjoyable and entertaining. Patricia’s other book series, the Angel Delaney Mysteries, is also a good choice.

- Barbara Dixon